Leadership team

Harriet Kulis, co-president 2010-2012
harriet.kulis@bloomingtonworldwidefriendship.org
Following college, Harriet Kulis spent four years in the Peace Corps in the Philippines. Her professional career was spent in Chicago, Illinois where she worked for insurance companies. Locally, Ms. Kulis has served as the Vice President of the Bloomington Newcomers Club and is the 2009/10 President for the Bloomington Garden Club. She has been involved with BWF since 2003 and has served on the board since 2006.  This is her second term as co-president. As co-president of BWF, she hopes to encourage more Bloomington residents to meet international students and discover the similarities that can unite us all.

Hiromi Sumiyoshi, co-president 2010-2012
hiromi.sumiyoshi@bloomingtonworldwidefriendship.org
Hiromi Sumiyoshi is originally from Osaka, Japan and previously lived in Ohio and North Carolina before coming to Bloomington. She taught Japanese language and culture courses and worked as a Director of International Student and Scholar Services. She has traveled to the UK, Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada, China and South Korea. Ms. Sumiyoshi has been involved with BWF for two years. Since both her personal and professional interests are in international education, she wants to continue being involved in the lives of international students in Bloomington.

Vice President, vacant

Pat Surra, treasurer 2010-2012
treasurer@bloomingtonworldwidefriendship.org

Charlotte Griffin, secretary 2010-2012
secretary@bloomingtonworldwidefriendship.org

Anne Bright, director 2009-2011
Anne’s concern for international students comes from her love of travel and interest in other cultures. Originally from Virginia, her father’s work moved the family frequently, and she graduated from high school in Nova Scotia. After college she backpacked around Europe for four months then taught high school English for a decade, including two years for the US Department of Defense in Newfoundland. She spent two years in the mid-70’s on the island of Barbados then, upon returning to the states, worked first as a job coach to mothers receiving state aid then as a systems analyst for another decade.

Anne and husband Jim became foster parents in the late 80’s, and Anne earned an MSW in child welfare in 1995. She then worked as a grants writer for various non-profits and a large public hospital. When Jim’s work took them to Japan in 2000-01 she returned to teaching English, now to several groups of interested Asians.

Anne treasures the opportunities she had to live in many places. Coming to Bloomington in 2006, Jim teaches in the IU School of Journalism and Anne is involved in returning the kindness international friends shared with her over the years.

Jillian DeHaan, director 2009-2011

Michael Molenda, director 2010-2012
molenda@indiana.edu
After growing up in Milwaukee and attending Marquette University, Mike earned a PhD in Instructional Technology from Syracuse University.  He joined the faculty of IU in 1972 and taught graduate courses in instructional technology until his retirement in 2005.  During those years he worked with hundreds of international students and traveled widely in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.  With empathy gained from having been a foreign student himself, he became active in BWF in 1999 to continue to meet international students and help them adapt to life in Bloomington.  He and his wife, Janet Stavropoulos, also enjoy cultural travel, especially in the Mediterranean world.

Sue Speichert, director 2010-2012