Center for International Education - Annual Report 2017

2016-17 ANNUAL REPORT

The Center for International Education

Letter from the Director

It is a pleasure and honor to introduce the 2016-17 annual report of the Center for International Education. The year was extraordinarily exciting as we moved into the Ruscio Center for Global Learning and undertook a broad array of new and expanded programming initiatives.

As you can imagine, W&L’s agenda for international education and global learning is robust. It thrives upon the energy and ideas that inform the interests of our students and faculty, and enables them to pursue global educational opportunities while broadening and deepening the international experience on campus. It is indeed inspiring to engage with them as they describe their experiences, their aspirations and the passion that drives their desire to pursue lifelong learning, personal achievement, responsible leadership, service to others, and engaged citizenship in a global and diverse society while enhancing the life of the campus.

The Center for International Education facilitates and coordinates all aspects of global learning. Latha Dawson works with some 15-20 faculty and 150 students each year to organize our hallmark Spring Term Abroad program. In 2017, courses spanned the globe, from Ireland to Nepal and from China to the Caribbean.

Cindy Irby advises all students going abroad for the Fall and Winter terms, and during the summer. Every year, she works with more than 150 students to identify study abroad programs that meet our high academic expectations and enable our students to gain the experience of living and learning among people and cultures from across the world. Working with the International Education Committee, the center awards the Certificate of International Immersion each year to students who demonstrate exemplary engagement abroad and a dedication to using their experiences to enrich campus life.

Hunter Swanson is our International Student and Scholar Adviser. Working with 80-100 international students, our Foreign Language Teaching Assistants and numerous visiting scholars each year, he coordinates all aspects of their arrival, departure and time on campus.

Helen MacDermott works with us to coordinate all aspects of our grant programs and center events. Her guiding hand has been evident throughout the year as our two-year Colloquium on Borders and their Human Impact commenced and enlivened the campus with speakers from across the undergraduate and legal disciplines.

It is a pleasure to have such fine staff as colleagues, and a delight to know that each day, we work with the campus community to promote the global experience at home and abroad. I hope this brief annual report provides a sense of the excitement and excellence that animates the center. Please keep up-to-date with our activity on our website at go.wlu.edu/global

Best wishes from Lexington…and the world.

Study Abroad and Spring Term Abroad

Each year, some 150 students go abroad for Fall or Winter term, or both. In addition, another 120150 go abroad in Spring Term on faculty-led programs, and an increasing number of students use their summer to study, conduct research, do service work or participate in internships. Each year, our students are abroad in some 30 countries across every continent (except Antarctica…for now).

Of course, Spring Term Abroad remains a hallmark part of the Washington and Lee experience. Our Spring Term Abroad course offerings continue to highlight the diversity and creativity of our faculty as they share remarkable learning experiences across the globe and across the disciplines with our students. It is not uncommon for students to stay in the country to engage in follow-up internships or research. The following data summarize our study abroad trends and offerings over the last five years and looking forward to Spring 2018.

Five-Year Totals

COURSE

BUS 180: International Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

BUS 390A: The Culture and Business of Ireland

BUS 390B: Leadership and Cross-Cultural Management

BUS 391: Corporate Social Responsibility Practicum

BUS/GERM 392: Layered Berlin: German Culture and the Social Market Economy

CHEM 155: Science of Cooking

Chinese Language: Supervised Study Abroad

ECON/REL 246: Caste at the Intersection of Economy, Religion and Law

ECON 259: The Environment and Economic Development in Amazonas

ENGL 387/REL 387: Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland

ENGN 125: Engineering Marvels

GEOL 373: Regional Geology of Iceland

SPAN 312: Medieval Spanish Cultures in Context

Spring Term 2017 Spring Term 2018

COURSE

ARTH 356 – Science in Art:Technical Examination of 17th-Century Dutch Paintings.

