Spring 2012 - Lourdes College

faculty feature“It’s definitely a commitment,often of a several year duration,for these students and theirhost families – they are veryinvested, both financiallyand physically, in their studyabroad experience. I am verypassionate about culturalexchange. My hope is that I cancontribute to the Lourdes effortto engage the internationalstudents graduating from thehigh schools in the region, sothat they choose to stay andcontinue their studies here. Wecan all learn so much from oneanother – it’s really a win-win!”Community servantDr. Baumgartner lends herselfto other causes outside ofeducation as well. She hasserved as a celebrity readerthrough United Way’s “Let’sRead! You and Me” program andhas recently assisted residentsat the Turtle Mountain IndianReservation and hosted awriting workshop for veterans.46 ATLOURDES MAGAZINE | Spring 2012Yingjie He, from Hangzhou, China and Holly Baumgartner.Last summer, she joined forceswith Kathleen Jenks, AssociateProfessor of Nursing at MercyCollege of Northwest Ohio,and traveled to take part inan interdisciplinary seminarat the Turtle Mountain IndianReservation in North Dakota.The seminar focused onNative American healthand was tied to the Mercynursing curriculum.Established in 1882, theTurtle Mountain IndianReservation has a totalpopulation of more than8,000 and is the mostwidely dispersed of allreservations in the UnitedStates.“This project wasanother lesson incommunity,” reflectsDr. Baumgartner.“Residents at TurtleMountain are a tightlyknit group trying tobalance their culturalhistory and traditions,yet still survive andflourish inside a larger,dominant country withoften differing values.They were genuinelykind and engagedpeople. I was honoredto be able to visit – andbeing that it was apartnership with MercyCollege, it allowed twoCatholic colleges towork together.”