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Board of Directors
 Dr. Sunita Gandhi -- Dr. Gandhi was educated in her parents' well-renowned CMS schools in Lucknow in India. On a full merit-based scholarship from Trinity College and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, she received her doctorate from Cambridge University in England in 1986. Subsequently, she was selected to the World Bank's prestigious Young Professional Program in Washington, DC, where for ten years her work focused on education and development in the US and several countries. Dr. Gandhi is also the Founder of The Global Concepts International School in Prague (Czech Republic), and DEVI (Dignity, Education and Vision International), a development NGO in India.
Dr. Robert J. Saunders -- has held teaching and research positions at several large universities and has been engaged in policy and project development at the World Bank in Washington, DC. He has written numerous books and articles in several fields and lectured at a multiplicity of universities, international conferences and symposiums. The Johns Hopkins University Press published his books on village water supplies and improving health in Asia, Africa and South America; and on providing telecommunications services to help alleviate poverty in poor countries. The World Bank published his policy monographs on electric power and poverty alleviation and on ways to improve energy efficiency in poor countries around the world. His works have been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. Through the years he has studied the various theories and approaches to child rearing and the education of children and has visited more than 60 countries on six continents working at the highest levels with businessmen, government officials, academics, parents, teachers, school administrators and nonprofit groups. During his visits he has observed and studied first-hand many of the different standards, methods, and approaches to raising children and nurturing their potential.
Layli Miller Bashir -- Layli Miller Bashir is an attorney at the law firm of Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. where she practices international litigation and maintains a substantial pro bono practice. Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Layli was an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice at the Board of Immigration Appeals. While only a student in law school, Layli argued before an Immigration Judge and assisted in the appeal of a high-profile case involving a woman's right to receive refuge in the United States from a tribal practice called female genital mutilation. This case, which involved a young woman from Togo named Fauziya Kassindja set nationally binding legal precedent and made legal history. Layli is the founder of the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit organization assisting women facing human rights violations through the provision of legal aid and social services. The Tahirih Justice Center gives free legal and other assistance to women, like Fauziya, who flee from gender-based persecution in their home countries. Clients of the Center include women facing female genital mutilation, rape, forced marriage, and domestic violence. Layli assisted Fauziya write a book about her life, flight from Togo, and fight for freedom in the United States, entitled Do They Hear You When You Cry, which was published by Bantam Doubleday Dell in March 1998 (all of Layli's portion of the proceeds are donated to the Tahirih Justice Center). Layli's other publications include Female Genital Mutilation: Balancing Intolerance of the Practice with Tolerance of the Culture (Journal of Women's Health: February 1997), Female Genital Mutilation in the United States: An Examination of Criminal and Asylum Law (American University Journal of Gender and the Law: Spring 1996), and New Trends in Addressing Violence Against Women (Human Rights Law Brief: Spring 1994). In addition, Layli is recipient of the Voices of Courage Media Award, Agnes Scott College Young Alumni Award, Human Relations Award, and the Woodrow Wilson Princeton Community Service Award.
Eleanor Childes -- Eleanore Childes, Esq., is a juvenile criminal defense attorney turned character educator. In 1990, she co-founded the Heartwood Institute to help children and teachers focus on seven universal attributes by using fine, read-aloud, multicultural literature. As an advocate of mediation, she is convinced that a shared understanding of courage, loyalty, justice, respect, hope, honesty and love is essential to our pluralistic society and ever expanding world.
Dr. William G. (Bill) Huitt -- Bill Huitt is an Associate Professor at Valdosta State University. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and an M.Ed. in Business Education from the University of Florida, and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of South Alabama. Bill has been married for over 26 years to his lovely wife, Marsha, and they have three children. His primary areas of interest are educational psychology, cognitive psychology, and developmental psychology. He has teaching experience at the middle school, high school, technical school, community college and university levels. He and Marsha spent two years in the Peace Corps in Truk (Chuk) District, Micronesia, and three years on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona. His professional experience also includes three years as a research associate with Research for Better Schools, a federally funded regional research and development laboratory specializing in educational improvement. Dr. Huitt's current research interests center around educational reform and restructuring. Topics he is currently researching or writing about include the implications for education of the movement from an agricultural/industrial economy to one based on service and information; character development; critical thinking; problem solving and decision making; systems theory applied to human behavior and the teaching/learning process; and the implications of viewing human beings from a material/scientific as well as a spiritual/religious perspective.
Emily M. Norris -- Emily Mohajeri Norris is the Community Programs Director at NAFSA Association of International Educators. She also Serves on the Board of the Tahirih Justice Center, an organization providing legal services to immigrant women. She has worked as a consultant for Higher Education at the Landegg Academy in Switzerland. She also has a wide range of experience in the education field including, teaching, teacher training, evaluation, curriculum development, counseling, grassroots community development, and youth empowerment. She received her Masters at Harvard University in Education-Administration, Planning and Social Policy.
Dr. Michael Penn -- Dr. Penn has been a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, since 1991. A Phi Beta Kappa and BA Magna Cum Laude, Dr. Penn has received numerous awards including the John Russwarm Senior Award for Academic Excellence, Distinguished Teaching Award Nomination, and Clinical Psychology Division Commendation. Dr. Penn has also been a Ford Foundation Fellow from 1986 to 1989 and an Aspin Institute Wye Fellow in 1995. He is the author of many professional journal articles and papers, and a member of the International Faculty: Department of Psychology, Landegg Academy, Switzerland.
Dr. Behrouz Sabet -- Dr. Sabet is Professor and Chair of Education, Landegg Academy International University, Switzerland. He has worked as Professor of Education at the Graduate School of America, Minneapolis, MN and the University of South Carolina, as Professor of Religious Studies in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has also served in various capacities as Instructor, Educational Consultant, and Lecturer at Belmont Abbey College, North Carolina, State University of New York in Buffalo and the Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, NC. He has written more than 50 articles on educational, philosophical and social themes; developed curriculum outlines and presented research papers on a national and international level. He is an alumnus of the State University of New York at Buffalo where he received his doctorate in Curriculum Planning and Instructional Design.
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