Kristin Oberheide

Dr. Kristin Oberheide is the Director of the Office of International Affairs (OIA). The OIA Team provides international student and scholar compliance services and a variety of auxillary support to a robust clientele and stakeholders, prior to, during, and post-completion of on-campus engagement. The Team operates in a fast-paced, high-demand environment, often with rapid and unexpected external change. We work to improve experiences across the Pratt community by identifying priority areas of need and implementing client-centered interventions and improvements. How to contact OIA and how to give OIA feedback.

Kristin’s first experience in international education was an epically challenging junior year abroad, and post-graduation she got a job entering data in the SEVIS system of the newly formed U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In the two decades since, Kristin has worked with diverse R1 institutions, non-profits, and the federal government. Kristin’s experience includes strategic planning, qualitative and quantitative assessment, policy analysis and advocacy, enrollment management, institutional collaboration and formalized agreements, umbrella fellowship administration, research scholar development, organizational restructuring, community programming, crisis response on broad and individual scales, and travel in nearly 50 countries.

In the past five years at Pratt, Kristin regularly interprets complex scenarios and finds solutions, reduces operational “sludge,” promotes intergroup collaboration and communication, and engages in anti-racist, de-colonialist, and anti-xenophobic efforts. Kristin is passionate about improving overall campus climate, promoting mental health and safety in our community, and continual self-education, advocacy, and allyship efforts to marginalized community members, including non-U.S citizens, English learners, Asian and AAPI members, and U.S./NYC newcomers.

Kristin enjoys biking through Brooklyn, community cat trap-neuter-releasing (TNR), volunteering with Providence House as an Associate Board Member, and writing as creative and therapeutic expression. While Kristin’s personal aesthetic is minimalist, her favorite well-known artwork is Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. Kristin is openly neurodivergent and chronically ill.

Doctor of Education: Education Leadership and Adminstration, University of Texas – El Paso, 2022

Master of Public Administration: Government/Politics/Policy, Cornell University, 2010

Bachelor of Arts: Psychology, German Language and Literature, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, 2003

The International Student Experience Interview Project (2023, 2021). Pratt Institute, not for publication, internal reports available upon request.

The International Student Border Commuter Experience: An Investigation On The Southern U.S. Border (2022). The University of Texas – El Paso, Doctoral Dissertation, available online. Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award (2023).

My blood matters – personal blog