Susan Bantu, from Kenya, feels a little closer to home when she’s teaching Swahili. Additionally, she’s on the selection committee for the University’s Kenya Semester program, is pursuing her Master’s in Counseling and Human Development through St. Lawrence’s graduate program in education, and doing her counseling practicum in the University’s international student services office, as well as leading an international students support group on campus, “to help students deal with adjustment issues, networking and social and academic problems that occur while living away from home,” she says.

Bantu has done in-depth research on the effectiveness of U.S. classes in preparing students for study in non-European countries.  But she says her most rewarding experience as a teacher at St. Lawrence is “Having wonderful students who want to learn Swahili because they have a passion to travel to the beautiful country I call home-- Kenya.

“I have not attended any other institution that offered as much support to its faculty as St. Lawrence does,” says Bantu, singling out funding for her academic research. “The St. Lawrence community is very warm, the chaplain’s office offers support for the multicultural community and the students are always so eager to learn.”

Outside of work, Bantu enjoys going out to eat; “I love to try all sorts of dishes and read recipe books,” she says. She likes walking, dancing and reading, but says, “Most of all I enjoy spending time with my husband and my two lovely daughters.”  And in this election year she has, like so many others, begun following American politics.