Yuma, Arizona - Arizona Western College Dean of Career and Technical Education Reetika Dhawan was recently afforded the opportunity to attend a conference of her choosing as part of the award package for winning AWC 2017 Teacher of the Year.

Dhawan applied and was selected to attend the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) international conference at Harvard University. A total of 7,000 people applied and only 300 were chosen to attend HPAIR. Applicants were required to submit a video about why they wanted to attend, write an essay about their field of expertise, and be interviewed as part of the selection process. Out of the group of 300 that were chosen to attend, 100 were given the opportunity to present an abstract before and after keynote speakers. Dhawan presented an abstract about the entrepreneurship model used at AWC.

“Our entrepreneurship model is to work with local industry and what their needs are instead of the degree model, which is, ‘Here is the degree, now go look for a job.’ Being in a small community, our programs focus on the needs of the region first before the needs of the state or the country,” said Dhawan.

The five-day, annual HPAIR conference gives attendees a valuable opportunity to discuss international challenges and trends through plenary sessions, panels, keynotes, workshops and case studies.

Dhawan was named AWC Dean of CTE in August after three years as the Co-Chair for AWC’s Mathematics Division.