Announcing Our New Executive Director
**Note, we changed our name in 2021 to be more reflective of our mission. Institute for Village Studies started in partnership with Western Washington University in 1999, and we look forward to carrying on this work as InPlace - Ecocultural Learning Institute.
We are pleased to introduce the new Executive Director of IVS, Ashley Hollenbeck. She comes to Bellingham from Hiroshima Jogakuin University in Japan where she was the director of the Global Studies program and taught classes related to international relations and environmental studies. During her tenure at HJU, she was able to develop curriculum to empower students as engaged citizens in their own communities and founded the service learning program Global Village Vietnam. She has a wide range of experience and is passionate about finding innovative ways to engage with students and local communities to promote more equitable and sustainable development. We are excited to see where Ashley leads IVS during its next phase.
As we welcome Ashley, we are also sad to say goodbye to Charlie Ashbaugh. He has served at the helm of IVS for the last eight years. Through his leadership and dedication IVS was able to expand programming & partnerships around the world. His vision allowed IVS to establish itself as a 501c3 organization and develop a truly sustainable program working at the intersection of community development and service learning. It will be very difficult to say goodbye to Charlie, as he has done so much for IVS and gone beyond the requirements of any job to build IVS into a dynamic and growing organization. With his leadership, we have established an institution that helps students flourish and at the same time nurtures villages around the world. His kind heart, deep intellect and hard work have gotten us to where we are today. All of us are incredibly grateful to have had the privilege to work with Charlie, and our goal is to keep him engaged and to support his efforts to get more deeply involved in community development projects going forward.
