After finishing her doctorate with CIE, Malena returned to Nicaragua where she founded two sister NGO's centered on women's economic and political empowerment: The Center for Economic and Democratic Development, CENZONTLE focusing on education, technical assistance, organization and advocacy; and FODEM-CENZONTLE, a micro-finance organization that facilitates credit. She left the executive director position at Cenzontle in 2001 having received a prize for best practice in the Latin American region.

After leaving CIE, Badziliyi returned to Botswana.  He wrote then:

Maria Diarra Keita is the Director and co-founder, with Cheick Oumar Coulibaly and  Debbie Fredo, of the Institute for Popular Education (IEP) in Mali, West Africa.

After graduating, Barbara worked in Washington, D.C. for six years. She then took a position as the Caribbean Regional Trainer with Habitat for Humanity.  The position was based in Guyana and involved travel throughout the Caribbean training National Directors and local staff. 

Following an unexpected return to the Pioneer Valley after 14 years, I revived connections with long lost friends/colleagues.  With a bit of friendly pressure (read DRE), I’m taking a moment to sashay down memory lane and reconnect with the CIE community.

After leaving CIE Homa returned to Afghanistan.  From 2001 until 2017 Homa worked as a Technical Advisor with UNIFEM/UNWOMEN.  In that role she collaborated with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs on identifying policies and projects to empower women and promote gender equality.  She commented at one point during her work there that “The men think that shelters are a concept from the West that encourages women to run from their homes. A lot of men are trying to damage the reputation of shelters because they are fearful of their girls and women actually defending their rights.”

My career since leaving CIE has focused on teacher training and school/program improvement in developing countries. Generally, my work has been divided between the South Pacific and the Middle East.

After leaving CIE, Antonieta worked as a consultant for various organizations, including ITD in Amherst, John Snow, Inc., and Greater Options for Adolescent Lives, Inc.  She then spent more than 15 years working with the Boston School system.  She served in multiple roles there including working as an Analyst in the Office of Language Learning and Support Services, as the Senior Director for Research & Instruction, and as the Assistant Superintendent for English Language Learners.

Many things in my life have changed since I left Amherst in 1994, but some things remain constant: I am still working on a UMass campus, still doing union and community organizing, still in a socialist group, and still being nagged by DRE to submit past-due writing.

I am currently the Vice President of Equity and Inclusion at Madison College, one of the sixteen technical colleges in Wisconsin. Previous to this position, I served as the Director of the City of Madison Department of Civil Rights for ten years and prior to that, I was the Equal Rights Division Administrator for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. I also served as the Deputy Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.