International Student Director To Deliver Major Task Force Recommendations On Border Issues

International Student Director To Deliver Major Task Force Recommendations On Border Issues

Buffalo, New York – May 23, 2012 – D'Youville's Director of the International Student Office, Laryssa S. Petryshyn, will present a major "white paper" at the annual international meeting of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors (NAFSA) May 27 – June 1 in Houston, Texas.

A recognized expert in the field, she was selected last year to sit on a seven person national taskforce studying the issue of documenting and defining border commuters and visa issues. Petryshyn will deliver the findings at the national meeting to be held in the Brown Convention Center.

“The Department of State began issuing F-3 visas for part-time border commuters on the southern border and continued issuing I-94 cards for all students and F-1 student status to part-time border commuter students on the northern border. A confusing situation,“ she said.

Border institutions, such as D'Youville, and the students who attend them, have received conflicting messages from several federal agencies. ”Our task force focused on the situation so NAFSA can consider appropriate government liaison and to position our Association as an indispensable source of guidance to government agencies. This would be important in forming regulations and policies affecting student and scholar's mobility.”

Petryshyn has led D'Youville's International Student Office since 2004, overseeing the management of all immigration and international services including the Study Abroad Programs at the college. She is a specialist in border commuter student issues.

A graduate of the University at Buffalo where she earned a degree in Political Science with a minor in Russian, she holds a master's degree in Interdisciplinary Social Science in International Trade and Commerce and Political Science from UB.

NAFSA, with some 10,000 members, is the largest nonprofit professional association in the world dedicated to international education. Its Annual Conference and Expo attracts more than 8000 individuals from 120 countries each year, according to the Association.

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Contact Ms. Petryshyn at 716-829-8119 for more information.