The Office of Global Affairs has created a new award to honor one faculty or staff member (in alternate years) for their global engagement. The Excellence in Global Engagement Award is unique in honoring a member of our community who is advancing the UW’s mission of global impact. The award focuses on teaching, research, and/or community building activities that connect UW students, faculty, and staff to global communities locally, nationally, and internationally. This year’s inaugural award will honor a UW faculty member.
Apply now! The 2023 UW Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Fellows program will be, for the first time, a tri-campus program open to faculty who teach full-time at UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, or UW Seattle.
COIL -also known as international virtual exchange – is a virtual exchange pedagogy that fosters global competence through development of a multicultural learning environment, linking university classes in different countries. Using both synchronous and asynchronous technologies, students from different countries complete shared assignments and projects, with instructors from each country co-teaching and managing coursework.
The 2023 COIL Fellows program will span two years:
Winter-Spring 2023 will focus on course development
Summer 2023-Summer 2024 and beyond will focus on implementation
The application deadline has been extended until Wednesday, November 30, 2022.
The Office of Global Affairs is excited to celebrate Dr. Anu Taranath for our September 2022 edition of the Global Visionaries series. The Global Visionaries series is a new initiative to highlight the University of Washington’s global impact by featuring innovative, globally-engaged faculty, staff, and students.
Dr. Anu Taranath, teaching professor with a joint appointment in UW’s Departments of English and the Comparative History of Ideas, shares her experience advancing conversations on diversity, racial equity, social justice, and global consciousness.
Over the past 25 years, Dr. Anu Taranath has taught more than 6,000 students, consulted with over 300 clients, and facilitated 1,000+ workshops across private, nonprofit, education, and public sectors.
When I first came to the UW back in 2000, I floundered. I wasn’t sure how I could be myself in the classroom. I didn’t see many BIPOC faculty, and didn’t quite know how to invite myself in fully. A few years down the line, I began to craft classes, programs, and experiences based upon my own curiosities. This approach of teaching what I wanted to learn resulted in a more engaged pedagogy and curriculum for both my students and I that felt fresh and relevant. Over the years students have shared how they’ve appreciated me openly wonder and grapple with topics alongside them. Modeling wonder and curiosity feels really different than how I had been educated. I am eternally grateful that my first few years at UW taught me to explore new pathways toward warmth and wonder, to reimagine what it means to belong, and to be collegial and create community with my students.
Back in 2003, I stopped by the Comparative History of Ideas Department on a whim and said, “I’m curious about leading study abroad programs. Can you tell me more?” I wanted to explore international education opportunities in the Global South to further my post-colonial feminist scholarship, and introduce students to change-makers from communities and countries they might never meet. I’ve found that being a program director isn’t, of course, just about balancing budgets or planning logistics. This work, actually, is all about cultivating relationships, building trust, sharing stories, and being accountable to one another across identities and vast global power differentials. How do I, as a woman of color faculty member from a powerful US institution, create reciprocal relationships with my global partners that move from transactional and extractive to collaborative and reciprocal? My relationships with partners in India, Mexico, Ghana, and several other countries are some of the richest and most belonging-worthy spaces that I have experienced in my career.
My book grew out of my own experiences and conversations I had been having with students for years. Students who I knew and students who I did not know would line up during office hours to talk with me about their global experiences. They were eager to talk about race, power, identity, how to think through their privileges traveling abroad and what they should do when they come back home. I started wondering why is it that those deeper but fundamental conversations feel really absent from the mainstream conversation on study abroad, travel, and the politics of connecting across difference? I took to heart Toni Morrison’s quote, “If there’s a book you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Navigating an unequal world both close to home and far away can feel confusing when we consider issues of justice, power, identity, who we are and who we are not. We can easily fall into social and ethical quagmires without always knowing how to extricate ourselves. My book supports readers through these moments.
