Last year, Linda Drake Gobbo retired as Associate Provost for Antioch University New England, and her colleagues marked her retirement with memories and celebration of her many contributions. This May, the accolades continued as she was named a Life Member of NAFSA. This latest achievement comes from her work “advancing international education and exchange,” the central aim of NAFSA, which was founded as the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors. This honor recognizes Gobbo’s long track record of working with like-minded professionals to advance international education.
“NAFSA’s strength derives from our members like Linda who, over the course of a career, has provided the association with formal and informal leadership, encouraged collaborative dialogues, and promoted knowledge creation to strengthen and serve the field,” said NAFSA’s Executive Director and CEO, Fanta Aw in a statement accompanying the award.
At NAFSA, Gobbo served on the committee that developed NAFSA’s first Academy for International Education. That program has lasted for twenty years and counting. That experience, among others, prepared Goabbo to help as Antioch University transitioned to online teaching in the aftermath of widespread closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gobbo is one of only seven recipients of this honor for the year. With this membership, Gobbo is receiving regular membership services, with waived annual dues and conference fees.
Aw, NAFSA’s Executive Director and CEO, explains the award, “Our community has relied on leaders like our Life Members for inspiration as we educate, advocate and innovate in international education. The dedication, effort, and advocacy of these committed members have been essential to the association’s success for over 75 years.”
Gobbo’s service to both NAFSA and Antioch University is due in part to the values that she shares with both institutions. Much in line with Antioch’s social justice views, NAFSA is also built around the intention of respect through diversity and acknowledgment of human differences in backgrounds, perspectives, and individualism. In teaching and furthering international education, NAFSA believes that this practice is, as they put it, “fundamental in fostering peace, security, and well-being.”
Across multiple organizations, Gobbo has left her imprint, helping to prove that educators are important not only to an institution but globally as well.
