Social Profiles

Heidi Arola joined Purdue’s Office of Corporate and Global Partnerships in August 2015 after a 13-year career as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer. In her last position, she served as Chief of the Department of State’s Education USA network, overseeing 400 educational advising centers that promote U.S. higher education in 170 countries to millions of international students. Heidi has a B.A. in English with a French minor from Tulane University, and an M.Sc. in Foreign Service, International Relations, from Georgetown University where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. Following service in the Peace Corps in Cape Verde, West Africa, and work with the Hmong refugee community in St. Paul, MN, Heidi joined the State Department as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer. She spent 11 years overseas, nearly six of which were in Brazil where she was last Public Affairs Officer and Deputy Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Recife, Brazil. Heidi was also posted in Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam and Montreal. In her current position, Heidi’s main role is to help Purdue increase the impact, scale, and sustainability of its global partnerships. She is specifically charged with overseeing Purdue’s comprehensive engagement with India, a country of strategic importance for the university.