Awards

President's Medal for Excellence - 1999

IUB Commencement

Bloomington, Indiana

Presenter: Myles Brand

About Naomi Collins

Dr. Naomi F. Collins is a consultant to cultural and higher education organizations. She has served as Executive Director of the Maryland Humanities Council and of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. During her tenure as Executive Director of NAFSA (1992-1997), she was involved in the inception of North American trilateral initiatives. She served as Chair of the Working Group on Student/Scholar Mobility, and was later appointed to the Trilateral Task Force on North American Higher Education Collaboration. Since serving as Executive Director of NAFSA she has received the Director's Award for Superior Achievement from the United States Information Agency (USIA).

She has most recently developed and produced studies analyzing issues in higher education international programs (specializing in North America and Europe) for the American Council on Education (ACE); and for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC); researched and written the essay on the humanities for Charles Scribner's Sons Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History; and co-authored an article for Change, a higher education magazine. She serves as a Member of the Board (and Executive Committee) of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).

Dr. Collins has written and co-authored publications on 17th century English biography; on international education, Islam, and historical topics. She has lived, worked, and traveled abroad for more than seven years--in Turkey, Jordan, England, and Europe; and in Russia for more than three years over different decades, including during the 1991 coup attempt. She has also traveled in Mexico, Canada, Germany, and China. Dr. Collins has served on panels, boards, and review committees concerned with cultural, educational, and museum issues, with international exchanges, and with the commemoration of the U.S. Constitution--for the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council on Education, the U.S. Department of Education (FIPSE), Maryland State Department of Education, and Maryland Bar Association.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Alpha Theta, she holds a Ph.D. in history from Indiana University, and has taught American History and Western Civilization at the university level. She received the President’s Medal for Excellence in 1999.