First Person– Michele Pistone

The RME Network is comprised of a broad range of members that work in the field of education for refugees and migrants, as well as education on human mobility. Our membership includes practitioners and academics, not-for-profit organizations and universities from around the world. Given the enormity of the issues involved and the vast distances between members, we’ve developed RME’s First Person series in which members introduce themselves and the work they are involved in. Want to tell us your story in a First Person video? Please email us at info@rmenetwork.org

In our inaugural installment we speak with Michele Pistone, professor at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Pistone has developed the first university-based online certificate program to train people to become “accredited representatives” who can provide low-cost representation to migrant and refugee families. The Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates (VIISTA) has already enrolled three times the number of students it had budgeted for its inaugural session in the fall.