ARTS 223 – Photography and the City

BUS 180 – FY Seminar: Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

BUS 391 – Corporation Social Responsibility Practicum

DANC 202 – Dance Europe

ECON/EDUC 239 – Exploring Childhood in Denmark: Comparing Policies and Practices to the US

FILM 251 – Ethnographic Study of Modern Day Slavery in Ghana: Creating Short Documentary Film

FREN 285 – Contemporary French Society through Film

GEOL 373 – Geology of New Zealand

GEOL 105 – Earth Lab

GERM 305 – Exploring Austria & Hungary (Traces of Empire)

HIST 210 – Paris, A Contested City

HIST/THTR 227 – History and Culture through Theatre

JAPN 100,115, 265, 365 – Supervised Study Abroad

PHYS 125 – Particle Physics at CERN

SPAN 214 – Contemporary Spain in Context: (Re)searching Spanish Identity and Culture in the 21st century

SPAN 216 – Living on the Edge: Identities in Motion in Argentina and Uruguay

COUNTRY FACULTY

Denmark Rob Straughan

Elizabeth Oliver

Ireland Roger Dean

British Virgin and Leeward Islands

Jeff Shay

Denmark Rob Straughan

Elizabeth Oliver

Germany Paul Youngman

Drew Hess

Italy Marcia France

China Hongchu Fu

Nepal Tim Lubin

Shikha Silwal

Brazil James Kahn

Ireland

Marc Conner

Alexandra Brown

England Kacie D’Alessandro

Iceland David Harbor

Seville, Spain Matthew Bailey

COUNTRY FACULTY

Netherlands Erich Uffelman

Paris, France Christa Bowden

Denmark Rob Straughan

Elizabeth Oliver

Denmark Rob Straughan

Elizabeth Oliver

England Jenefer Davies

Denmark Tim Diette Haley Sigler

Ghana Stephanie Sandberg

Toulouse, France Stephen McCormick

New Zealand Chris Connors

Belize Lisa Greer

Austria Debra Prager

Paris, France Sarah Horowitz

Scotland Mikki Brock

Jemma Levy

Japan Janet Ikeda

Switzerland Irina Mazilu

Dan Mazilu

Cadiz, Spain Antonio Reyes

Argentina Seth Michelson

W&L Renews Relationship with Oxford; Three Students Selected for New Study Abroad Program

In early 2016, Washington and Lee University signed a memorandum of understanding with Oxford University’s Mansfield College that would allow W&L students to study at the university in the U.K. beginning in 2017-2018. Three students – Kenta Sayama (Environmental Studies), Mohini Tangri (Politics) and Ben Fleenor (Philosophy and German) – will spend their junior year there, studying a broad range of subjects across the humanities and social sciences, while taking in the sights and sounds of Oxford.

While the three students intend to study a wide variety of subjects, all expressed interest in Oxford’s new Bonavero Institute of Human Rights. They are also looking forward to experiencing the tutorial style of teaching.

“While one important aspect of global education is exposing students to different cultures and different people, it is also about exposing them to different educational models,” said Mark Rush,

director of the Center for International Education. “The tutorial system at Oxford will broaden and deepen their exposure to different pedagogical structures, which will be a great addition to their educational experience.”

Sayama, Tangri and Fleenor will not be alone at Oxford this fall. They will be joined by Pasquale Toscano ’17, W&L’s newest Rhodes Scholar. In addition, Jennifer Strawbridge ’01 will already be at Mansfield College, where she now serves on the faculty of Theology and Religion. Finally, Conley Hurst ’17, a W&L History major and Music minor, will join the W&L delegation to Oxford as he pursues a master’s degree.

As one of Mansfield’s partner institutions, Washington and Lee is invited to nominate up to five students to spend each academic year there. Applications for 2018-19 will be solicited in the fall and nominees will be selected early in winter 2018.

Kenta Sayama ’19, Mohini Tangri ’19, and Ben Fleenor ’19

Our International Students

Washington and Lee welcomes 27 international and exchange students for the 2017-18 academic year. Eighteen are undergraduates and nine are law students. They hail from 14 countries. In total, we host 92 international students from 35 countries for 2017-18. In addition, we welcomed seven new Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs).

