HANCOCK, MI – The Finlandia University Suomi
College of Arts & Sciences is pleased to welcome Päivi
Hakkarainen as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence for the
2011-12 academic year. At Finlandia, Hakkarainen
will teach a Special Topics in Finnish Studies course,
co-teach Digital Technologies and Applications for
Teachers (EDU 203), pursue her research interests, and
work to establish in the Copper Country a Suomi Koulu, a
Finnish School which offers young people an opportunity
to become acquainted with Finnish culture and learn the
Finnish language. Hakkarainen is working to
complete a Ph.D. in social psychology through the
University of Eastern Finland. She also holds a Ph.D. in
education from the University of Lapland and a master of
social sciences/social psychology from the University of
Tampere, both in Finland. Hakkarainen is a
senior lecturer in media education at the University
Lapland, where she also worked as a researcher and
project manager for the university’s Centre for Media
Pedagogy. She has instructed psychology and social
psychology at several high schools in Finland.
“To teach is to learn,” Hakkarainen says of her teaching
philosophy. In Finland, Hakkarainen and her
family live in a small village of around 150 inhabitants
called Välijoki in the city of Rovaniemi. In the Upper
Peninsula, they reside in Toivola. In Rovaniemi,
Hakkarainen engages in volunteer activities to help
low-income children, and she established a figure
skating club there, serving as president of its board
for several years. Hakkarainen and her husband,
Ilkka, have two young daughters, Elli and Anni. She
enjoys living in the countryside and the outdoors,
reading, and watching live and televised figure skating
competitions. Last spring, Hakkarainen and her daughter,
Elli, traveled to Moscow, Russia, to watch the World
Figure Skating Championships
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