Tell us a little bit about your work before joining UVA?

Mangieri: I've always been motivated by curiosity, a desire to experience the possibility of other worlds and ways of being, by the value of epistemological diversity - learning from people in all places and all walks of life - and I've always been interdisciplinary. I was fortunate to study abroad in high school, again as an undergraduate, and have had many international experiences and careers since. As the first in my family to attend university, I don't take any of this for granted. My father is a retired truck driver, labor leader, and organic intellectual, focused on injustices and making the world a better place. I was fortunate to have this inspiration close at hand. Before coming to UVA, I was an archaeological researcher primarily in the Pacific, a geographer in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, an international education leader in the US, Africa, and Europe and an experiential educator most recently in the UAE and Sweden. I've taught at universities in the US and abroad and devoted many years to designing, crafting, and delivering international opportunities that strive to be true partnerships, built on humility and respect. I am honored to have joined UVA Global and for the opportunity to bring these experiences to my work at UVA.

What are your immediate global priorities?
Mangieri: My initial focus is three-fold. I am working with stakeholders across UVA - and with potential partners globally - to develop and launch new UVA overseas offices. These offices will provide a platform for further expanding research and teaching in key areas around the world, creating new avenues for interdisciplinary research and scholarship, in addition to providing further support to those faculty and students already engaged in work on-the-ground at each site.
We are in conversations with several institutions to identify ways to make these offices very responsive to local needs and priorities, to leverage UVA resources in ways that are ethical, meaningful, and valued by our partners. This is an exciting development at UVA and builds on the successes of our China office, in Shanghai.
I will also be working on Grounds to launch a new initiative –- Global Classroom –- to support faculty proposals to internationalize the UVA curriculum. Funded activities may include guest speakers, local projects that enrich the global focus of a course, course-integrated travel that adds a global dimension, materials or events that deepen global engagement on Grounds, and much more. I expect the applications to be fabulously creative and enriching!
My third area of focus is the Scholars at Risk program, which works to provide a refuge for threatened scholars, and their immediate families, whose lives and careers are disrupted in their home countries. Hosted scholars teach, conduct research, advise students, and otherwise engage with the vibrant academic life of UVA, allowing both their important work to resume and benefiting UVA by providing us with unique, first-person access to dedicated, courageous individuals for a short residency.

You started at UVA on the road with a trip to South Africa to explore the possibility of opening a UVA office there. What did you find?
Mangieri: The visit provided an opportunity to meet with university leadership at the University of Western Cape, faculty and staff across the institution, and to view space at Greatmore, the UWC Centre for Humanities Research, which may provide an ideal hub for a UVA office. In addition to UWC, we met with leadership, faculty, and staff at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch, and important institutions like the South African Medical Research Council. Being on the ground was invaluable.
The excitement was palpable when talking with physics faculty at UWC about the new - and world's largest - Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an intergovernmental radio telescope project being completed nearby. We also witnessed a remarkable atelier - the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects- at Greatmore and learned about the impacts of puppetry on the lives of young people in the community.
The visit was incredibly helpful in deepening ties and gathering information to ground these initiatives. We came away convinced that South Africa would be a great place for UVA. While we are exploring several partnership possibilities, regardless of the final set-up, the UVA office in South Africa will work broadly with each of these institutions, with universities elsewhere in South Africa including the University of Venda and the University of the Free State, as well as institutions and partners throughout Africa.

Anything else you would like to add?
Mangieri: There is so much outstanding, globally-focused, work happening at UVA! These new areas will add further dimension and provide students and faculty with even more opportunities, both on Grounds and throughout the world. I'm looking forward to partnering across the university to bring these new initiatives to life.