.jpg "Joann Halpern, PhD photo")
Director
Hasso Plattner Institut
Dr. Joann Halpern is the director of the Hasso Plattner Institute, New York and an adjunct professor of International Education at New York University. She conducts numerous Design Thinking and Designing Your Life workshops for students, faculty, and startups throughout the world. Her current research focuses on Design Thinking. She wrote a chapter on "Design Thinking and the UN" in the book, "Design Thinking in Education," which will be published in May 2022. Dr. Halpern was one of the original task force members involved in creating NAFSA's Teaching, Learning and Scholarship Knowledge Community (TLS). From 2009-2017, she was the founding director of the German Center for Research and Innovation, which was created as a cornerstone of the German government’s initiative to internationalize science and research. Prior to this, she was Director of Academic and Student Affairs at Global College of Long Island University and from 1996-2001, she ran the international office at Harz University of Applied Sciences in Wernigerode, Germany. Dr. Halpern co-founded Knowledge Transfer Beyond Boundaries, an NGO with projects in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Yemen. She received her B.A. in history and German from Dartmouth College, her M.A. in Germanic Languages and Literature from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. in International Education from NYU. She is a recipient of the Harvard Award for Distinction in Teaching as well as scholarships and fellowships from the Fulbright Association, German Academic Exchange Service, Robert Bosch Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She serves on several advisory boards, including the German Center for Research and Innovation, Charité Entrepreneurship Summit, Technical University of Dortmund, Research Academy Ruhr, and University Alliance Ruhr. As an AFS volunteer, she has been involved in pre-departure and reentry training, the design of orientation programs, train-the-trainer workshops, and creating an intercultural handbook for German and US host families.