Kent State’s Eron Memaj Named International Student Affairs Director

Eron Memaj has been named the new international
student affairs director for the Division of Student Affairs.

Kent State University’s Division of Student Affairs has announced Eron Memaj as the new international student affairs director. This position provides leadership for international students and the Kent State community by developing partnerships with Kent State’s Office of Global Education, the Division of Student Affairs, and other university and community resources.   

Shay Little, Ph.D., interim vice president of student affairs, says she worked with Todd Diacon, Ph.D., Kent State’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, and Marcello Fantoni, Ph.D., associate provost for global education, to create the position of international student affairs director when the Division of Student Affairs was reorganizing this summer

“The idea of this position is not to create a separate office, but have Eron in place to help connect international students to all resources on campus,” Little says. “International students should be referred to all the resources on campus the same way domestic students should be.”

Memaj came to the United States from Albania. He attended Garfield High School in Akron his senior year as an exchange student. Memaj’s high GPA got him a full scholarship to the University of Akron where he received his bachelor’s degree in international business and later his master’s in higher education.

Memaj started working at Kent State in 2008 as a residence hall director in the Department of Residence Services. During his first year in this position, Memaj says he noticed international students in Koonce Hall had limited English-speaking skills and would mostly interact only with each other. This gave Memaj the idea to start a program dedicated to building relationships between international and domestic students called the Koonce International Mentorship program.

“I started the program by emailing domestic students and asking them if they would be interested in being paired with an international student to meet with once a week and have conversations in English,” Memaj says. “They were also encouraged to attend campus events. The idea was to be a mentor and also a friend. The mentor aspect comes from both the international and domestic side.”

Memaj says during the first semester of the program, 40 students sent in applications. After the first semester, students who lived in other residence halls and off-campus students began sending in applications.

The program was then renamed Kent State International Mentors. Kent State International Mentors has its own website where students can learn more about what the program offers and submit applications. For the Fall 2015 semester, 270 applications were submitted.

“I saw the world by studying in the U.S.,” Memaj says. “Each campus is so diverse. I met so many people from countries that I never even heard of. I feel like I traveled through these countries by the relationships I formed with these people.”

In this role, Memaj says two initiatives that he wants to focus on are getting students involved and giving them a voice.

This semester, Memaj started the Kent State University International Women’s Group and International Graduate Student Association.

“To me, international is an all-inclusive term including domestic and American students,” Memaj says. “These organizations are open to both U.S. and international students on and off campus. We also invite spouses of international students.”

Memaj says he enjoys being a resource for these organizations and being able to give them a voice.

“Eleven percent of our student population at Kent State is international students,” Memaj says. “That is not a small number. I want to make sure they are represented and make sure they feel at home.”

Memaj notes that he wants to make sure that domestic students get to have an international experience as well.

“We are a very diverse campus with so many different cultures,” Memaj says. “Students have the opportunity to learn from one another.”

To find out more about international opportunities on campus, contact Memaj at ememaj@kent.edu or 330-672-4050.

To learn more about Kent State International Mentors, visit www.ksimonline.org.

To learn more about Kent State’s Division of Student Affairs, email studentaffairs@kent.edu or call 330-672-4050.