Wendy Arneson speaks slowly and clearly annunciates each syllable.  Before her sit twenty-four fellow teachers: Tanzanians who teach in medical technology schools in Tanzania.  She knows from experience the importance of clear communication when working with people whose first language is not English.  This knowledge comes from Wendy’s role as a consultant for ASCP Global Outreach.  Wendy has been working as a consultant for ASCP Global Outreach for over four  years. During that time, she has traveled to seven countries where she has devoted weeks of her time to assist in the review and revision of curriculum for schools of medical laboratory technology.  While consulting for ASCP, Wendy helps with curriculum development, teaches classes on teaching methodologies and spends time one-on-one with other teachers to assist in curriculum implementation. 

Wendy is well equipped to work on curriculum review and revision given her years of teaching experience in the United States.  She has worked and taught at multiple medical technology schools in the United States for over fifteen years.  She specializes in clinical chemistry, basic laboratory instrumentation and operations, immunology and serology, hematology, urinalysis and quality assurance and quality control.  She has used her expertise to work on curriculum revision in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania.  In 2009-2010, she will continue ASCP’s pre-service activities in these countries as well as add new countries to the mix, including Cambodia, Cote d’Ivoire and Mozambique.  From early November through mid-December 2009, Wendy will spend three weeks in Moshi, Tanzania and three weeks on the island of Zanzibar.  The purpose of her trip is to conduct technical assistance for two of Tanzania’s medical technology schools as these schools begin to implement the curriculum that ASCP has helped create.  Wendy will be team teaching classes and providing guidance for all faculty on teaching techniques, exam writing and other ways to utilize the new curriculum.

One of Wendy’s fondest memories of working with ASCP Global Outreach comes from a trip to Rwanda.  While there, Wendy worked with faculty at Kigali Health Institute (KHI) on curriculum implementation and teaching methodologies.  She greatly enjoyed the interactive atmosphere at KHI and the ability to share ideas and materials with the faculty.  The students she worked with put on a short play while she was there in order to demonstrate cellular interactions in the immune system.  They drew illustrations of stages of HIV infection and provided group presentations about the DNA PCR method for early infant diagnosis of HIV-1.  This activity reinforced the interactive teaching methods that Wendy and other ASCP consultants encourage throughout curriculum development.

Wendy recently moved from Oklahoma to the Midwest where she lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her husband Dean, the Academic Dean of the School of Pharmacy at Concordia University of Wisconsin, her son Dean Alex, a sophomore in high school, and three cats.  When not bending over backwards to help ASCP Global Outreach, she enjoys movies, good books, the beach, and volunteering her time for her church and Dean Alex’s school.  Wendy has been instrumental in many of ASCP’s pre-service activities and her dedication to the program continues to be a great asset.