Board of Directors

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Kelly Jo Kitchen is the current President of the Global Institute of Lansing and has been a board member and tutor for 5+ years. Kelly is a retired teacher with over 32 years’ experience. She began her educational career in speech pathology and taught math and science the last 20 years of her tenure. Kelly has volunteered in her communities; coaching, tutoring, managing community gardens, working in festivals, assisting environmental nonprofits and tutoring.

Kelly Jo Kitchen earned a bachelor’s degree in audiology and speech sciences and a master’s degree in speech pathology with a minor is physical science from Michigan State University. Ms. Kitchen earned her Juris Doctorate from Thomas Cooley Law School and is a licensed attorney in the State of Michigan.

Kelly has been a passionate advocate for her students and community. She believes America is made stronger by the diversity within its population as it is in the environment. Helping people feel a sense of belonging and commitment to their community has been her life’s work. 

Judi Harris has been Program Director for Refugee Services at St. Vincent Catholic Charities in Lansing since December 2008. In this role, she manages Refugee Services staff and coordinates programs for all refugees coming to the Lansing area. Judi leads her program to establish housing, health care, employment, education, and community connections for new arrivals. Judi fights to keep the refugee resettlement program working and healthy by building partnerships and conducting outreach and education to community groups, schools and universities, business and faith-based organizations around mid-Michigan.  

Judi has been a refugee foster parent for over 12 years and has fostered 10 children from five different countries. She is one of the founders and a board member of the Global Institute of Lansing, a non-profit organization that helps refugee youth earn high school diplomas.  She also helped to establish and advises the All Faith Alliance for Refugees (AFAR). 

Judi earned a double Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and French from San  Francisco State University and a Masters in Health Education from Trinity College in Washington, DC. Judi has over twenty-five years of experience in international health education and project management having lived, developed and managed health programs in Africa, the Balkans, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Judi has worked with refugees in the United States and overseas. 

 John was drawn to GIL based on the organization’s role in enriching the Greater Lansing community by helping young refugee adults achieve a high school diploma. 

John’s passion for working with refugees comes from a transformational experience while working as the Associate Director of Marketing & Community Relations with St. Vincent Catholic Charities (STVCC), the refugee resettlement agency in Lansing. It was at STVCC where he learned the powerful and heart-wrenching personal stories of the refugees STVCC serves and Lansing’s rich refugee resettlement history. His role on the board allows him to continue to be involved in assisting young refugees on their path to achieving the American dream. 

John currently works at the Michigan Health & Hospital Association as director, communications. He has over ten years of professional marketing and communications experience, including previous roles at STVCC, Walsh College and the Plymouth Whalers. John holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Walsh College and a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing degree from Michigan State University.

Sophia Ahmed is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Lansing Community College. She teaches English as a Second Language to non-native English speakers, as well as Developmental Reading and Writing to native English speakers. From early 2000-2008, She became heavily active in volunteering to assist families, especially mothers with language barriers, in the East Lansing Islamic center and other community centers.

Sophia Ahmed earned a bachelor's degree in linguistics and French literature from the University of California, Davis. Ms. Ahmed earned her MA in French Literature from Michigan State University, where she also taught undergraduate students French courses and founded a conversation English club for international students.

Sophia Ahmed has dedicated her life to assisting and encouraging students to reach personal and academic goals. Her passion has always been advocacy and preventive education to assist students in achieving their goals and objectives, as well as establishing a rapport with each of her students at the start of each semester to further assist them in attaining their objectives.

As a refugee foster parent to eight teen youth since 2001, Yasmina has direct experience with the educational challenges of high school completion, especially for youth that arrive in their late teens and have no time left to complete high school in the traditional system.  This firsthand experience led directly to her involvement as a founding member of GIL, representing the foster parent community.  Yasmina is also active as a member on the Greater Lansing United Nations Association (GLUNA) Board, where she has specific interest in advancing the sustainable development goals. Professionally, she has served over 15 years working at the city, county, and state level in the planning and delivery of maternal, infant, and child health services, and currently works towards the full inclusion of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities as the Deputy Director of the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council, a position she has held since 2007.

Peggy Champion is currently an ESOL instructor at the Refugee Development Center of Lansing.  She works with speaking, listening, reading, & writing skills at different levels with refugee and immigrant students from all over the world. She has dedicated the majority of her long career to working in this area.   Peggy was also an ESOL instructor at Lansing Community College for a number of years teaching in a similar capacity.  She worked for the Lansing School District with elementary students in migrant and bilingual education as well as ESOL.  Her knowledge of and proficiency in Spanish has helped her greatly in relating to the needs of her students. Volunteer work has been a big part of her professional and personal life.  She has given countless hours in many areas.  Peggy worked as a teacher/tutor at the GIL for about three years with adult refugee students helping them reach their goal of receiving a high school diploma. Although she has also worked in different areas of education including administration, being able to teach, guide, & learn from newcomcomers to the Lansing community has been her passion. She has always been grateful for these opportunities.