Co-Founder & Executive Director
cwheller@joinGCE.org
Craig Heller was raised in several different countries and has worked in international education for the past 15 years. After earning his PhD in Higher Education and Women’s Studies from The Pennsylvania State University, he taught at a variety of universities around the world, specializing in social stratification and how education can both create inequality as well as provide opportunities for empowerment.Dr. Heller has organized and led many study abroad experiences for university students and has worked as a teacher and consultant for both The Open Society Institute (part of the Soros Foundation) and the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help, an organization founded by the late Rev. Leon Sullivan, that sends teachers and volunteers to Africa.
In 2000, Dr. Heller and his wife, Dr. Ingrid Martinez Rico, founded Global Community Engagement in an effort to introduce individuals to some of the realities of life in the developing world. Each year GCE leads groups of students and professionals on service learning community engagement projects focusing on underprivileged children.
“My hope is that each person that works with us is moved by a recognition of her own privilege and comes to recognize her ability to help break the cycles of poverty that so many children around the world are trapped in.” Ingrid has long been a champion for children and other underprivileged populations around the world. After working with HIV-positive orphans in Kenya, women's groups in Lithuania and migrant workers in southwest Florida, Ingrid committed herself to a focused effort in the Dominican Republic improving the lives of children who live and work on the streets. “The GCE project to the Dominican Republic in 2007 was a return to my roots as an artist and photographer. The experience I shared and the photographs that I took during that trip rocked me to my emotional core. The pictures that the boys took are equally as intense. Children need an outlet to explore and understand their world and expand their creative talents. I am thrilled to be a part of the Global Community Engagement project as the Director of Creative Development.”
Ingrid Martinez-Rico, PhD
Co-Founder & President
Ingrid has long been aware of the disparities that exist between the privileged and those on the margins of society. She first began an active role in improving the lives of children working at Nyumbani, an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya for HIV-positive children. In 2000, with her husband Craig Heller, she started Global Community Engagement in order to introduce college students in the United States to some of the stark realities for children in the developing world.
Born in Germany of Spanish parents, Ingrid is fluent in Spanish, German and English. After attending her senior year of high school in the United States, she graduated from Deusto Unversity in Bilbao, Spain with a degree in English Philology before earning her PhD in Comparative Literature from The Pennsylvania State University.
Chip Hoffman, MFA
Director of Creative Development
Chip is from Harrisburg Pennsylvania and has his BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and an MFA in Photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Chip has also been a visiting artist at the Banff Centre in Banff Canada. His work in the mediums of photography, handmade paper and performance art have been exhibited, published and are in private collections in Canada and the United States.
Chip presented the idea of introducing photography to the street boys of Santiago for the 2007 Service Learning Project to the Dominican Republic. He joined the group and assisted with the project. The project was an overwhelming success helping to bridge the barriers between the university students and the boys. With their cameras the boys had a new way to see and relate to their world.
Lisi Lau
Associate Executive Director
lisilau@joinGCE.org
Lisi, of Cuban and Chinese descent, was born and raised in the United States and received her Bachelor’s degree in Communication from Florida Gulf Coast University. While at FGCU, Lisi was a very active student leader becoming involved in many organizations for multicultural and international awareness, human rights, and service. She has been working in education for several years particularly with leadership development, student advocacy and intercultural communication.
Lisi has been working and leading international projects with Global Community Engagement since 2004. Inspired by her mentors, Dr. Ingrid Martinez-Rico and Dr. Craig Heller, she has participated in different capacities, starting as a student, continuing as a Program Assistant and now Director of Planning and Operations
“When such a profound opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the underprivileged presents itself to those of us who have been born into a more advantaged situation, we have two choices: we can remain comfortable where we are and say that it’s not our role to help, or we can be proactive in building compassion, recognizing the price that others pay for our comfort.”
Jennifer Mitchell
Director of Business Development
jlmitche@joinGCE.org
Jennifer Mitchell was born in Michigan, raised in Florida and is a graduate of FGCU's Hospitality program. During her time at FGCU she involved herself in many international and multi-cultural organizations and activities that enlightened and sparked her passion for activism. Her professional and volunteer experiences include a focus in business management, customer service and childhood education.
In 2003 Jennifer became involved in FGCU’s Spanish Club (a student led group that provides opportunity to work with unprivileged children in the Dominican Republic). It was there that her bond with Dr. Ingrid Martinez-Rico and Dr. Craig Heller was created and strengthened. Falling instantly in love with the project, the idea of engagement and global sustainability, the culture and people of the Dominican Republic, she sought out various opportunities to give back to the local and international community. In the four years she committed to the club, her role of activities coordinator and mentor to new participants led to her involvement to GCE. Jennifer shares her passion for creating awareness of this vast world in which we share with so many less fortunate and empowering those to take action for change.
“My hope with GCE is that we are able touch as many people as possible, who may be directly or indirectly involved in this project. There is so much of the world that has been untouched, uncared for, or forgotten about; and through mine and GCE’s efforts there is faith that compassion and perseverance will overcome iniquity."