Distribution of International Students by Home Country, 2017-18

Ekaterina Tsvetkova ’20, Hammad Ahmad ’19, Jae Jung ’20, Hanxiao Li ’20, Anu Shrestha ’19, Eric Zhang ’20

FLTAs and International Students on Campus and in the Community

Each year, W&L hosts some seven or eight Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs - pictured above), along with our international and exchange students. FLTAs do not teach classes, but they assist with them in numerous ways. They frequently can be seen conducting language tables over lunch or dinner, where students can practice speaking the languages they are studying. At quiet times in the Ruscio Center for Global Learning, the Atrium echoes softly with the voices of FLTAs working closely in tutorial sessions with students. At other times, the Atrium and other parts of the campus (and the community) resound with much more noise as our FLTAs coordinate cultural events. Tea ceremonies, dance lessons, films and culinary events, such as the French and Moroccan cuisine night or the annual Arabic dinner, are just a few of the events that our FLTAs lead and inspire.

Among the many events that celebrate the enthusiasm and creativity of our FLTAs and international students, one stands out as a typical, wonderful success. Every February, Girl Scouts all over the globe celebrate World Thinking Day, an occasion that is meant to promote global awareness and connect girls to the cultures of the world with special activities. In 2017, as in years past, Washington and Lee University’s Center for International Education got in on the fun, sending a group of FLTAs and students to spend time with about 45 local Girl Scouts ages 5-12. It was not difficult to find volunteers!

Lexington’s World Thinking Day event took place on February 11 at R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church. There, the W&L students and FLTAs set up seven separate stations for internationally themed activities, and the girls, parents and

Anna Jerusalem Germany, German

Imad Baazizi Morocco, Arabic

Michiko Nakada Japan, Japanese

Olga Dunaevskaya Russia, Russian

Lucía Cespedes Argentina, Spanish

Camille Bouillon France, French Mengsu (Su) Kong China, Chinese

scout leaders rotated through the stations for hours of fun and learning.

Michiko Nakada and Nao Okada ’17 showed girls the art of origami, teaching them how to make origami hearts out of colorful paper. Camille Bouillon ’17 showed guests how to make crepes, and everybody enjoyed sampling the fruit of their labor (with tasty fillings, of course). Imad Baazizi ’17 showed girls how to write their names in Arabic, while Lucía Cespedes ’17 got them on their feet for a traditional Argentinian dance. With Mengsu Kong, scouts cut colored paper into the shape of the Chinese letter for spring. Ekaterina Tsvetkova ’20 showed them how to make bracelets for Baba Marta, a Bulgarian holiday that celebrates the coming of spring, and Anna Jerusalem ’17 supplied the materials and instruction for painting eggs.

“It was a great pleasure for me to work with these motivated and open-minded young women and to see how eager and interested they are in learning new skills,” Jerusalem said.

Girl Scout leader Amy Swisher said Washington and Lee international students and staff have participated in the World Thinking Day event a number of times in the past, and it is always a big hit with the girls. This year, she said, the scouts “were really excited and had a lot of fun.”

“At the very end [of meetings] we always do a friendship circle,” she said. “We get in a big circle and cross arms right over left, then do a friendship squeeze, passing the squeeze all the way around the circle. We included the W&L guests in the circle this year and they thought it was really fun.”

Other outreach activities in 2016-17 included teaching native dance to the students at Waddell Elementary School, offering lectures at the Kendal at Lexington Retirement Community and hosting public events on campus on various aspects of politics and culture. The Girl Scouts, and the campus and Lexington communities, look forward to welcoming our FLTAs and international students for 2017-18.

Ekaterina Tsvetkova ’20, Lucía Cespedes ’17, Mengsu Kong, Michiko Nakada, Nao Okada ’17, Imad Baazizi ’17, Camille Bouillon ’17 and Anna Jerusalem ’17.

W&L Junior Awarded Davis Projects for Peace Grant

In July and August, 2017, Angel Vela de la Garza Evia ’18 conducted a three-phased STEM-related project — STEMito — for primary school students at the Escuela Primaria Profesor Eduardo Caballero Escamilla in his home city of Monterrey, Mexico. Vela de la Garza Evia received support for the project from the United World Colleges/Davis Projects for Peace program and the John M. Evans Fund for International Experiences. Angel worked on the project with fellow W&L student Matthew Lubas ’18 and colleagues from the Universidad de Monterrey and the American School Foundation of Mexico High School.

