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Dr. Carlos Mentley is Lander's New Study Abroad Director

Carlos MentleyLander University's Study Abroad program has undergone a change in leadership with the retirement of director Dr. DeWitt Stone Jr. The great-grandson of Lander founder, The Rev. Samuel Lander, Stone recently became a member of Lander's Board of Trustees.

He was the Study Abroad director for 10 years and during that period he made it possible for 150 Lander students to spend a semester at colleges and universities in 16 countries in Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. He also arranged for Lander faculty members to lead 34 study tours, escorting nearly 300 students to international destinations.

Stone said Lander students derive significant benefits from attending classes with students from host countries and other nations and to being taught by foreign professors.

He said the program owes most of its success to the strong support of Lander's faculty, especially the members of the Study Abroad Faculty Committee.

Dr. Carlos Mentley, a member of the committee and an active participant in Study Abroad, has been appointed to succeed Stone as director.

Mentley is a professor of Spanish who joined Lander's faculty more than eight years ago and has a total of 26 years of college and university teaching experience. He earned degrees in Spanish and psychology from Michigan State University and a doctorate in Spanish literature from Cornell University.

Mentley has escorted students on several educational excursions to Spain. He is a recognized expert on the Camino de Santiago, "The Way of St. James," a network of centuries-old walking routes leading pilgrims to the Cathedral of Santiago in Compostela, in northwestern Spain. He has led students from Lander and other schools on the arduous trek. He is a pilgrimage studies researcher, writer and speaker, whose interests also include overseas study and program development.

Mentley said his goal is to double the number of Lander students choosing to study abroad within three years. He envisions enhancing the university's relationship with the University of Winchester in England, where a large percentage of Lander students spend a semester of study.

He plans to match the needs of students in specific majors with other international programs. And he will encourage Lander faculty members to lead short-term, academically-focused study tours, then prompt participating students to consider a semester or summer abroad.