Professor Lynn Paine, a distinguished scholar of international education research, stepped down from her role as associate dean of international studies for the Michigan State University College of Education in 2023. After a year in a consulting role, Paine will formally retire in 2025.
Paine has been a scholar, teacher and educator in the MSU College of Education for more than 30 years. She has held various roles, most notably as the leader of the Office of International Studies in Education (OISE). She was appointed assistant dean of the unit in 2015 and promoted to associate dean in 2017.
Her colleagues note Paine is a thoughtful leader, who is always an advocate for inclusion of international perspectives.
She has led the continuation or creation of numerous globally focused programs, including the Global Curriculum Fellowship, the Fellowship to Expand Global Understanding, the Reeves Scholars Program and the Global Education Engagement initiative. She also supported MSU’s and the college’s efforts in the Tanzania Partnership Program.
In 2020, she received the Ralph H. Smuckler Award for Advancing International Studies and Programs at MSU.
“She is one of the best in terms of generating ideas, creativity and care for our entire community, including faculty, staff, students and alums,” said Julie Sinclair, the associate director for OISE. “She is always pushing to expand who is involved in global work. She built programs and procedures to be more inclusive and to showcase the college’s strength and work by inviting people to be a part of things.”
One example is her leadership of a 2017 MSU conference: Addressing Inequalities, Mobility and Dislocation: Insights from International and Domestic Research and Practice. Participants came from 13 countries, 22 states and more than 60 institutions and organizations. They explored topics such as urban education and mobility, migration and the refugee crisis, and addressing barriers to access.
More recently, in 2023, Paine co-organized the first-ever International Higher Education Conference in Bangladesh. It was the first conference of its type, bringing together representatives from educational and government agencies to initiate conversation and action around educational reform.
“With her profound knowledge of international collaboration, Lynn Paine is one of the greatest leaders I have had the honor to work with,” said Jiahang Li. Li is the director of the MSU Online Chinese Program, the outreach coordinator for the Asian Studies Center and an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education.
Her work impacts international students and those in the college’s internationally oriented community. The Office of International Studies in Education (OISE), colleagues and students say, is a pillar of understanding and support in the college for these groups. It is also a light of innovation — advocating for and instilling ideas, themes and voices of the college’s global communities.
Paine, as the OISE director, oversees it all.
“Lynn’s unwavering commitment to creating, sustaining and supporting programs at Michigan State University has significantly contributed to fostering a global perspective and cross-cultural understanding within local, national, and international contexts,” Li continued. “Her vision for innovative programs and strategic partnerships has created many opportunities for MSU students and faculty, K-12 teachers and educators around the world, broadened their horizons, and facilitated their engagement in international experiences.”
Paine has also been instrumental in supporting college grants given by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). In the last three years, the college has earned $25 million in funding for projects in Mozambique, Malawi and Bangladesh.
GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS
Paine, a professor in the Department of Teacher Education, has also held leadership roles outside of MSU.
Since 2019, she has led the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Future of Education and Skills 2030 Thematic Working Group 1 (Teacher Agency, Wellbeing and Competence). She also serves as a member of Thematic Working Group 2 (Teacher Education and Professional Development). In addition, she is the advisor for OECD’s Case Study Project Teaching Mathematics for Deeper Understanding.
“Lynn is an extraordinary educator who has made a generational impact through her work building global partnerships and exchanges. Her leadership is characterized not only by her ability to develop new and innovative ideas, but also by her efforts to collaborate across disciplinary and cultural divides to nurture those ideas into reality.”
From 2021-2023, she co-led (with Sinclair) the Empowering Female Leaders in Higher Education grant in Pakistan. The two-year project, aimed at addressing the equity gap in women’s higher education in Pakistan, was funded by the U.S. Department of State.
Since 2023, she is a member of the USAID’s Higher Secondary Education Activity. The Bangladesh-based project seeks to improve the quality of teaching and learning practices in higher secondary education. College-level leaders include Paine, Professor Amita Chudgar and OISE Curriculum Coordinator Samantha Caughlan.
“She is brilliant and thoughtful,” said College of Education Professor Amita Chudgar. Chudgar became interim associate dean and director of OISE in January 2024.
“Lynn can engage with complex ideas with a lot of care from multiple perspectives and is an outstanding ally to help educate people about the importance of international work. As a scholar and a teacher, I have often marveled at the way she can allow global ideas to permeate college discourses, seemingly effortlessly.”