I’ve also written this book in an accessible and story-centered way to invite people in and keep them in the conversation. That’s how we develop our stamina, resilience, and empathy toward ourselves and others. As I worked on this book, I learned that accessible writing requires some seriously sophisticated thinking! While I’ve appreciated my previous academic training in theory and specialized jargon, I’ve also appreciated the challenge to write about complex topics in more simple language and move from abstract concepts to relatable stories. Many of us, of course, feel nervous to talk to people unlike us. We may feel scared, hurt or misunderstood. Sharing stories is key to inviting people to a table and helping them stay there. It takes invitations, connections, and trust-building in small and meaningful ways.
I’ve heard from readers that if they had read this book 6 months, 2 years or 30 years ago– when they were first grappling with topics of identity, race, difference and justice– they wouldn’t have felt as lost or confused. With more tools and space to share their feelings, they wouldn’t have displaced that confusion onto those they were traveling with or on to local people in the communities they were visiting. I’d rather we learn how to navigate our complex feelings so we can have more honest and healing interactions with one another.
“Let’s be more real with one another and step into our vulnerability with strength.”
The ability to name something as uncomfortable is an important action step that we can take. Let’s also understand why we experience discomfort and how that might affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. That’s how we begin to create new patterns for ourselves. Try though we may, we simply cannot sidestep the hard stuff. We have to figure out how to move through uncomfortable conversations with more grace, compassion and elasticity so that we can rebuild ourselves along the way and continue on our journeys. Instead of pretending not to feel our difficult feelings, why not say out loud that we all feel them? Let’s relieve ourselves of the pressure of holding it all in. Let’s be more real with one another and step into our vulnerability with strength. How else are we going to come together to actually make life more livable not only for the most marginalized, but for you or I who may enjoy more privileges as well?
I have found over the years that we have to grapple with some of these seemingly more personal and hard to pin down topics before we jump into conversations about policy and procedures. We need to understand how we came to be who we are, how inequity and opportunity lands on us differently, and what that means for all of us as we live our lives. These discussions have everything to do with creating policy, promoting justice, and cultivating a more inclusive, democratic and vibrant space. Acknowledging the fear, hurt and discomfort that we all experience because of our different lived experiences is a huge part of the process.
“I use welcoming and non-shaming language, make space for big emotions, and if possible, create gatherings over snacks and a good cup of chai.”
As an educator and facilitator, I strive to approach conversations about power and privilege with humility. I use welcoming and non-shaming language, make space for big emotions, and if possible, create gatherings over snacks and a good cup of chai. These to me are the key ingredients we need to talk and act better together. All of us deserve to feel a deep sense of belonging and worthiness. My work helps us talk, share, and hold space together to connect more authentically and create more equitable changes in society.
These days, sharing our stories across different kinds of differences may feel risky. We may feel as if we’ve given too much of ourselves away, or that our story hasn’t been respected or held with care. No wonder we tend to retreat into circles that feel more familiar and that we think of as safe.
There’s definitely something gratifying about not having to explain ourselves to others, especially due to the harm and hate of the last several years. That’s why “safe spaces” matter. An important thing to note, however, is that communities that are like us are not always safe, and that crossing boundaries and connecting with others from different communities is not always unsafe. We live in complex times. So many of us crave more honest and productive conversations about all these complicated issues.
What if we had more incentive to talk with each other openly, vulnerably, with curiosity and wonder? How might we incentivize that? What might that look and feel like? I have seen and experienced how beautiful it can be to share parts of ourself and receive someone else’s sharing. Those small, lovely moments in our lives stay with us. When we stitch such moments together, I think we create a more meaningful life.
My book, Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World, has opened up new and exciting associations with people in multiple sectors. People who are looking to deepen their analysis and activism around diversity, equity, and inclusion, racial equity, anti-racism, intersectionality and difference within the U.S. often find me and my book. Since I also focus on how colonial dynamics in the Global North and Global South impact the politics of international help and aid, I am working more with people in global health, international NGOs, the development industry, and the travel industry. My career feels incredibly rich because I have been able to interact with people across sectors. It’s made me stretch in new and surprising ways.
Though these partnerships, I’ve come to realize how crucial it is to pause, consider, and step away from the day-to-day busyness to reflect with colleagues and ourselves. These are the moments where we grow and learn. Much of the consultancy work that I do with groups and organizations is to give them permission to learn in new ways. I affirm how important it is to carve out structured time to pause, reflect, reconsider, and come back together. In our urgent, competitive, product-oriented professional culture, being able to slow down to value the process of collective story-sharing and collaborative learning is nothing less than revolutionary.