The first phase of the STEMito project entailed redesigning, refurbishing and equipping a public school classroom to become a STEM center. In the second phase, Vela de la Garza’s team designed a STEM curriculum and trained the school’s teachers so they can use the newly equipped room to its full potential. The project culminated in a month-long summer program for the school’s students, with each of the four weeks concentrating on one of the letters of STEM.

“The goal of STEMito is to expose students at the primary level to a wide variety of STEM topics in a way that they have never experienced them before,” explained Vela de la Garza Evia. “By doing so, we want to increase the curiosity and motivation that the students have towards learning STEM-related topics. In addition, our goal is to train teachers on new materials and learning methodologies related to STEM so that they can implement them in their classrooms throughout the academic year.”

The project is a perfect fit for Vela de la Garza Evia, a Bonner Scholar who is studying chemistry and engineering. “This project combines my passion to serve with my interest in sharing what I learn in my own classes,” he said.

“The program combines Angel’s curriculum of study with his profound desire to assist children in a school that does not receive government funding,” said Prof. Mark Rush. “Accordingly, working with the students and his collaborators, Angel will offer what could be a life-changing experience for these children as he opens their eyes to the mystery and beauty of the STEM fields.”

For Vela de la Garza Evia, the grant represents an opportunity to make a positive impact in his country. “We will show students the wide array of pursuable options that are out there, that otherwise they would have never known existed,” he said. “If, through this program, we can motivate the students to continue their academic trajectory and make them realize that they can study STEM, then I am willing to put in all my effort to start making the difference.”

As a partner school of the Davis United World College Scholars Program, Washington and Lee University is eligible to receive Davis Projects for Peace grants. The program is funded by the late Kathryn Wasserman Davis, who established it on her 100th birthday in 2007 as a way to challenge young people to plant seeds of peace throughout the world with innovative projects. At least one Washington and Lee student has won a Davis grant each year since the award’s inception.

Angel Vela de la Garza Evia ’18

Faculty Activity Summary

In 2016-17, Washington and Lee faculty engaged in myriad research, teaching and other activities that promoted and manifested global learning. Besides leading Spring Term Abroad courses, the faculty engaged or oversaw numerous overseas research projects undertaken by our students, went on the road to evaluate sites for new STA courses and programs, hosted international visitors, and participated in the Colloquium on Borders and their Human Impact, which was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Projects ranged from archival research in the U.K. with Profs. Gertz and Pickett to designing digital representations of ancient buildings in Italy as part of the “Florence as It Was” project (with Prof. George Bent). Others included developing water filtration projects in Belize (under the guidance of Profs. D’Alessandro, Ericson and Kuehner) and studying geological formations in Crete (with Prof. Jeff Rahl). Faculty spanned the globe to develop new Spring Term courses on everything from volcanism in Iceland to the slave trade in Ghana.

The two-year Colloquium on Borders and their Human Impact highlighted the diversity of our faculty expertise and interest, and demonstrated the finest aspects of liberal arts education as they

enriched campus life by hosting speakers from across the disciplines. “Borders” took on many manifestations as speakers discussed, performed or demonstrated the many meanings and notions of “borders” and how they affect our lives.

Topics included poetic and artistic manifestations of life along the U.S.-Mexican border, the study of migration across national borders, and migration to nowhere—exile—and the implication for human identity. Speakers addressed the consequences of building new borders where none existed in the Middle East and the importance of studying epidemics and how viruses recognize no borders—political or corporal. Jeffrey Rosen discussed how the border between the private and the public has been transformed forever by advances in technology, and the law school hosted an engaging series on the impact of migration on Germany and Europe.

In 2017-18, this colloquium, which is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will include events on the disappearance of disciplinary borders between the natural and social sciences, comparisons of currency panics and epidemic outbreaks, the legal implications of changing border controls in the 21st century, and the creation and dissolution of national borders.

