Biographies

Anna Verhoye is a Communication Studies instructor who began her teaching career in 1986. Anna has received a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Communication Studies with emphases in International Leadership, Management, and Organizational Culture. She has earned a Master's Degree of Social Justice from Marygrove College in Detroit, Mich. and has a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in communication from San Diego State University. As an undergraduate, her emphasis was on nuclear war issues.

Along with teaching, Anna has done executive coaching for major companies across the United States and internationally and continues to work as a communicologist, or communications skills coach, specializing in organizational, interpersonal and family communication. Moreover, a has served on numerous Boards and served as Board chair of many; she is the founder and executive director of La Paz International Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting international anti-imperialistic development initiatives. Dr. Verhoye is diversified in her ambitions, in addition to her teaching, she is a Lifestyle Medicine coach where she combines her communication knowledge and knowledge of health and wellness to help people achieve their wellness goals.

Anna is director of Learning Through Serving, an international consortium that takes students, faculty, and community members to third-world countries to increase awareness of global social issues. More recently, Dr. Verhoye has launched Earth Keepers, an international organization focused on supporting, building, and training others how to create sustainable, alternative, homesteading opportunities. On average, she speaks at three conferences or workshops a year in the areas of service-learning, social justice and peace issues, interpersonal and family communication, and spirituality.

Anna has received a number of awards, including:

• National Award Recipient, Maricopa Service Learning Award in the area of International Education
• Numerous Golden Apple Awards, Outstanding Teaching

While teaching, she has received several grants, including:

2017/2018

• $84,000 grant, Firefly Scientist’s Foundation for the development and execution of a Thai Stove Project and a Tanzania Women’s Pottery Project. Both projects were directed under the leadership of the La Paz International Foundation and were anti-imperialistic international development initiatives.

2007

• $5,000 grant, DCTC (Dakota County Technical College). Grant awarded for the development of learning education through service-learning and civic engagement.

2006

• $10,000 grant, Center For Teaching and Learning
• $5,000 grant, DCTC
• $3,000 grant, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota
• $1,000 grant, Center for Global Education. Grant awarded to manage national conference, Never Again All Over Again: Teaching and Learning About Genocide and War Crimes.

2004

• $15,000 grant, Center For Teaching and Learning. Grant awarded for the purposes of expanding the international Learning Through Serving program and creating a Center For Teaching Excellence on a college campus in Rosemount, Minn. campus.
• $14,000 grant, Minnesota Campus Compact and Higher Education Services Office. Grant awarded for the purpose of expanding the international Learning Through Serving program. Expansion will occur within the Minnesota Statesystem, including more campuses in the program and program development in two countries in addition to Guatemala.

2003

• $1,000 grant, DCTC Foundation. Grant awarded for the purpose of creating the international Learning Through Serving program
• $1,000 grant, DCTC Foundation. Grant awarded for the purposes of developing a "Kids College" summer program at DCTC Rosemount campus.

2002

• $6,500 grant, Center For Teaching and Learning. Discipline grant awarded for the purposes of organizing, delivering and assessing a Speech Professional Across Minnesota annual conference.

2001

• $5,000 grant, Center For Teaching and Learning. Discipline grant awarded for the purposes of organizing, delivering and assessing a Speech Professional Across Minnesota annual conference.

Over the past 30 years, Anna has researched and written numerous papers and presentations on leadership, management, creativity, training and development, organizational communication, anti-imperialistic international development, and lifestyle medicine. She has spoken at dozens of conferences/workshops on various topics ranging from service-learning and civic engagement to team building, relational communication, Enneagram, spirituality, diversity, and global issues.

Climbing volcanoes, doing extreme treks, hiking, running marathons, hanging out with her husband and their three, "very cool" adult children, reading, doing artwork, friends, and traveling are things that bring Anna the greatest joy.

When she's not teaching, Anna spends much of her time working in the field of social justice or pursuing peace issues. She is a strong advocate for people "who seem to be invisible to much of the world."