In 2008-2009, Lorie traveled to Qatar (borders Saudi Arabia) three times to teach special events and meeting planning. Her “middle east” students are representatives of leading organizations such as Qatar Foundation, Qatar Tourism & Exhibition Authority, Qatar Islamic & Cultural Center, Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology, Supreme Council for Family Affairs, Aljazeera, Reach Out to Asia, Qatar University, Carnegie Mellon University, Virginia Commonwealth, Texas A & M University, Georgetown University, and many other prestigious organizations throughout the Middle East.

During her travels and in an attempt to involve her Central Michigan University (CMU) students and local community she maintained a working blog, created videos and uploaded them to Facebook, provided interviews to the press, and upon her return - spoke to student and community organizations about her experiences, misperceptions and fears traveling to and working in an Islamic culture.

The Central Michigan University MPI Student Club was formed in October, 2008. On June 5, 2009 – the CMU MPI Student Group received an award of recognition from the Michigan MPI Chapter for being the first only student group in Michigan and third only in the world.