Mellon Colloquium on Borders and their Human Impact

2016-17 Speakers

9/13/16 Theodore H. Kattouf, CEO AMIDEAST, Former US Ambassador to Syria and the UAE

“ Syria: A Case Study in the Forces Roiling the Middle East ”

9/22/16 Jimmy Santiago Baca, American Poet and Screenwriter

“ Never Give Up”

10/19/16 Judge Franziska Höette

“ The Refugee Crisis as Crisis for German Justice ”

10/25/16

David Sugerman, U.S. Public Health Service, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University

“ From the Colonnade to the CDC: A Career in Public Health”

11/3/16

11/3/16

Priscilla Layne, UNC Chapel Hill, Department of German/Slavic Languages

“ Migration to Germany – A Cultural History ”

David Farrell, Department of Political Science, University College, Dublin

Richard Katz, Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University

Krzysztof Jasiewicz, Professor of Sociology, Washington and Lee University

Mark Rush, Waxberg Professor of Politics and Law and Director, Center for International Education, Washington and Lee University

Roundtable Discussion: “ Brexit and the Crisis of Democracy in Europe ”

11/29/16

Judith Baca, UCLA Department of Chicana/o Studies, Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)

“

12/1/16

Imagining America: Sites of Public Memory ”

Ricardo Dominguez, UC San Diego Department of Visual Arts, The Electronic Disturbance Theater

“ Disturbance Gestures: Art between the Lines ”

1/31/17

Nikesh Shukla, Novelist, Screenwriter, and Editor of the anthology, The Good Immigrant

“ The Good Immigrant: Writing, Activism and the Importance of Representation”

2/1/17

Maurizio Albahari, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame

“Crimes of Peace: Methods and Ethics of European Responses to Mediterranean Migrations ”

3/9/17

3/20/17

Filiz Garip, Professor of Sociology, Cornell University

“On the Move: Changing Mechanisms of Mexico-US Migration”

Jeffrey Rosen, CEO, National Constitution Center and Professor of Law, George Washington University

“ The Curse of Bigness: What Would Brandeis Say About Privacy in the Age of Google and Facebook? ”

3/22/17

3/30/17

Dr. Michael Magoline ’89

“ From Lexington to Afghanistan, My Tribute to Washington and Lee ”

Dominique Nasta, Professor of Film Studies at University of Brussels, Belgium

“ New Romanian Cinema: Crossing National Borders through Irony and Reflexivity ”

3/30/17

Maria-Sabina Alexandru, Professor of American Studies at University of Bucharest, Romania

“ Reperformed Traditions and the Immigrant Experience: The Indian Theater of Roots in the United States ”

3/30/17

Rachel Lewis, Assistant Professor in the Women and Gender Studies Program at George Mason University

“ Precarious Temporalities: Neoliberalism, Sexual Citizenship, and the Global Deportation Regime ”

Ambassador Theodore Kattouf on Syria and the Middle East

Ambassador Theodore Kattouf kicked off the Colloquium on Borders and Their Human Impact on September 14, 2016. He spoke on “Syria: A Case Study in the Forces Roiling the Middle East.”

Kattouf, a leading expert on Syria who is also president and CEO of AMIDEAST (America-MidEast Educational and Training Services, Inc.), has extensive experience across the Middle East. His career in the Foreign Service took him to Kuwait, Damascus and Baghdad. In 1982-83, he was a State Department mid-career fellow at Princeton University. He served as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and ambassador to Syria under Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush.

In front of a standing-room-only crowd in Northen Auditorium, Ambassador Kattouf addressed the long, complex history of ethnic relations and conflict in the Middle East and prospects for achieving — and maintaining — a lasting peace.

Judith Baca: “Imagining America: Sites of Public Memory”

On November 29, 2016, Judith F. Baca, painter, muralist, monument builder and scholar, spoke and gave an artistic presentation in Wilson Hall on “Imagining America: Sites of Public Memory.”

Baca has been teaching art in the University of California system since 1984. She was the founder of the first City of Los Angeles Mural Program in 1974, which evolved into a community arts organization known as the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), which has been creating sites of public memory since 1976.

