Leah Keino

 

Leah Keino

Assistant Professor

Department of Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Management

 

Faculty Award for International Achievement

 

Leah Keino personifies the very spirit of the College of Human Sciences, working to create, share and apply knowledge to improve lives globally. Her research on international learning has raised the university’s awareness of issues affecting those in Sudan, Rwanda, Darfur, and the Middle East via study abroad programs, global issues groups, lectures and international partnerships.

Truly an international citizen, Keino has shared her passion for learning – and impressed upon fellow scholars the importance of global understanding and service – in the United States, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and her native country of Kenya. In doing so, Keino has displayed remarkable enthusiasm, creativity, perseverance and the ability to harmoniously integrate diverse groups of people.

Keino is admired for the ability to integrate an international perspective into all of her instruction, scholarship and service. She is a proponent of taking local action to address global problems and is a highly influential scholar who is especially adept at helping her students appreciate and celebrate cultural heritage.

As Keino continues to work across many disciplines at Iowa State and around the world, she is not only furthering the educational opportunities for her students, but also serving as an ambassador of Iowa State. Indeed, her strategies to improve global and cultural awareness are seemingly limitless. As one of her nominators wrote, “Every time I speak to her she seems to have another new idea for international work; she is ever alert for new possibilities for expanding ISU’s international focus.”