During these difficult times, it is important to rededicate ourselves to the values that make this University great and good by caring for those in our community who are most traumatized by these events; creating safe spaces for empathy, mutual understanding, and free inquiry into the history of this conflict and the search for an equitable peace; and respecting the right of all to express their views civilly and peacefully without fear of reprisal. 

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.

The new academic year in the Global Affairs family promises to set historic records in the University’s rapidly growing international engagement, with substantial increases in study abroad opportunities with expanded scholarship support; plans to establish new permanent UVA offices in key regions around the world; and expanded staffing to support more global opportunities right here on Grounds.

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.

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.

Ambassador Steve Mull, Vice Provost for Global Affairs on the global engagements this academic year and looking ahead

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.

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.

The convergence of so many prominent democracy advocates on Grounds in March and April is a powerful reminder of the global resonance of the values on which our University was founded, and that while we have a lot to learn still about democracy, we also have much to give and inspire. 

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.

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.

The International Student Citizen Leaders Fellowship has chosen a new cohort of fellows for this academic year.

Vice Provost for Global Affairs says that during his visit to India, they discovered a remarkable range of opportunities of potential interest and benefit to UVA even beyond the already successful engagement in India with the Yamuna project

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Mary Byron graduated in December 2021 with a bachelor’s in Cognitive Science with a Neuroscience concentration and was awarded Highest Distinction from the cognitive science distinguished majors program. Growing up in Reston, Virginia, Byron chose the Global First program and spent the first semester in London, United Kingdom and credits it as key to her UVA experience.

UVA’s strategic goal to create opportunities for every undergraduate to have an international experience before graduation – our critical mission in Global Affairs – begs a fundamental question: what exactly is an international experience?  

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.

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.

COVID-19 struck earlier this year just as UVA was making strong progress on its global aspirations with a record number of study abroad and globally-themed research programs, a growing population of international students, a quickening pace of internationally-themed events on Grounds, and ever more ‘Hoos moving on to global careers from the Peace Corps to private enterprise. As we prepare for extended operations under the pandemic, we struggle with the uncertainty of when borders will reopen, visa processing will resume, and safe travel will return.

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.

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.

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.