Emily Mellen

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Pieter Giliomee in Graduation Regalia
Essay

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.

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Edith Clowes headshot
Essay

Professor of Slavic Languages & Literatures Edith Clowes speaks about the Black Sea Symposium, her own research in the Black Sea region, and about revisioning its productive futures.

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Rolando Vargas under flowering trees
Essay

Rolando Vargas is a 2023-2025 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Global Studies program and the Art department. He finished his PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2022 with the dissertation “Kuna Indigenous Media and Knowledge in the Darién Tropical Rain Forest.” He is also a media artist and has presented his creative work across the globe.

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Phoebe Crisman Headshot
Essay

Phoebe Crisman, Professor in the School of Architecture and Director of the Global Studies program, speaks about a longstanding collaboration between UVA and the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota and their most recent work on youth education and tallgrass prairie resilience.

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Lauren Miller headshot
Essay

In a conversation with UVA Global, Lauren Miller, a professor in UVA’s Environmental Science department shares her work on glaciers, a recent trip to Japan, and the potentially massive impact of Antarctic research on the rest of the world.

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Early Fall on Grounds
Essay

The Center for Global Inquiry + Innovation in the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs awarded a new round of grants to support global research for faculty and graduate students.

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Students holding up research poster at 2023 Lingletes Linguistic Challenge
Essay

When Colton Arney was a senior in high school, his English teacher told him about a program that would help set the trajectory for his UVA career. By the end of that fall, he had become a linguistics champion.

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Yafrainy Familia in a gallery next to a painting of a woman lying down
Essay

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.

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Volya Vysotskaia, Srdja Popovic, and Steve Parks
Essay

Belarusian human rights activist Volya Vysotskaia, Karsh Institute Practitioner Fellow and Serbian political activist Srdja Popovic, and UVA English professor and activist Steve Parks are trying to build a connection between activism and academia. They discuss their recent works and plans for the future.

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Elizabeth Mirabal headshot
Essay

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.

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Cav Man at Global Week
Essay

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.

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Beatriz Silva da Costa headshot
Essay

UVA PhD student Beatriz Silva Da Costa talks about procurements and corruption in Brazil.

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Hana Bakhit headshot on the lawn at UVA
Essay

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.

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Tayyab Safdar headshot
Essay

Muhammad Tayyab Safdar joined as a Global Studies faculty in Fall 2023. He is currently teaching about global development and perspectives from the Global South based on his research on South-South global development relations, in particular the relationship between China and Pakistan.

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Owen is pictured on Safari at Akagera National Park in the Eastern Province of Rwanda where he, Dazhanae Houston, Kimberely Duru, and Shaina Twardus enjoyed a full day excursion where they saw lions, rhinos, giraffes, and more.
Essay

Owen Selden is a third-year student majoring in the Human Biology Distinguished Majors Program and a 2023 Center for Global Health Equity University Scholar. He talked about the global health experiences at UVA and in Rwanda that have inspired him to pursue a future in public health.

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Headshot of Levi Vonk
Essay

Academic and creative writer Levi Vonk joined the University of Virginia as a Global Studies Assistant Professor in Fall 2023 and is currently teaching courses on inequality in the media and global migration. He discussed his research, writing, and teaching.

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Fernando Operé headshot
Essay

Fernando Operé teaches colonial and 19th century Latin American literature and Spanish and Latin American poetry in UVA’s Spanish, Italian and Portuguese department. As founder and director of UVA’s Valencia program, he looks back as the program celebrates its 40th anniversary.

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Chris Gratien and colleague editing the Ottoman History Podcast
Essay

UVA History Professor Chris Gratien speaks about his not-so side gig as part of the recording team for the Ottoman History Podcast, an alternative avenue for scholarly conversation on the Ottoman Empire and the modern Middle East, since its inception in 2011 and how it has enriched his own research and teaching in surprising ways.

