One of the goals of a road trip is to reach your destination, but that’s not its only purpose, said Samsoe, director of IEP, speaking at the program’s graduation ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 23, in Martin Chapel. Oftentimes, the purpose of a road trip is to see exciting things along the way, meet new people, and learn things that you didn’t know before, he explained. 

“It’s a bit like your experience here,” Samsoe said. “And I would say that your time at IEP isn’t actually the road trip but a part of your road trip—a step toward some of the bigger goals you have in your life. Completing IEP isn’t your destination, but it’s a part of the journey to whatever destination you have planned.”

Thursday’s ceremony celebrated the accomplishments of three graduates who completed Level 6, the highest level of classes offered at IEP, during the summer 2025 term. These graduates, who hail from different countries, languages, and cultures, burst into laughter and fought back tears as they described how meaningful the program has been in their lives. They received graduation certificates and stoles, each emblazoned with both the flag of their home country and the U.S. flag.

The summer 2025 IEP graduates, along with their home countries, are:

• Kensly Cassy, Haiti
• Olga Lara, Mexico
• Kateryna Zharkova, Ukraine

Those attending the ceremony included Tynisha Willingham, EMU’s provost and vice president of academic affairs; Jon Swartz, dean of students; the graduates’ friends and family members; and students enrolled in IEP. The ceremony was followed by a potluck meal held in EMU’s Roselawn Building.

Read on to learn more about each graduate.

Kensly Cassy

Cassy, who has been in the U.S. for two years, joined IEP for Level 6 and described the program as “the best place to start and finish English.”

“It’s fully intensive,” he said. “I tried all the other places (to learn English), but they were all about basics—things I already mastered—so I never fit in anywhere else but here.”

“I learned a lot and we got to know each other,” he added. “Thanks to this program and the help of everyone, I could decide what I’m going to do with my life.”

Cassy is now midway through the semester as a student at EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, where he is pursuing a master of arts in conflict transformation. “I’m from Haiti, where we have a lot of conflict,” he said. “When I went (to CJP), I realized it wasn’t only political or social conflict, but that we as human beings have a lot of conflict inside us. … IEP helped me a lot by helping me discover CJP.”

Olga Lara

Lara immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico about 20 years ago, and began her studies at IEP as a part-time student in Level 3 two years ago. She works at COSPU (Coalicion Solidaria Pro-Inmigrantes Unidos), a Harrisonburg nonprofit that empowers immigrant families through help and support, leadership mentoring, cultural and civic education, and advocacy.

She said IEP has helped her feel more confident. “It doesn’t matter how old you are; age is only a number,” the 56-year-old Lara said. “If you feel inside you need to improve your language, you can do that.”

Kateryna Zharkova

Originally from Ukraine, Zharkova started at IEP in Level 4 last fall and hopes to begin pursuing a master of business administration at EMU in January. Following the graduation ceremony, she described feeling “overwhelmed” with emotion.

“Each person at IEP is really important to me,” she said. “They became my family. I have improved my English language and it’s helped a lot with my goals for the future.”

“You have inspired me to keep learning, growing, and discovering new things,” Zharkova said in a speech to her teachers. “Thank you for always making learning exciting and for your patience and for believing in me.”

About the Intensive English Program

EMU’s Intensive English Program (IEP) helps English language learners from all around the world find their voice and build a better life for themselves. In a typical semester, IEP has 60 to 80 students representing 15 to 20 different countries. 

For more information about IEP, visit .

OnlineU based its rankings on online enrollment numbers and the early career salaries of alumni within the first four years after graduation. EMU’s online MBA program ranked No. 13 on the list, while Virginia Tech claimed the top spot with an annual tuition nearly twice that of EMU’s. Neighboring institutions James Madison University and Bridgewater College are absent from the list of the top 17 online MBA programs in Virginia.

“Earning a spot on this list highlights how the online MBA program at EMU is among the best in Virginia at helping graduates achieve higher earnings,” said Adrian Ramirez of OnlineU.

From the list: 

Why we like them: EMU offers a unique collaborative online MBA structured for professionals eager to tackle global business challenges. The program consists of 36 credit hours, allowing students to complete their degree in approximately two years. Unique to EMU’s approach are two short in-person residencies that provide experiential learning opportunities, emphasizing sustainability practices in diverse settings. The curriculum focuses on developing leadership, relational, and organizational skills. With no GMAT or GRE requirements, the program is accessible, and cohort-based learning fosters valuable relationships with peers and faculty.

Dr. Jim Leaman, associate professor of business and director of the business & leadership program at EMU, said it’s gratifying to see the Collaborative MBA program included on the list. “This honor recognizes the unique combination of access, flexibility, quality, and value, and further highlights our distinctive philosophy of viewing business as an important societal agent working for the common good.”

