Local volunteer honored for welcoming MSU international students into the local community Lisa Homeniuk receives the 2020 Homer Higbee International Education Award
This spotlight is part of a series celebrating the 2020 international award recipients. Learn more about all of this year’s awardees on our International Awards page.
For more than a decade, Lisa Homeniuk has been volunteering to make international education at MSU a rich, rewarding experience for both international students and the wider MSU and Lansing community.
Homeniuk is a volunteer with Community Volunteers for International Programs (CVIP), a volunteer non-profit organization supported by the Office of International Students and Scholars. CVIP’s programs and services, which are free for participants, aim to promote mutual cross-cultural education, understanding, appreciation and friendship between the greater Lansing community and MSU’s international students, scholars and their families.
Homeniuk has supported many of CVIP’s programs during her time as a volunteer, including serving as the organization’s vice president and president. In 2008, she reestablished CVIP home visits where international students and scholars are invited into American homes for tours, conversation, and tea. “The majority of my students had never been in an American home and after the visit they talked about it for days,” says Homeniuk. “I became part of the CVIP family right then and there.”
She has also served on the CVIP strategic planning committee, helping develop the organization’s volunteer management plan.
She was nominated by the CVIP executive committee, Dottie Schmitt, Pat Klein, and Stacey Bieler, who describe her approach as wholehearted as well as quiet and unassuming. “She approaches problems with creativity and an open mind, from increasing volunteer recruitment to managing administrative and board meeting dynamics,” said the committee.
As a co-chair of the annual MSU Global Festival, Homeniuk helped coordinate the free community event that offers the greater Lansing community the chance to explore cultures around the world. “Her passion for welcoming international students easily spreads to those around her,” the committee says in her nomination letter.
Homeniuk sees CVIP’s work as more important than ever, especially amidst the stress and difficulty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Supporting MSU international students, scholars and their families while taking care of ourselves can be challenging,” she says. “While face to face contact is preferable, technology enables us to connect with each other one-on-one and in groups. Let’s continue communicating, empathizing and supporting.”