That’s an easy question: I am most proud of my collaborations and I am most looking forward to new collaborations! My understanding of collaboration is quite expansive. I mean the undergraduate students with whom I have learned alongside, the people in the community whose grief and joy I have been able to stand beside and hold in different moments, the collaborators in different parts of the world where we have built trust and connection, and the partnerships across various industries. All this synergy feels magical to me, and has enlivened my life and work immeasurably. My career is certainly my story, but my story is also connected to many other people’s stories. People who have come before me, people who have enriched my life, and people I hope I am able to continue collaborating with in small and big ways.
The Office of Global Affairs is pleased to announce that the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies has received $10.6 million in federal funding from the prestigious Title VI federal program in the U.S. Department of Education.
The funding is for five global and area studies centers and programs over the next four years (2022-2026) to support the teaching and study of world regions and foreign languages.
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in collaboration with the Office of Global Affairs (OGA) is offering a workshop for UW faculty.
The goal for the workshop is to encourage and support globally-engaged, inclusive, and culturally-responsive teaching for UW faculty. We will share best practices and explore effective teaching methods to meet the diverse needs of UW’s international student populations. Faculty are encouraged to join and learn practical ways to create an inclusive learning environment for all students, including those with international backgrounds.
Workshop facilitators:
Dana Raigrodski, Associate Teaching Professor, School of Law
Felipe Martinez, Executive Director, CIRCLE and Lecturer, College of Education
Anita Ramasastry, Professor and Senior Advisor, Office of Global Affairs
Wei Zuo, Instructional Consultant, Center for Teaching and Learning
Chrishon Blackwell, Director, Global Engagement, Office of Global Affairs
The Office of Global Affairs (OGA) is pleased to share that Dr. Samuel Wasser, a member of the OGA Advisory Council for more than five years, has received the 2022 Lowell Thomas Award. Provided by The Explorers Club, the annual award is given thematically to a group of outstanding explorers to recognize excellence in domains or fields of exploration. The awardees of the 2022 Lowell Thomas Award were selected for their excellence in Conservation Genetics.
According to the 2022 Lowell Thomas Award announcement, “Dr. Samuel Wasser holds the endowed chair in Conservation Biology at the University of Washington, where he is a Professor in the Department of Biology and Co-Executive Director of Center Environmental Forensic Science. He is acknowledged worldwide for developing noninvasive tools for monitoring human impacts on wildlife. Dr. Wasser applies these tools to forensic analyses of transnational wildlife crime. He used elephant dung to assemble a DNA reference map of elephants across Africa, which is now widely used to determine the geographic origins of poached ivory. By comparing genotyped ivory to this reference map, he has been able to identify Africa’s largest elephant poaching hotspots, track the number and connectivity of major ivory traffickers operating in Africa, and uncover strategies that transnational organized crime syndicates use to acquire and move their contraband around the world.”
The deadline for all three awards is November 1, 2022.
The Office of Global Affairs (OGA) is now accepting applications for the Fall 2022 Global Innovation Fund (GIF) cycle. GIF seeds projects focused on expanding international research and learning at the UW, advancing interdisciplinarity and transformative global collaborations.
OGA is especially interested in supporting proposals by new entrants and early-career faculty.
There are three categories of awards for this cycle:
Research Awards
UW faculty members, research scientists, and non-faculty researchers from the Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell campuses are encouraged to apply for a Tier 1 Research Award (up to $5,000) or a Tier 2 Research Award (up to $20,000).
Research projects may include:
Research collaborations with international universities and/or organizations
Cross-college and interdisciplinary conferences, symposia, and workshops
UW faculty members, lecturers, and staff engaged in course development are eligible to apply for awards up to $2,000 to add a global module, project, or innovation to a course.