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Molly Joyce performing
Essay

UVA Music PhD student Molly Joyce chats with us about her multimedia project "Left and Right: exploring myths of the left side through dance, music, and disability" and her plans for the future.

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Hudson Golino headshot
Essay

UVA Psychology Professor Hudson Golino discusses his recent collaborative project with Professor Mariana Teles "New Tools to Study and Prevent Online Mass Manipulation."

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Students Tyler Busch and Tichara Robertson with Professor Kwame Otu
Essay

In July 2022, two third-year students traveled to Ghana with Professor Kwame Otu for a project called “Scenes of Toxicity.” 

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Stephen Parks headshot
Essay

UVA English professor Steve Parks talks to UVA Global about how his interaction with activists and advocates has changed his academic work and what he and UVA's Democratic Futures Project plan to do next to support and promote advocates for democracy.

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Mona Kasra Headshot
Essay

Iranian American Professor Mona Kasra in the Department of Drama speaks about a recent UVA panel on the situation in Iran, the role of visual media in the crisis, how this impacts her work, and the role the diaspora and higher education institutions can play.

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Hamna Shafiq
Essay

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.

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Federico Cuatlacuatl headshot
Essay

UVA Global caught up with Art Department Professor Federico Cuatlacuatl to talk about his artistic and scholarly practice and his ongoing collaboration with the UnDocu+ Collective, which included a recent event at UVA and in Charlottesville.

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Adrián Gutierrez at CERN
Essay

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

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Students pose for a group shot with German archway in background
Gallery

A selection of photos from our 2023 J-Term Study Abroad programs.

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Samhita Sunya headshot
Essay

Professor Samhita Sunya teaches and researches global cinema in UVA’s Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures department. She spoke to UVA Global about her recently-published book, her global courses, and her current research and other work.

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School and university education concept. Vector flat people illustration. Multiethnic group of student. Book, earth globe, paper plane symbol on sky background.
Essay

As classes wrap up this December, among them will be a series of courses in the Engagements curriculum that bring first-year students out of their worlds and into the global.

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people in protest, sign held by one of the persons in the picture reads: “I support the redskin struggle. We do not want the system of life of the ‘whites’ any longer” in Spanish
Essay

UVA PhD Candidate Josué Godoy talks with UVA Global's Emily Mellen about his project on Indigenous activism in Colombia during the 1970s.

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Reese Hertel Guatemala 1
Essay

Reese Hertel learned to appreciate nature while growing up in Charlottesville. Now, he seeks to bring his passion for the environmental global, interning in Guatemala and studying in Valencia to prepare himself for career as a Latin America-focused environmental engineer.

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Jack Chen & Dan Willingham headshots
Essay

UVA Professors Jack Chen and Daniel Willingham recently presented about their CGII funded research in early October and spoke to UVA Global's Emily Mellen for a podcast about their work on reading.

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Mukti Chowkwale headshot
Essay

PhD candidate and international student Mukti Chowkwale talks with us about her research in Biomedical Engineering, her advocacy for international students and DEI at UVA, and advice for new international students.

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UVA Global Podcast Charles Bradley and Abigail Bradford graphic with headshots
Essay

CGII grant recipients Charles Bradley and Abigail Bradford talk about their projects in Greece. Bradford will be researching "Aulos and Audience in the Ancient Greek Musicscape" while Bradley will be working on "Understanding Early Childhood Development in Emergencies: An Inhabited Institutionalist Analysis of Humanitarian Programming for Young Children and Caregivers."

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CGII Brown Bag Lunch Series: Aswin Punathambekar & Eli Carter Global Media Cultures Collaboratory Friday 11/12 12-1:30pm Hotel A poster with headshots of Punathambekar and Carter
Essay

In this episode, Aswin Punathambekar and Eli Carter from University of Virginia talk about the Global Media Cultures Collaboratory. They hope to bring together scholars with a shared interest in the rise of digital and mobile media technologies, the ongoing transformation of established media industries, and emergent forms of media practice and use that are reconfiguring socio-cultural, political, and economic terrains across the Global South.

