Masume Assaf

Member at Large, Leadership Development Committee (LDC)

Masume Assaf retired from Penn State after 40+ years in February 2023, where she worked as the assistant vice provost of international student and scholar advising.

Assaf co-authored the original workshop “NAFSA F-1 Regulations for Beginners” with Linda Gentile as well as a revised electronic edition. For several years she was a member of NAFSA’s Trainer Corps and was a frequent presenter at NAFSA conferences. She served in several leadership roles with NAFSA in Region IX and Region VIII, the national chair of CAFSS (now KCISS), and later as a member-at-large on NAFSA’s Board of Directors.

Assaf has received many awards for service to international education, including the NAFSA Region IX Award for Outstanding Contributions to International Education in 1990, the NAFSA Region VIII Award for Outstanding Contributions to International Education in 2005, the Administrative Excellence Award from Penn State in 2006, the Homer Higbee Award from NAFSA in 2013, and the NAFSA KCISS Award of Excellence in 2017.

She has a B.A. from New York University and an M.S. from the University at Albany (SUNY).