The Collaborative MBA program, a joint graduate degree program of Canadian Mennonite University, ��ݮ����, and Goshen College, develops the technical, relational, and organizational skills students need to become effective leaders and prepares them to lead for the common good.

For more information about the program, visit: emu.edu/mba

Ahmed basically knew just one thing about EMU, but it was more than enough to convince him to apply: the university’s science graduates have enjoyed remarkable rates of acceptance to medical and dental schools. Last month, he was among the speakers at the university’s commencement, representing its first graduating class from the new MA in biomedicine program.

“It was everything and more than what I expected,” said Ahmed, in a separate interview. “It was a great two-year experience and I think I’m better for it.”

One of the things he most enjoyed and benefited from at EMU, he said, was the availability of his professors, and their concern for his success in the program.

“Something unique and welcoming at EMU was that professors instituted an ‘open-door policy’ of sorts,” he said in his commencement speech. “I did not have the privilege of experiencing this as an undergrad.… I had plenty of questions for all faculty members, not just [my] professors. The saying that there’s no such thing as a bad question? Well, I took full advantage of that.”

Ahmed had been advised by practicing dentists to learn as much as he could about the business aspects of running a dental practice. At EMU, where students are allowed and encouraged to take classes offered by other graduate programs, Ahmed was able to follow through on that by taking classes through the . He also took a graduate-level nursing class. In his remarks at graduation, he said that these experiences broadened his horizons and prepared him to approach dentistry from the perspectives of a CEO and a nurse practitioner, as well as a dentist.

During his second year, Ahmed helped prepare labs and other materials as a graduate assistant for courses in molecular genetics, anatomy and medical terminology. He also edited the inaugural issue of The Synapse, the yearbook of the MA in biomedicine program.

Looking back on his time on campus, Ahmed said, he learned that there was much more to EMU than he’d originally thought. But there was something to that original impression, too – Ahmed has joined the long, long list of successful applicants to professional health programs, and will begin dentistry school at Virginia Commonwealth University in the fall.

With 85 students this fall, EMU’s is fully utilizing its newly renovated space on the ground level of Roselawn, a former dormitory into which IEP moved in 2012.

“Our long-term goal for IEP is 100 students,” said , director of the program. “We’re getting there more quickly than we expected.” In the fall of 2008, the year before Roth became director, IEP had 35 students.

IEP is particularly adept at helping international students sharpen their English skills so that they can enter American colleges, said Roth. In recent years EMU has also invited local immigrants and refugees to its English-language center.

Prospective students are tested before they enter and at the end of each term to determine their placement level. After a semester or a year or more, the successful students are able to enter EMU or other schools as regular students.

Nabeel Alsulami, 24, one of this fall’s students, earned a university degree in accounting and worked at an architectural firm before he came to the United States earlier this summer. He hopes to pursue a or at nearby James Madison University. He is among 35,000 students from Saudi Arabia who are in the United States, many of them with scholarships from their government.

“The IEP students and faculty are like a family,” said Alsulami, who didn’t know anyone when he arrived on the EMU campus. “Now I have lots of friends.” He likes the small informal classes.

Since its opening in 1989, IEP has taught more than 1,000 students from 62 countries. Classes are kept small to allow better teacher-student interaction, as well as close student relationships. Class sizes usually range from 6 to 12. Tutoring is also offered one-on-one and in small groups.

While many language programs teach survival English, EMU’s program helps international students, immigrants, and refugees to go further – to develop the speaking, reading, writing, and grammar skills necessary for university study or professional success, said Roth.

Several local employers of immigrants are providing money to help their employees study at IEP. In addition, local students receive a tuition discount of more than 75 percent.

“We also emphasize cross-cultural interaction, believing that this speeds the learning process and creates lifelong memories,” said Roth, adding: “All of our students are a gift to IEP, to the EMU campus, and to the Harrisonburg community. They help us become better world citizens.”

For the 2013-14 school year, IEP is offering classes from late August to mid-December, from early January to late April, and short sessions in May and June.

More information is available online at or by calling 540-432-4053.

People in the area are invited to the EMU Campus Center Lehman board room, 301, to meet co-directors, s and , current students and learn more. People interested in joining classes virtually should contact mba@emu.edu about how to log in to join the open house virtually.

For more information on the MBA program or to let EMU know you’re coming, call 540-432-4150 or email mba@emu.edu.

In collaboration with , PhD, co-director of the , Deb King and Rich Myers,  presented their case in December 2011 at the International Conference on Management Cases in Delhi, India.