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Nomi Dave headshot
Essay

A conversation with Professor Nomi Dave about her CGII G-Pod funded Sound Justice Lab which explores everyday understandings of the law, through audio, text, and film. She is also co-writing and co-producing a short film on women’s voices and gender activism in Guinea. The film emerges from a collaborative research project with a feminist collective in Guinea.

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Howie Epstein headshot
Essay

In this episode, Howard Epstein, Professor in Department of Environmental Sciences, talks about the UVA Arctic Research Center and its collaboration with other universities, their NSF grant and how their team are addressing the rapidly changing natural, built, and social environments across the Arctic that demand a response in order to preserve the sustainability of northern cities.

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Black power station rendering
Essay

This summer, a group of UVA professors and graduate students traveled to Makhanda, South Africa to co-design a new space with The Black Power Station, a DIY, self-managed, community-driven art space and organization. The project was funded by a Three Cavaliers grant, which supports professors from multiple disciplines and their students, to create collaborative interdisciplinary projects.

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Global Greeters wait at the AirBus to welcome new international students.
Essay

On August 16th, as UVA’s campus slowly wakes up from its summer slumber, a group of volunteers in baby blue shirts run out in the rain to greet a bus arriving from Dulles airport. These are the Global Greeters, UVA’s welcoming committee for international students.

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Alex Misbach Headshot
Essay

Double-Hoo Alex Misbach takes us back to Shea House from the perspective of the Programs Facilitator and a Russian language instructor. His advice? Think critically in your language learning, take advantage of language immersion opportunities at UVA, and, if you can, go abroad and get out of your comfort zone!

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Josh Easter and Amita Sudhir Seated on a Bench Inside Hospital in Kenya
Essay

Amita Sudhir and Josh Easter are Associate Professors in UVA’s Department of Emergency Medicine. In October 2021, they traveled to Kenya as part of the first UVA connection with AMPATH, an organization that connects a consortium of North American universities with Moi University, a public institution in Eldoret, western Kenya. The universities then jointly develop health training programming and exchanges of students and faculty from both sides of the Atlantic.

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Sean Contreras, Dustina Gill, Micah Gill, Susan Thomas, and Rupa Valdez Seated at a Dining Table on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall
Essay

Five shining faces sit around a table of food and wine on Charlottesville’s downtown mall. This is not an ordinary family outing though, rather a meeting of community activists from around the world.

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Jie Lu Headshot
Essay

Jie Lu is a second-year student majoring in Commerce. But she is also a stellar table tennis player who just represented UVA in National Championships.

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Ren Capucao Headshot
Essay

Ren Capucao is a nurse, nurse historian, and PhD candidate and talks about his dissertation study "Pressed into Starched Whites: Nursing Identity in Filipino American History.

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Tayyab Safdar Headshot While Speaking
Essay

In this episode, M. Tayyab Safdar talks to Emily Mellen about his research on South South Cooperation and UVA's multifaceted BRI project which includes a bibliography project, a speaker series and research.

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Sara Feng image student with peace sign fingers, other students in background
Essay

Fourth year international student Sara Feng introduces us to Shea House, a UVA’s on-grounds residential site for immersion in seven languages. She talks about her global experiences and why she became a Shea House language assistant.

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Headshot of Spencer Phillips
Essay

Spencer Philips joined Global Studies as an assistant professor in Fall 2021. With his experience in NGO leadership, start up and applied research, Philips likes to teach concepts and methods in ways that are grounded in, and applied to, real-world challenges.

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VISAS Global Café
Essay

Frisbees and balls flew across the Nau/Gibson courtyard amidst sounds of lively conversation and the drifting smell of Pearl Island’s Caribbean fare.

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Matias Vilaplana Stark using Virtual Reality Goggles
Essay

Matias Vilaplana Stark is a doctorate student in McIntire Department of Music at the University of Virginia.