Mandira Banerjee

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Ben Ross with his Kenyan friend Pwani
Essay

Ben Ross is a fourth-year student studying global development, history and religious studies. He developed a deep interest in Kenya and Swahili while at UVA and plans to build on it after graduation.

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Global Health case competition
Essay

More than 100 students from across the Grounds with a week’s worth of preparation came together to collaborate and solve a real-world health problem in the annual Global Health Case Competition held by the Center for Global Health Equity. The case – excessive alcohol consumption in South African youth, is a global health problem, one that also resonates in the U.S. healthcare system and the Charlottesville community as well.

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Stepheney in Greece
Essay

Stepheney Odom–Thomas is a 3rd year student double majoring in Global Studies Environments and Sustainability and Foreign Affairs with a minor in Korean Language and Literature. She shares how global immersion at UVA helped her find her intersts and encourages all students to get involved.

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J-term students in India
Essay

This January, UVA students participated in 18 January-term study abroad courses that took them to places as distant and diverse as Ecuador, the United Arab Emirates, India, Kenya, and Vietnam, among other places.

January-Term or J-term as it is popularly known meets at the start of the year and is designed to foster interest in diverse topics students might not have an opportunity to explore during the year. It concludes in mid-January.

UVA Global spoke to four faculty who offered the courses this year about their offerings.

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Ricahrd Tanson with Adrienne and Caren Freeman
Essay

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.

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Summer abroad course being taught in Zarax
Essay

The University of Virginia faculty and students spent summer months researching, interning, studying and teaching in different parts of the world, an essential part of UVA experience that was on hold during the pandemic. Here are a few recollections:

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International Center students
Essay

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.

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Steve Mull meeting with the University of Bahamas president
Essay

A delegation from the University of Virginia led by Vice Provost for Global Affairs, Ambassador Stephen D. Mull, visited The Bahamas in August 2023, to assess prospects of the University's academic engagement.

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Susan Curl
Essay

Susan Curl graduated with a degree in Spanish Language and Culture in 2007. Today Curl is an experienced translation professional with operations and business development experience in the U.S., Spain, and the Middle East. Curl Translations has grown exponentially and handles more than 60 language combinations, specializes in 12 different sectors, and works with clients in 15 countries. She looks back to her experience in UVA in Valencia program that started it all.

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Rudene Mercer Haynes
Essay

Rudene Mercer Haynes is a Chambers-ranked securitization attorney and Executive Committee member of Hunton, Andrews, Kurth, a nationally recognized law firm in Northern Virginia. She recalls her experience in Valencia when she was a UVA student.

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UVA Aerial shot
Essay

In the spring round, 15 Center Grants, 2 G-Pods and 30 graduate students were awarded through CGII for their research projects.

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Global Symposium
Essay

Over 170 student research projects were showcased in the second annual Global Futures: A Global Studies Symposium held on April 25 in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom.

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Sidharth Singh
Essay

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.

 

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International Citizens Fellows
Essay

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

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Valencia
Essay

Liz Wellbeloved is assistant director of UVA’s longest-running study abroad program. A first-generation student, she has helped thousands of students explore options in Valencia.

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flags from different countries
Essay

UVA recently hosted Democracy Dialogues: The worldwide struggle for democracy where leading democracy activists from around the world spoke about what it is like to fight for democracy in a country that has been plagued by political violence. A couple of activists share their experiences and what faculty and students can do to support democracy work around the world.

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Miriam Hossaini
Essay

Miriam Hossaini is a 4th-year double majoring in Architecture and Global Studies on the Middle East and South Asian track. Raised in Richmond, Virginia, she wanted to reconnect with her Persian heritage from which she had been disconnected since her grandfather’s passing.

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Gregory Perryman
Essay

Gregory Perryman has been selected as a Fellow and will conduct a comparative study of social justice leadership in the United States, South Africa and Ireland.

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winning team for case competition
Essay

UVA is among a small group of institutions that writes a new global health case and students compete annually.  This year CGHE's global case competition celebrated its 10th anniversary with a challenge where 32 teams participated to address a case about tuberculosis in Tanzania.

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Eren new
Essay

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.

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UVA in Jordan
Essay

A record seventeen Education Abroad Programs took the University of Virginia students to places as distant and diverse as Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Kenya, and Vietnam, among other places for the first time since the pandemic disrupted travel in 2020.

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Becca with Steve Mull and Dick Guerrant
Essay

Rebecca Dillingham, Director of Center for Global Health Equity, left UVA early January after a decade of leading CGHE. UVA Global caught up with her one last time about her time at UVA and what’s next for her.

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VISAS Cafe
Essay

Elizabeth Wittner has run a volunteer-led program for English speaking and intercultural exchange since 1999 but notices serious interest from students who want to help in the last couple of years after the pandemic.This year, she says, more than 400 volunteers applied to the program, which is a part of the Center for American English Language and Culture (CAELC). She and her team were able to place 352 volunteers in various capacities.

