Last month, I wrote about UVA’s exciting return to study abroad with up to 300 students planning to participate in overseas programs during the coming semester after the COVID-related drought in international travel over the past two years. But that is only a part of the story in our resurging global engagement in the coming year.
The new semester will also feature the second round of Global Affairs’ pilot Global Mentors’ program, when ten distinguished international practitioners will virtually visit UVA classrooms to serve as guest lecturers, research advisers, and classroom participants over the course of the semester. In addition, this year the Global Mentors will supplement their virtual roles with short-term visits to Grounds over the course of the semester, during which they will build closer collaborations with their students, perhaps leading to a broader array of study abroad opportunities in the Mentors’ home countries in years to come.
The Global Mentors Program is only one facet of our increased focus on enhancing the global character of the on-Grounds experience for our students and faculty. In the coming weeks, we expect to launch another pilot program that will support the development of classroom collaborative experiences for UVA faculty and students with selected international counterparts.
I hope that these experiences will create opportunities for inquiry into a range of disciplines, building an appreciation for different perspectives and solutions in tackling the world’s common problems.
As the world opens up post-COVID, we will also continue to expand opportunities for other international experiences here on Grounds, including through regular programs – virtual and in person – featuring leading Ambassadors from around the world and others, with lectures and discussions examining a broad array of questions from the future of democracy in Latin America and stability in South Asia following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to the potential for a Taiwan crisis and the health of global democracy.
All these initiatives will help bring us closer to the University’s strategic objective of ensuring an opportunity for a global experience for all of our undergraduates, and as many of our graduate students who seek them. Don’t be left out!
Stay Global!
