Sheetal Shah Named Academic Director at Webster Leiden Campus

Sheetal Shah has been appointed as the new academic director of Webster Leiden Campus. Having been head of the department of behavioral and social sciences since 2013, Shah took on this role as of Jan. 1.

Shah is a psychologist, specializing in the field of counseling for chronic illnesses and trauma; her research interests are focused in the area of modern-day slavery and human trafficking. 

During her time at Webster, Shah founded the Bijlmer project, a research project investigating the needs of victims of human trafficking and now volunteers with the intervention phase of the project called the Bridge2Hope.

The Bridge2Hope is a research and intervention project that addresses the psychosocial and vocational needs of sexually trafficked women and men in the European Union. This project has also been a strong experiential learning component for many courses that are taught in the psychology and GCP program and for faculty members in the International Relations and Media Communications departments at Webster's Leiden campus.

Part of Shah's philosophy of teaching has been to connect students to real-world problems, or what she calls the "classroom outdoors" or "classroom in the community" format. This approach focuses on using experiential learning components in the field to build on the theoretical underpinnings that students learn in the classroom.

Having studied both in India and the UK and has worked with an American educational system within a Dutch/European setting Shah's familiarity with diverse educational systems has helped her understand and effectively respond to the evolving needs and dynamics of the international student profile that Webster caters to as part of its global network.