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Steve with alumni in Mumbai
Essay

A weeklong trip by Ambassador Steve Mull and a UVA delegation to India from September 12-17 brings into focus the long and deep relationship the University of Virginia has enjoyed with the world’s second-most populous nation and look to take it to a higher level.

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Visit from Chinese embassy
Essay

UVA Global and the UVA East Asia Center recently co-sponsored a visit from Minister Jing Quan from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

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Trisha Gulati
Essay

Trisha Gulati is one of the co-directors of international student affairs on UVA Student Council. When she is not attending classes, she likes to play Tennis and sing. Along with the Student Council, she is also actively engaged in the Thai Student Organization, International Relations Organization and Frank Batten Investment Fund.

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Mazan Family from Cameron
Gallery

A wonderful evening celebrating new international parents and students at the International Parents Dinner. There were families from Lebanon, Singapore, India, Cameroon, United Kingdom and many more dropping their kids at UVA. Welcome to all

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CGHE group photo
Essay

In April 2022, the Center for Global Health Equity hosted 15 colleagues from partner institutions in Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda for the CGHE Global Partnerships Workshop to hear about current global health research and student engagement opportunities. Other topics discussed in the workshops organized over a week in Charlottesville included new grant opportunities to develop research capacity; opportunities for educational training; and shared priorities for further research and advocacy.

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UVA Delegation to Germany at the German Chancellery with Claudia Roth (Green Party), the new Federal Commissioner for Culture
Essay

In early March, a group comprising of UVA faculty, students and community members undertook a one-week trip to Germany, the roots of which were laid on the fateful day in 2017 when the far-right groups marched through Grounds and the city. By visiting the different cities in Germany, the group wanted to understand how the cities like Berlin and Weimar have engaged with histories of colonialism, the atrocities of holocaust and memorialized it and bring those lessons back to the UVA community.

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Susan Palazzo digging
Essay

Archeologists Nick Bon-Harper and Susan Palazzo  from Rivanna Archeological Services have spent time on the walkway behind Hotel A searching for signs of the past.

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Karina Atkins in Barcelona
Essay

As the cancellations followed for different global internships scheduled for the summer, Ingrid Hakala, director of global internships didn’t give up. Instead, she reached out to her partners, who would host students in different countries. With their partnership, she launched an experimental virtual global internship program for UVA students.

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Aramark Ohill employee Talaso Haji with VISAS Workplace intern '19 Elma Adusei
Essay

In a conversation, Elizabeth Wittner, Academic Director and ITA Program Coordinator describes this unique program at UVA and how it provides support to international members, promotes global experiences, and fosters intercultural skills and perspectives at UVA.

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Piper, Mukhethwa and Sara in matching shirts in Thohoyandou, South Africa
Essay

Sara Krivacsy is graduating from UVA’s College of Arts & Sciences with a Global Public Health major and Anthropology minor. She is planning to become a practitioner in global public health at a time of unprecedented change and challenge. She reflects on her experiences at UVA and how it has expanded her perspective for global engagement.

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Boxes of masks from Lingshan Charity Foundation to UVA
Essay

UVA Health received a shipment on Friday with 50,000 facemasks donated by Lingshan Charity Foundation, a Chinese philanthropic organization. The facemasks donated by the Foundation will help boost the health system’s supply of personal protective equipment for its front-line providers.

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Mami Taniuchi in Bangladesh
Essay

University of Virginia health researcher Mami Taniuchi and her collaborators at Aga Khan University have received $6 million grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to implement an integrated sewage and clinical case surveillances in Karachi, one of the largest cities in

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Erica Stephens
Essay

Erica Stephens is getting ready to graduate next month with major in Cognitive Science and a minor in Health & Wellbeing from University of Virginia’s College of Arts & Science.

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Steve Monaghan
Essay

When Steve Monaghan graduated from University of Virginia in 1980 in Asian Studies, he didn’t know that his fluency in written and spoken Chinese would shape his life and career for the next four decades.

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Hoos for Better Health
Essay

For the first time since it was launched, Center for Global Health Equity held their Global Health Case Competition online. But it did not dim the enthusiasm.

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David Yang headshot
Essay

Zhihan Yang (David) is a third-year international student from China and Chair of the UVA Student Council International Student Affairs Committee.

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Nancy Hui
Essay

Nancy Huai is a first year MBA student at Darden School of Business from China. During the pandemic with the embassy closures, she was unable to get a visa from China to come to Charlottesville.

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Global Mentors
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After an inaugural call for Global Mentors applications, the Office of Global Affairs has selected the first cohort of mentors who will work with University of Virginia faculty and students in the spring semester. 

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University of Virginia
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The J-term courses offered at the University of Virginia this January provided a unique opportunity for students to engage in global topics, gain new perspectives, and go beyond the classroom virtually.

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PositiveLinks
Essay

PositiveLinks (PL) is a mobile application developed at University of Virginia for people living with HIV.

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Olivia Fyre
Essay

Olivia Fyre, is a 3rd year student majoring in Global Health Studies and minoring in Religious Studies.