Emma Smith

Emma Smith
Study Abroad Counselor
Office of International Affairs

Emma Smith has jumped right into her position and it is difficult to remember the office without her presence. In the past year, Emma has advised approximately 400 students and nearly 100 of those students have successfully completed their study abroad programs. Early in Emma's tenure at Texas Tech, she was asked to resolve the issues with our pre-departure orientation sessions. Emma was able to navigate the ambiguity of this project with ease and creatively find a solution. She created an online pre-departure orientation video. Students can view the video on their own time from the location of their choosing, including from their mobile phone. Emma realized much of the training information was duplicated. She was able to then reduce the length from three hours to less than one hour. Additional functionality was added to ensure student understanding and the students' ability to connect with Study Abroad staff members. She also added a chat function that allows students to ask questions of staff members as they are viewing the video and receive responses in real-time. Emma is making great strides in helping our students connect with international experiences.