Baca serves as SPARCs artistic director and focuses her creative energy in the UCLA@SPARC Digital/Mural Lab, employing digital technology to create social justice art. Her public art initiatives reflect the lives and concerns of pop¬ulations that have been historically disenfranchised, including women, the working poor, youth, the elderly, and LGBT and immigrant communities. Underlying all of Baca’s and SPARC’S activities is the profound conviction that the voices of disenfranchised communities need to be heard, and that the preservation of a vital commons is critical to a healthy civil society.

Jeffrey Rosen: Privacy in the Age of Google and Facebook

On March 20, 2017, Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and professor of law at George Washington University, spoke on privacy in the digital age and how Justice Louis Brandeis’s legal thought serves as a guide for negotiating what is clearly unfamiliar territory.

The Lee Chapel event was entitled “The Curse of Bigness: What Would Brandeis Say about Privacy in the Age of Google and Facebook.” Rosen drew upon Brandeis’s legal opinions and writings about the growth of corporate power and the role of government in balancing individual and corporate rights at a time when technology was already beginning to transform the border between the public and private. Brandeis called for a more robust protection of privacy rights in the article he wrote with Samuel Warren in the Harvard Law Review, “The Right to Privacy,” where they outlined the right to be left alone.

Drawing upon Brandeis’s thinking, Rosen also challenged the notion of the “right to be forgotten” that courts are developing in Europe and contrasted it with the right to be left alone. Rosen called for a more thoughtful dialogue about the nature of rights and democracy in the 21st century.

Filiz Garip: Mexican-U.S. Migration

On March 9, 2017, Filiz Garip, professor of sociology at Cornell University, addressed faculty and students in the Atrium of the Ruscio Center for Global Learning. Garip discussed the research and findings in her book, “On the Move: Changing Mechanisms of Mexico-U.S. Migration” (2016).

“Why do Mexicans migrate to the United States? Is there a typical Mexican migrant? Beginning in the 1970s,” said Garip, “survey data indicated that the average migrant was a young, unmarried man who was poor, undereducated and in search of better employment opportunities. This is the general view that most Americans still hold of immigrants from Mexico.”

Using survey data from more than 145,000 Mexicans and in-depth interviews with nearly 140 Mexicans, Garip reveals a more accurate picture of Mexico-U.S migration. “In the last 50 years, there have been four primary waves: a male-dominated migration from rural areas in the 1960s and ’70s, a second migration of young men from socioeconomically more well-off families during the 1980s, a migration of women joining spouses already in the United States in the late 1980s and ’90s, and a generation of more educated, urban migrants in the late 1990s and early 2000s.” For each of these four stages, Garip examines the different reasons why people migrate and migrants’ perceptions of their opportunities in Mexico and the United States.

Garip’s talk was a mixture of deep data analysis, piercing perspectives and thoughtful commentary on the sources of migration and the human suffering and impact of economic change on families as they decide whether and how to escape suffering.

Certificate of International Immersion and Global Learning Leadership Award

Each year, the university recognizes extraordinary accomplishments by students who have spent time abroad and work to draw upon their experiences to contribute to the internationalization of our campus culture. Recipients will have spent at least 13 weeks abroad, incorporated international learning into their curriculum and maintained sustained contact with their host country or countries. In 2017, eight students were selected to receive the Certificate of International Immersion.

Certificate of International Immersion 2017 Recipients

STUDENT

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Jennifer Borman France, Ireland

Bogdan Bors France, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom, Denmark, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Germany, Morocco

Elena Diller India, Chile

Shirley Keating United Kingdom, Belize, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, France, Netherlands

Isabelle McAlevey

Greece, Ireland, Chile

Sierra Noland Peru, Colombia, India, Nepal, Ecuador

Isabella Sparhawk

Kyle Turpin

France, Spain, India

Netherlands, China, New Zealand, France, Iceland

Experiences included teaching in Ireland, learning alternative medical practices and traditions in Chile, gaining a broadened perspective on global affairs in incredibly diverse classroom settings in London, and gaining deep insights to family life in India. The stories and experiences are as incredible as our students are impressive!