OGA is pleased to offer this award for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GIF Study Abroad/Away award request types include:
Pre-program visit, international (up to $5,000)
Pre-program visit, domestic (up to $3,000)
Embed a global component to a spring or winter class (three years: up to $10,000/year)
Create a new domestic study away program (three years: up to $10,000/year)
Fund an additional faculty member to attend an existing program to share responsibility of maintaining the program in the future (domestic: up to $3,000, international: up to $5,000)
Awarded programs must be run through UW Study Abroad.
The Office of Global Affairs is excited to announce that three faculty members have been awarded Global Engagement Fellows grants for the 2022-2023 academic year. Each fellow will receive $3000 from the Global Innovation Fund to build an inclusive UW global faculty community.
The Global Engagement Fellows (fellows) will convene new cross-disciplinary groups of faculty (referred to as “communities”) that share a common interest. The fellows will convene these communities on a pilot basis for the 2022-2023 academic year.
The purpose of the Global Engagement Fellows grant program is to increase connections and foster deeper ties among faculty across units at the UW. The grants were developed and awarded in response to the work of the Global Engagement Task Force.
To create a community of UW Study Abroad program directors who are dedicated to creating environmentally conscious overseas programs.
To encourage UW Study Abroad program directors to adopt environmentally sustainable best practices in faculty-led UW Study Abroad programs.
To create a database of environmentally friendly companies, organizations, and stakeholders involved in the travel and hospitality industries for countries that host UW Study Abroad programs.
Questions? Contact Dr. Taso Lagos (Lecturer, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies) at taso@uw.edu.
To convene a faculty community that explores pedagogical tools to engage with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in their courses to promote global literacy and cross-cultural competence.
To discuss best strategies for using the UN SDGs in cultivating global awareness and international perspectives among college students.
To develop a collection of lesson plans that focus on the UN SDGs, that connect the UN SDGs to UW curriculum, and that incorporate interdisciplinary cross-cultural approaches.
Questions? Contact Dr. Yen-Chu Weng (Lecturer, College of the Environment) at yweng@uw.edu.
To bring together a community of faculty and staff who are interested in international environmental change processes, committees, and organizations.
To increase understanding of and explore opportunities for engagement with processes/organizations such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and Future Earth.
To deepen ties and strengthen collaborations across units at the UW to address the challenges of global environmental change.
Questions? Contact Dr. Kristie L. Ebi (Professor, Center for Health and the Global Environment) at krisebi@uw.edu.
Anita Ramasastry will lead OGA’s vision for global engagement with a diversity, equity and inclusion lens, fostering community and advancing key partnerships.
Anita Ramasastry
The Office of Global Affairs (OGA) welcomes our first Senior Advisor for Faculty Global Engagement, Anita Ramasastry. Anita will focus on building learning and research communities, connecting BIPOC faculty and students with global opportunities, and advancing the depth and bi-directionality of our strategic partnerships.
Anita is currently the Henry M. Jackson Endowed Professor of Law and the director of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Program for the UW School of Law. Her scholarship includes work in the field of anti-corruption, sustainable development and business and human rights and she has served in leadership roles with global institutions such as the United Nations, World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the Institute of Human Rights and Business, and other development organizations. Anita is a recipient of two of the University’s highest honors: the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Outstanding Public Service Award.
She previously served as the chair of the Global Engagement Strategy Task Force, charged with reimagining the role that OGA plays in informing and shaping the future of global engagement at the UW. With key recommendations from the Taskforce informing her work, Anita will lead new initiatives that deepen global engagement at the UW.
Anita’s Background
Learn more about her research, publications, areas of expertise, and leadership.
Q: What background and perspective do you bring to this new role?
AR: I am pleased to serve in this inaugural role. As a BIPOC faculty member who has worked actively on global matters – on my research, teaching and public policy work, I know how important it is for a diverse voices to be part of global engagement. I have been a co-director of a study abroad program in partnership with faculty from the Law, Societies and Justice Program for nearly 15 years. I see the value of study abroad.
I also see the need for faculty to think about how to work to make study abroad both inclusive for our students, but also to design programs that are more reflective and help students to understand and engage with the local context in which they are studying. I am an admirer of Professor Anu Taranath, a UW faculty member who focuses on respectful and more intentional and equitable study abroad. She has a great book I highly recommend, called “Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World.”
