Santiago. Hong Kong. Strasbourg. All are study abroad programs that have developed since Jon Booth first arrived at Syracuse University in 1994.

The 65-year-old’s knowledge of the world isn’t confined to study abroad. He’s traveled extensively himself – from Morocco to Switzerland to Costa Rica to Moscow and Leningrad.

But, for Booth, it all began in a village in India more than 40 years ago.

Fresh out of college with no desire to serve in the impending Vietnam War, Booth and his wife volunteered for the Peace Corps. The two stayed in a town eight miles up a dirt road, removed from amenities such as running water and electricity.

Discarded packaging from aerograms – care packages from home – would turn up at the local store. The scraps were reused to bundle food. Booth remembers spending one evening in a field, surrounded by villagers and blanketed by the night sky. Pointing to the moon, villagers questioned him: ‘Do you have one of those where you’re from?’

‘We were so different,’ Booth said. ‘Yet we were the same, all trying to live on this Spaceship Earth.’

Booth left India after a year with the Peace Corps, but his appreciation for human connectivity remained.

He swapped his aspirations to be a policy maker in Washington, D.C. for a path toward international education and the study abroad industry because he wanted to be closer to the front lines of contact.

‘Instead of working on policy issues that I would’ve in the State Department, I wanted to work with human beings,’ Booth said.

He has developed a reputation in the study abroad industry as an innovator and problem solver, a colleague and leader fiercely devoted to helping students see the world. In a few days, he’ll depart SU Abroad after helping to strengthen an already highly regarded study abroad program in the nation.

After totaling 17 years at SU Abroad, he has had a hand in piecing together the intangibles to help create the university’s study abroad standards. He’s been the go-to guy, the person everyone else turns to when emergencies arise abroad.

Booth began at the School for International Training in Vermont, spent four years at the University of Michigan and 15 years at the University of Minnesota before assuming the role of deputy director under then-SU Abroad director Nirelle Galson in Sept. 1994. After 11 years, he then held the executive director post for six.

All told, Booth has amassed more than 42 years of experience in the study abroad industry. He’s also served as the vice president of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, most recently being named a lifetime member of the organization, which is dedicated to connecting students, scholars and educators from around the world. He helped develop study abroad standards adopted and modified by universities across the nation.

Some of Booth’s defining moments during his tenure came while he was under pressure.

During his time at SU, Booth responded to four student deaths abroad, acting as a point of contact between SU and study abroad centers located continents away. He adapted his experience to fit each situation, but admitted that dealing with each death was taxing, despite having to appear calm and nonplussed.

‘It’s emotionally exhausting, and yet, one needs to be strong to support the students who are grieving here and abroad to bring some kind of meaning and resolution to it,’ he said.

When news of international implications such as the Arab Spring uprisings and the Japan earthquake and tsunami broke, Booth – thousands of miles away in Syracuse – was responsible for assuring that the students abroad, who were near the affected sites, remained safe.

Booth has developed comprehensive protocols for faculty and new staff in case of emergencies, said Sue Shane, director of programs at SU Abroad. Booth compiled a document of to-dos in emergency situations. During his time at SU, abroad program options have also expanded from four European centers and a year-old Zimbabwe program. Hong Kong opened in 1996, followed eventually by Beijing, Santiago and Istanbul, though the Zimbabwe program has since closed.

Despite the stress and emotional toll, Booth assumed the responsibility because he had to.

‘You just have to do what you have to do. And that’s what you’re called upon to do,’ said Booth, emphasizing that he was fortunate to be surrounded by a strong SU Abroad team.

His wife, Trish, called her husband’s ability to communicate and remain graceful and calm under pressure one of his greatest strengths. Booth also has the ability to soften people in ‘the way he leans forward, the way he keeps looking at you.’

Optimism, camaraderie and a delicate attention to people also defined Booth’s leadership style at SU Abroad, said Shane, who was on the search committee responsible for bringing him to the university.
‘He’s still like a college grad in his idealism,’ Shane said.

He has also worked on making the study abroad experience more accessible to students from all backgrounds, lower income students in particular, said Carrie Grogan Abbott, director of the Office of First Year and Transfer Programs.

Abbott and Booth partnered closely with SU’s financial aid office as well as centers abroad to make financial support structures available, such as an emergency loan program.

‘At the end of day, he wanted as many students as possible to have the opportunity to study abroad,’ Abbott said.

Despite his professionalism, Booth is also open to playfulness when the occasion calls for it.

Mike Calo, associate director at SU Abroad, recalled Booth performing along to the Village People’s ‘YMCA’ at a gathering with co-workers, wild arm gestures and all. Galson, Booth’s predecessor, called Booth a ‘fantastic participant in the ‘YMCA’ song’ in an email. Abbott also has fond recollections of Booth playing catch with her daughter in the office.

‘I’ve never worked for someone like him and I’m sure I won’t again,’ she said. ‘He’s just a very kind, genuine man.’

An avid sailor, Booth said he plans on sailing, traveling, working on President Barack Obama’s campaign and spending time with Trish and his grandchildren during his retirement.

After years of dedication to the field, Shane said it’s now Booth’s turn.

Said Shane: ‘He was so committed and so dedicated that now it’s time for his family to enjoy that upbeat, can-do smiling face.’

dbtruong@syr.edu

Published on April 30, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Debbie: dbtruong@syr.edu | @debbietruong