While in India, the group traveled with their spouses to a village in Jaipur, and visited with the Founder-CEO of , a socially responsible business. In addition, they met with faculty and students at two graduate universities in India – and the .

“The visit to Jaipur Rugs Company was a highlight,” said King. “We met with the founder and witnessed his company’s positive impact on the lives of more than 40,000 people who would otherwise struggle to survive. The proprietor’s entire family works to facilitate the production of hand-knotted rugs, all the while offering health care and education to the workers.”

The trip also included visits to the Taj Majal in Agra, traveling to the Amber Fort in Jaipur by elephant and enjoying other sights as part of their tour of India’s Golden Triangle.

Also on the trip was Elizabeth Mast, a December 2011 graduate from Lancaster, Pa. Mast co-authored and published a peer-reviewed case study on Fast Forward Futures with Smith. Together, they presented their case at the conference.

Open House

People in Harrisonburg and around the world are invited to an MBA “open house” on Tuesday, April 10, from 6-7 p.m.

People in the area are invited to the EMU Campus Center Lehman board room, 301, to meet co-directors, s and , current students and learn more. People interested in joining classes virtually should contact mba@emu.edu about how to log in to join the open house virtually.

For more information on the MBA program or to let EMU know you’re coming, call 540-432-4150 or email mba@emu.edu.

Persons can meet the MBA co-directors, Ron Stoltzfus and Tony Smith and current students and get information on EMU’s MBA program. Light refreshments will be served.

In addition to EMU’s accelerated, steward-leadership MBA program, the department offers concentrations in health services administration, nonprofit entrepreneurial management and a graduate certificate in nonprofit leadership and social entrepreneurship.

For more information or to let EMU know you’re coming, call 540-432-4150 or visit emu.edu/mba.

Persons can meet the MBA co-directors, Ronald L. Stoltzfus and Anthony E. (Tony) Smith and current students and get information on EMU’s MBA program. Light refreshments will be served. Stop in anytime between 6 and 7 p.m.

In addition to EMU’s accelerated, steward-leadership MBA program, the department offers concentrations in health services administration, nonprofit entrepreneurial management and a graduate certificate in nonprofit leadership and social entrepreneurship.

For more information or to let EMU know you’re coming, call 540-432-4150 (website: www.emu.edu/mba).

Few business programs encourage students to use Facebook and Wikispaces to develop collaborative team strategies outside the classroom. But then, the Steward-Leadership Masters in Business Administration at EMU is no ordinary MBA program.

MBA students in a summer class on “Stewardship, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship” interact with rangers at Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park.

“Given its history of increasing leadership strengths, building management skills, and developing stewardship strategies, EMU’s MBA program is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of today’s demanding work-place and regional employers, as greater emphasis is now placed on ethics, stewardship of natural and human resources and effective collaborative strategies for a fast-changing global marketplace,” said Anthony E. (Tony) Smith, MBA co-director. “These very qualities lie at the heart of EMU’s institutional core values.”

Innovative course includes live projects

Dr. Smith has been teaching a summer course in the MBA program “Stewardship, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship,” that engaged students in systems approaches to stewardship and innovation and involved them in live projects with local corporations and non-profit organizations.

The clients included:

• Shenandoah National Park
• Rosetta Stone
• American Shakespeare Center
• Staunton Creative Community Fund (SCCF)

“I’m very impressed by the amount of research on a complicated topic, in a short period of time that the MBA students have achieved.” said Tim Taglauer, assistant chief of interpretation and education for Shenandoah National Park, after MBA students gave a presentation on business strategies for increasing the “sustainable advantage” for the Park.

Their recommendations included repositioning the park as a center for increasing eco-literacy and for the park to develop and strengthen strategic partnerships with local communities and schools.

Meghan Williamson, executive director of SCCF, found that the MBA students had developed an innovative “business to environment” model that could strengthen the success of their small business clients and outlined innovative financing methods to support SCCF’s programs.

The course ended Aug. 4 with MBA business strategy presentations to Rosetta Stone and to the American Shakespeare Center.

Linda Manka, naturalist ranger at Shenandoah National Park, discusses stewardship design principles and their application to real-life business situations as MBA students Kim Shipe (l.) and Juanita Zban listen.

“This course is but one example of how the EMU’s Steward-Leadership MBA program offers a distinctive approach to preparing business leaders for the challenges of an increasingly uncertain business environment,” Smith stated. “The program works with the busy schedules of full-time working professionals who are seeking to strengthen their careers.”

For more information about the Steward-Leadership MBA program, contact Smith at anthony.smith@emu.edu or visit the website at www.emu.edu/mba or the MBA Facebook page, entitled “Steward Leadership MBA at EMU.”

Questions/additional comments: Dr. Tony Smith, 432-4095

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