Hang Nguyen is a third-year PhD student in Statistics and a former Citizen Leader Fellow (2022-2023). For her Citizen Leader Fellowship project, she set out to understand the disproportionate number of Honor reports among international students and conducted a year-long ethnographic study on international students’ perceptions of academic integrity. This project paved the way to her ongoing advocacy and involvement in Honor. She is originally from Vietnam and went to high school and college in North Carolina.

The International Student Citizen Fellowship is celebrating its third successful year of student-led, community-focused projects. The fellowship, which started in 2021, encourages and enables international students, student-athletes, and transfer students to play a leading role in making UVA a place where their communities can thrive. “We provide students with a set of tools to carry out an original community building project which grows out of their experiences, interests, and values,” international student and scholar advisor Caren Freeman said.
 

This spring, Abdulelah Alotaibi completes his MA in Linguistics in the department of Anthropology. Originally from Saudi Arabia, he first came to the United States in 2014 on a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistantship. He spent that year teaching Arabic at the University of Maine and came back from 2018-2019 to participate in a one-year exchange program for Saudi teachers, Building Leadership for Change through School Immersion, at Arizona State University. Alotaibi chatted with UVA Global on his varied experiences in the U.S., his teaching, and his plans for the future.

Pieter Giliomee is graduating with M.S. in the McIntire School of Commerce this year. In a conversation with UVA Global, he shares his international background, his reasons for choosing UVA, and his plans for the future.

Yafrainy Familia is a PhD student in Spanish at UVA. She spoke about her project where she analyzes the work of a series of contemporary Caribbean artists through the lenses of colonial resistance, gender, and race.

As Richard Tanson, director of the International Students and Scholars program retires after 30 years of service to UVA, a look at his incredible career dedicated to helping international students from around the world.

Second-year Spanish graduate student Elizabeth Mirabal traveled from Havana to UVA to expand her studies in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American literature, Caribbean literature, and Cuban studies. She spoke about ways nostalgia permeates her intellectual interests, as well as her personal experiences in Charlottesville, and shared her advice for students interested in international research.

It’s a wrap for another successful year of Global Week at UVA! Global Week is organized by the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs every year and is an opportunity for those interested in global topics to learn more about the research opportunities, global collaborations and services available at UVA. This year more than 30 events across Grounds featured art, politics, and culture from around the world and exciting new contributions from students, including five CIO-sponsored events.

Hana Bakhit is a first-year graduate student UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. As war rages in Sudan between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudanese citizens are seeking refuge in neighboring Egypt, South Sudan and Chad. Bakhit spoke about how her experiences in Sudan spurred her interest in democracy and governance, how UVA can help with the current humanitarian crisis, and her goals to use her time at Batten to fight for a better Sudan.

Adrienne Kim Bird is assistant director of International Students and Scholars Program at UVA. At the start of a new academic year, she spoke about the new programs and transitions at the International Students and Scholars Program.

Sidharth Singh is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Mechanical and Aerospace Department at UVA and is working on changing how international students are onboarded. He is hoping that sharing experiences of other graduate student experiences and faculty will be helpful. Singh explains the reasons he is interested in this topic and how he is building the panel.

22 International students and scholar athletes presented their projects they worked on in the 2022-2023 Citizen Leaders Fellowship program.

Human Biology major Hamna Shafiq was fueled by her personal experiences to pursue studies in global health. Now a third-year, she is primed for medical school through her research in undernutrition in vulnerable global populations.

Eren Okandan is a third-year student majoring in global public health who loves to read crime fiction, and follows sports such as Formula 1, soccer, basketball, and football. Originally from Kayseri, Turkey, a city located in central Anatolia, Okandan has been helping raise awareness about the recent deadly earthquake in Turkey that has claimed more than 50,000 people.

International student and researcher Adrián Gutierrez speaks to UVA Global about muons, his journey to UVA, and his advice for international students.