When Katrina Struloeff boarded the first of several flights that would take her from Philadelphia to Sierra Leone, she wasn’t sure what to expect on the other end of her more than 4,000-mile trip. She had never been to the African content before. The location of her placement at Central University was listed simply as mile marker 91, roughly three hours away from the city of Freetown. And the project she was preparing to undertake as part of her Fulbright Specialist award was extensive: helping to develop capacity for the seven-year-old Central University to start graduate programs.
What she found when she arrived, however, was a young but quite technologically advanced school, running on solar power and deeply invested in innovation and homegrown tech solutions.
“What stood out most was the strong commitment to collaboration and continuous learning across the university community,” said Struloeff, director of growth and impact at Catalyst @ Penn GSE. “Faculty, staff, and students alike were eager to engage in meaningful dialogue about the future of education and their role in shaping it. I was particularly impressed by the university’s investment in technology, from developing their own learning management systems to managing their own infrastructure, which reflects a deep commitment to innovation even in resource-constrained contexts.”
The Fulbright Specialist model funds short, intensive, high-impact, project-based partnerships that connect U.S. expertise with global needs. Struloeff’s assignment spans two two week visits, the first completed in February and the second set for August.
Central University, which serves approximately 1,000 students, is preparing to launch its first graduate programs, but, like many young institutions, it faces challenges. Faculty members are eager but new to curriculum design. Policies that structure academic life—from grading scales to research expectations—are still emerging. And the university’s leadership wants its programs to meet international standards while remaining responsive to local needs.
Struloeff—a scholar–practitioner whose work bridges educational leadership, research design, and innovation—began her work by listening.
“They did such a great job of welcoming me and engaging with me,” she said. “They were really open and hungry for suggestions.”
Across her visit, she collaborated with faculty and administrators on curriculum modernization, with special attention to technology integration. The university’s vision is ambitious.
“They’re a tech and innovation university,” she said. “They’re like, ‘We want AI worked into all of our offerings’”
Struloeff drafted foundational academic policies, including the university’s first plus/minus grading system and a policy to guide interpersonal boundaries between instructors and students—an especially pressing need in a context where many instructors are only a few years older than their students.
She also helped lay groundwork for building the university’s research culture: sharing lectures and texts on research design, shaping a faculty research interest survey, and identifying opportunities for future cross institutional collaboration. With a young faculty, many of whom are new to this work, this represents a vital and long-term capacity-building effort.
One of the most resonant moments of the trip for Struloeff was a large-scale Continuous Improvement Workshop that she facilitated. Using educational improvement science as her frame, she led participants through a process of imagining the future of higher education. Expecting an audience of 25, she was stunned when more than 200 students, staff, and faculty arrived.
The workshop explored how institutions can test ideas quickly, learn from small changes, and build cycles of inquiry to strengthen teaching and learning. For Central University—agile, innovative, and eager for tools to move forward—the approach resonated immediately.
“It really helped me re-see what’s possible when institutions are nimble,” she said. “They can make changes faster.”
Struloeff also forged meaningful connections, both personal and institutional. She met frequently with Chancellor Muckson Sesay, whose mentorship, conversations on leadership, and daily collaboration she described as among the most meaningful parts of her experience. She introduced her colleagues at Central University to Penn GSE’s EdTech programming, including the Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition and Catapult virtual accelerator. She connected leaders there to global climate and leadership work happening through Catalyst. And she began designing interviews for a new research project on women in educational leadership in Sierra Leone—work she’ll continue on her August visit.
“I think having a footprint there is great for Penn GSE,” she said. “It helps them, but it also helps us, because if you look at trends, Africa is really going to be leading the world in tech revolution.”
Central University is at a critical inflection point. With targeted support in faculty development, curriculum modernization, research capacity, and technology integration, the university has strong potential to emerge as a regional leader in applied education, sustainability, and innovation.
Struloeff, who was the first Fulbright Specialist recipient ever at the university, sees so much potential in the ongoing partnership. She envisions future Fulbright students from Central University studying in the United States, design sprints that could connect Penn GSE and Sierra Leonean innovators, and ongoing leadership development opportunities across institutions. She even hopes to apply for another Fulbright to return and continue her collaboration with Central University.
“I definitely feel like I built friendships and relationships with people,” she said. “Some of the best conversations I had were just sitting with the chancellor after our workdays, talking about what leadership is. It was really beautiful.”
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