Dr. Viman-Miller with 3rd year communications and engineering students 

For the Spring 2023 semester, Assistant Professor Dr. Raluca Viman-Miller traded in the mountains of North Georgia for the hills of her homeland. Dr. Viman-Miller has brought her international affairs expertise to the Nicolae Balcescu Land Forces Academy, an institute of higher military education in her native Romania. 

While at the Land Forces Academy (LFA), located in Sibiu, Romania, Dr. Viman-Miller will be acting as a visiting professor and will teach various classes on various topics.  

During a recent conversation, Dr. Viman-Miller said “I teach students participating in the international semester. In the international semester we have 46 international cadets from a variety of countries, plus 100 Romanian cadets. I collaborate with the professors teaching these classes and I lecture on diverse topics such as international organizations, collective security issues, theories of IR etc. I also collaborate with professors teaching regular classes for the Romanian undergraduate cadets seeking to obtain Military Science and Communications Engineering degrees.” 

Alongside teaching international students at the Land Forces Academy, Dr. Viman-Miller is also learning about different teaching styles: “I am invited to sit in a variety of classes to familiarize myself with different teaching methods and discuss the differences and similarities from a pedagogic perspective.” 

Not only is Dr. Viman-Miller teaching while abroad, she will also be involved in international conferences including an international student conference called SECOSAFT and the Knowledge-Based Organization Conference (KBO).   

“I collaborate in the international conferences organized for students within the Interational Students Week. I coordinate a couple of teams working on research projects which will materialize in a research paper and presentations for SECOSAFT. I will [also] be a keynote speaker for a transnational workshop project meeting on strategic partnership May 9th“ 

When asked about why she decided to teach abroad this semester, she said “It is an opportunity that no-one should pass. It is an exchange that should help me, the department, and UNG deepen the collaboration with LFA. This experience, although at the beginning still so far, has been unbelievable. LFA has gone above and beyond to offer me the best level accommodation, access to their resources, and collaboration with their students and faculty.” 

[Author: Orla Fennell IA’23]