Q: What excites you about serving as our first Senior Advisor for Faculty Global Engagement?
I am excited to meet faculty from throughout our three campuses, to learn of the innovative ways in which they are engaged in innovative and inclusive models of global engagement – be it in research, teaching or service. My role is to serve as their sounding board, ally and facilitator for them. Part of that will be understanding what challenges they face in trying to undertake international activities.
Q: What do you hope to focus on in your first 6 months of serving in this role?
My hope is to meet as many faculty as possible, across the three campuses and to launch some pilot initiatives. For example, I am excited about opportunities we are exploring with the Center for Teaching and Learning about creating resources for faculty relating to globally-engaged, inclusive, and culturally-responsive teaching.
Q: How do your own experiences align with the mission and work of the Office of Global Affairs?
I believe in the transformative power of global engagement and collaboration. For faculty to be able to form lasting partnerships with communities in other regions, be it in their teaching, advocacy or research, this can be a powerful catalyst for innovation, change and bridge building.
I have worked for nearly 2 decades with researchers, academics and civil society groups in my field of business and human rights. The power of our network, has enabled us all to do more impactful work, and to exchange knowledge and ideas that has been far more valuable than my reading scholarly articles in the library. With technology at our disposal, the opportunity for us to engage in new models of teaching, community building and partnership is more possible – although we have to keep in mind that not everyone will have Internet or computer access. So thinking about new forms of global engagement requires careful balancing of the benefits and barriers relating to using technology to engage globally.
Chrishon Blackwell will lead key initiatives for the Office of Global Affairs focused on building community and broadening what it means to be global.
Chrishon Blackwell
The Office of Global Affairs (OGA) welcomes Chrishon Blackwell, as our new Director of Global Engagement. Chrishon joins OGA at an important point in its history as it reimagines and reframes global engagement at UW. As Director of Global Engagement, Chrishon Blackwell manages new and existing international initiatives that support research, teaching, and global engagement among students, faculty, and staff.
Chrishon joins OGA from George Washington University (GW), where she oversaw summer at-large initiatives that supported the university’s broader strategic priorities of enhancing student success, retention, diversity, and internationalization.
Q: What background and perspective do you bring to this new role?
I have 20 years of professional experience working with international populations, 14 of which are in higher education administration. I am TESL/FL certified, hold two undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Business Management, a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership, and am currently pursuing a doctorate in Human and Organizational Learning in the Executive Leadership Program at GW’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
My professional experience includes international recruitment, teaching and curriculum design, operations, and program management. I think the variety of academic and professional experiences that I have will bring unique and creative ways of approaching global engagement.
Global Engagement Task Force Recommendations
Five key recommendations guide OGA forward, shaping our vision for global engagement at the UW.
Q: What excites you about serving as our first Director of Global Engagement?
I am excited to leverage my professional background and academic experiences to cultivate relationships across culturally diverse backgrounds and create partnerships across local, national, and global spaces.
Over the past year, OGA’s Global Engagement Task Force met with 100+ stakeholders across our campuses and schools, and reimagined the role we could play in facilitating global engagement for the UW. As our new Director, I am thrilled to bring this vision to life, expanding our programming to support faculty and students of all different backgrounds.
Chrishon along the river in Kowloon, Hong Kong
Q: How does your research inform and connect to the work you plan to do as Director of Global Engagement?
I have spent the past several years exploring the connections between cultural competency, comprehensive internationalization, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Throughout my career, my work has often required close collaboration with faculty and the offices that support academic success and retention such as the registrar, student affairs, multicultural services, international students and scholars, health and wellness, and career services. As such, I recognize and appreciate the importance of each of these offices working together to support a diverse, equitable, and inclusive institution.
Q: How do your own experiences align with the mission and work of the Office of Global Affairs?
The Office of Global Affairs vision aligns with my personal and professional goal to create opportunities and spaces that support global research, teaching, and community engagement. I think that there are so many ways to contribute to student success through global engagement efforts whether that is through supporting campus-based initiatives aimed at increasing access and retention, facilitating cultural competency development among faculty, staff, and students, and/or promoting cross-border activities that advance pedagogy and research.