Jennifer Borman ’17, Bogdan Bors ’17, Shirley Keating ’17, Elena Diller ’17, Isabelle McAlevey ’17, Sierra Noland ’17, Isabella Sparhawk ’17, Kyle Turpin ’17

Global Learning Leadership Prize

Each year, the Center for International Education awards the Global Learning Leadership Prize to one student whose career at Washington and Lee manifests the values, aspirations and spirit of global learning. Amirah Sakina Ndam Njoya ’17 of Cameroon was the 2017 recipient. She graduated with majors in Global Politics and Studio Art, and a minor in Creative Writing. Amirah’s accomplishments and activities are too numerous to mention. She was an active member of the Student Association for International Learning and the Global Service House while also

serving as president of the African Society. She was one of the first recipients of the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation collaborative grant. Along with Jenna Biegel ’17, Amirah organized a program to refurbish a school in her hometown in Cameroon and develop a summer curriculum for local students, while teaching the local population about purifying drinking water. In 2016-17, she organized a follow-up project to extend the program and assist the school in establishing a program to make it economically self-sufficient. Congratulations to Amirah!

Mark Rush, Director of International Education, and Amirah Sakina Ndam Njoya, ’17.

Summer Research and International Experiences

Our students’ passion for global learning and engagement never seems to pause. Each summer, the Center for International Education supports some 30-40 students who wish to pursue global experiences as researchers, in service learning or in internships. The Global Learning Faculty Liaisons Committee review and select winners, whose projects in 2017 included the study of hydropower in Rwanda, archival research in the U.K., and the environmental components of Buddhist shrines in Korea. The dedication and creativity of our students is truly inspirational!

All of this work would not be possible without the support of our benefactors. We gratefully recognize:

■ The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

■ The Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation

■ The John M. Evans Endowment for International Experiences

■ The Goldman Sachs Endowment for International Experiences

■ The Rusty Johnson ’86 Endowment

■ The Daniel Miller III and Phoebe T. Miller Endowment

■ The Eric T. Woolley Fund for International Internships

Photos on left (clockwise upper-left): Yolanda “Yoyo” Yang ’18 and Savannah Kimble ’18, China; Liza Chartampila ’18, Greece; Matthew Carl ’17, Germany; Xiaoxia Yin ’19, Laura Wang ’19, Natalie Dabrowski ’19, Austin Choi ’18 and Trenten Babcock ’17, China.

2017 Summer Grant Recipients from the Center of International Education THE

STUDENTS

Alexandra Meilech '18

Tiffany Ko '20 and Jiwon Kim '20

Yoko Koyama '19 and Maren Lundgren '18

Thomas Thagard '18

Harry McBride '19

Kennedy Gibson-Wynn '18 and Alfred Rwagaju '18

Alfred Rwagaju '18

Trang Duong '20 and Hannah Denham '20

Catherine Ahmad '18 and Danielle Hughson '18

Samuel Joseph '19 and Aidan Valente '19

Timothy James Briggs '18

Erin Ferber '18

Stephanie Williams '18

Kacie Carter '19

Sesha Carrier '19 and Xiaoxia Yin '19

Bryan D'Ostroph '19

Rosalie Bull '20

Angel Vela de la Garza Evia '18

Erin An '19

Hannah Falchuk '18

Chantal Iosso '20

Matthew Lubas '18

Kassie Scott '18

Margarita Efimov '20

Elizabeth McDonald '18

PROJECT, COUNTRY FUNDING

Public Health Internship, Santiago, Chile Evans

Western Influence on Buddhism and Christianity in South Korea

Community Development Plan at Mandetkene, Cameroon

Endeavor, Evans

Endeavor, Mellon

Shepherd Internship Teaching English, United Planet, Nepal Evans

Shepherd Healthcare Internship: Supply Chain Mgmt. with Globalbike, Tanzania Evans

Energy Supply in Rwanda

Endeavor, Evans

Gastrointestinal Research with Professor Jon Erickson, New Zealand Mellon

Marriage and “Leftover Women” in Vietnam

Research at Bodleian Library (Oxford) on Jamieson’s and Boswell’s Dictionaries of Scottish Language with Professor Taylor Walle

