Jeannine Mercer

Jeannine Mercer is the Academic Program Director of the Lebanon Residency Program, and the coordinator of the program in Thessaloniki where she resides. She oversees almost all aspects of the programs including curriculum, course management, partner relations, student accounts and registration, as well as teaching and mentoring. Prior to the pandemic, she largely planned and executed residencies abroad in Lebanon and Cyprus and assisted in alumni events in the Middle East. She serves on numerous committees with her colleagues in New York such as UCAP, the General Education Review Committee, Academic Integrity, Cultural Studies, and many others. Recently she developed a course called Global Communication & Media for the new Digital Communication program at Empire State University, and it is expected to serve as an online general education course for World History & Global Awareness. She also developed the SUNY Empire online course, Middle East, and is passionate about addressing Middle Eastern stereotypes in Western society.

Currently she is the PI of a grant awarded by the US Embassy in Beirut called “DEI in Lebanon, A Cross-Cultural Dialogue.” The grant will encompass a series of events for students and faculty in Lebanon, including a chance to discuss the impact of culture on DEI topics with SUNY Empire students in New York in online discussion forums. There will also be faculty/staff trainings and a public panel discussion held at AUT with local NGOs on the topic at hand. The Fall 2024 term topic is Neurodiversity, and the Spring 2025 topic is Women’s Issues.

She began working at SUNY Empire in 2005 as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the areas of historical studies & communication, and as a mentor for the Center of International Education. She has taught & developed dozens of courses in these areas for New York and for the locations in Greece, Prague, Albania and Lebanon. She was a COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) coordinator and helped recruit, select & liaise faculty teams across SUNY with faculty from AUT in Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco. She taught numerous other courses for COIL and for other grants funded by the Stevens Initiative, for students around the world. She also helped create virtual residencies, which are open webinar classrooms for students in Lebanon, Turkey, the DR and New York. 

Jeannine is from the NYC metro area. Her B.A. is from Baruch College in Journalism. Her M.A. is from NYU in European Studies with a thesis on the role of Archaeological Identity in national identity. She had worked as a journalist at several publications in the US, Europe, and Middle East, largely covering issues pertaining to culture & society. She has over 20 years’ experience working in international higher education with an emphasis on cross-cultural collaboration and is passionate about creating strategies for equitable & accessible education globally. She is an American citizen with permanent residence in the European Union. She has a daughter and currently resides in Thessaloniki, Greece. Her time zone is 7 hours ahead of EST/DST.