WASHINGTON, D.C. /eNewsChannels/ — The U.S. Department of State has named Daniela Munca of Moldova, an alumna of the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program, as State Alumni Member of the Month. Throughout January, her leadership and promotion of mutual understanding will be recognized on the State Alumni website (https://alumni.state.gov), the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ official site for the more than one million alumni who have participated in a Department-sponsored exchange program. Each month, the Bureau’s Office of Alumni Affairs, which supports alumni as they build on their exchange experiences, confers the award on an outstanding alumnus or alumna.
As part of the Muskie program, Munca learned about integrating technology into education. Today, as a university lecturer at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, where she teaches a course in integrating Web 2.0 tools into foreign language instruction, Munca applies the skills and knowledge gained during her exchange experience.
As the country coordinator for iEARN, a non-profit organization to empower teachers and young people around the world to collaborate online, Munca volunteers to train teachers from various institutions to implement online education projects. She trained more than 200 students and teachers in 2009. Munca is also a facilitator for the Open World Program and volunteers as a trainer and guest speaker for English teaching-related events. In June 2010, she was the primary trainer with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Mission in Moldova in the “Building Confidence” workshop for participants from the separatist region of Transnistria.
As a leader in the exchange program alumni community in Moldova, Munca continually engages alumni of various exchange programs, assisting them in developing activities. She has won several small alumni grants offered by both IREX Moldova and the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau to implement educational workshops and seminars for Moldovan teachers about the use of online tools to connect and collaborate with U.S. teachers and students. In May 2010, Munca teamed up with Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program alumni to conduct sessions for youth on effective marketing and communications.
Her fellow alumni honored her with the Best Moldovan Alumni Award during the 2009 Annual Alumni Congress and elected her as president of the Alumni Board, which represents alumni of all U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs. When the Moldovan alumni community last fall received formal status as a non-governmental organization under the name Creative Development Association (CDA), Munca was selected to serve as the first CDA executive director beginning in January 2011.
