Ellen Reid

Welcome to my little corner of the internet!

MY JOURNEY

As an aspiring biologist, I learned early in my career path that there is no lab manual for life. I came to love biology (especially ecology) during my undergrad years studying at Boston University so I sought out lab and field research and studied abroad in a field-based program (Boston University's Tropical Ecology Program- BUTEP). I thought biology would always be my focus and career path, but during the second year of my PhD program in biology at Louisiana State University, I realized it was not (long story).

After graduating from BU I worked in biology-focused study abroad programs: BUTEP in Ecuador and The School for Field Studies-Center for Rainforest Studies (SFS-CRS) in Australia. So when I was considering leaving my PhD program I relied on my international, biology and field experiences, and network, to land a position in admissions and advising at The School for Field Studies Headquarters in Massachusetts. I also remotely completed a Masters of Science in biology from LSU. The admissions position was a solid step into careers in international education. At the time I thought it might be a brief stint before finding a career of some kind in biology, but as I came to love the field, I discovered the career possibilities in international education.

After a combined seven years with SFS in Queensland, Australia and Beverly, Massachusetts I landed a position as Program Director at the Learning Abroad Center (LAC) at the University of Minnesota where I worked with a portfolio of center-based and university study programs all over the world. I focused on program development and administration: budgets and contracts, safety and risk management, curriculum, academics, and student services. I also worked to establish or further partnerships with campus colleagues and with domestic and international institutions.

My (now) husband and I immediately took to the Twin Cities and Minnesota and enjoyed every minute of living and working there, but after three years I found my next step as Assistant Dean of Global Education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA. So, we packed up our dog (and belongings) and moved back East. At MIT I assist in leading the Global Education team and oversee study abroad operations, systems and data, student recruitment, and manage efforts to improve support for, and information about, global education opportunities across the Institute.

Through all of this I have learned to write my own life lab manual, how to run my experiments, evaluate the results, and fine tune my procedures along the way.