Florence As It Was with Professor George Bent, Florence, Italy

Endeavor, Evans

Mellon, Evans

Mellon, Evans

Human Rights Law Internship with REPRIEVE, London, UK Woolley

Shepherd Healthcare Internship with ELI Abroad at Ayacucho Prison, Peru

Arabic Language Study at CET, Amman, Jordan

Shepherd Internship with Abandoned and Impoverished Children, Rome, Italy, with United Planet

Goldman Sachs

Johnson, Miller

Goldman Sachs

Chinese Folk Singing and Opera, Beijing, China Endeavor, Evans

Shepherd Healthcare Internship with United Planet, Cuzco, Peru

Goldman Sachs

Amazon Ecosystem Internship with Runa Foundation, Ecuador Woolley

STEMito, Projects for Peace, Monterrey, Mexico

Evans, United World Colleges Projects for Peace

Shadowing Physicians in Madrid, Spain with Project Atlantis Woolley

Slovak Spectator Internship, Bratislava, Slovakia Woolley

Characterizing Olivine Deformation in Crete with Professor Jeff Rahl

Mellon, Evans

STEMito, Projects for Peace, Monterrey, Mexico Evans

Cluj School of Public Health Global Practicum Program Evans

United Planet Internship, Spain

Goldman Sachs

Kisspeptin hormonal research at the University of Tokyo Evans

Engineering in Belize

During February Break 2017, Matt Lubas ’18 organized a group of eight students with W&L’s Engineering Community Development club to travel to Belmopan, Belize to build a biosand water filter for a local high school. The students spent a week working with a local organization called Belize BaseCamp, which matches missionaries and volunteers with jobs. The W&L group worked on the site of a former church that is being turned into a high school.

They built a bio-sand filter, which uses natural materials and beneficial bacteria to mimic how the earth itself filters water when it rains. This is the second such filter that W&L students have built in Belize; W&L groups have also built biosand filters in Guatemala.

“The trip to Belize was incredible for two major reasons,” said Walker Brand ’18. “One, our work down there has the potential to positively affect the lives of an entire village for years to come, and two, the group of students that went on the trip were a blast to hang out and collaborate with. I will cherish the memories we made and the virtue of the work we did for the rest of my life.”

Soccer Diplomacy and Refugees

Matthew Carl ’17 and Melina Knabe ’17 traveled to Knabe’s home city of Berlin, Germany to volunteer at an emergency shelter in the city and bond with its residents over a common love for the sport of soccer. Their project was titled “The Refugees of Germany: Soccer, Service and Stories.”

Working with a refugee shelter in a large, repurposed town hall, they contacted Karlos El-Khatib, who works for a Berlin soccer club in a program that uses soccer to integrate cultures. Through his contacts, El-Khatib connected them with another soccer club in the city, and they began to use those resources to plan a large soccer tournament for the children of the shelter.

They spent the bulk of their time leading up to the tournament getting to know residents of the shelter and building their trust. “Something that resonated with me is that there is no substitute for personal interaction. You can read or watch the news, but until you look a 7-year-old girl in the eyes and hear a story about how her home was destroyed, you don’t get it,” Carl said.

The tournament was a tremendous success. Upon their return, Karl and Knabe joined fellow Endeavor Grant recipients Elissavet Chartampila ’18 and Maren Lundgren ’18 to host a community outreach session entitled “In their shoes” that documented the plight of refugees in Greece and Germany.

Center for International Education Staff

Mark Rush Director, Waxberg Professor of Politics and Law rushm@wlu.edu

Hunter Swanson Associate Director and International Student and Scholar Advisor hswanson@wlu.edu

Cindy Irby Assistant Director and Study Abroad Advisor cirby@wlu.edu

Latha Dawson Spring Term Abroad Program Coordinator dawsonl@wlu.edu

Helen MacDermott Office Manager, Kenneth P. Ruscio Center for Global Learning hmacdermott@wlu.edu

204 W. Washington St. Lexington, Virginia 24450

go.wlu.edu/global

Credits:

Writers: Lindsey Nair, Drewry Sackett

Layout: Billy Chase

Photos: Kevin Remington and Patrick Hinely ’73

Other photos are courtesy of the students