*Note: The Jan. 22 lecture will be held from 7:00-8:30 p.m.
This lecture series is free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and the Social Sciences Division, College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington in partnership with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.
The Office of Global Affairs is excited to celebrate Ray Li for our April 2023 edition of the Global Visionaries series. The Global Visionaries series highlights the University of Washington’s global impact by featuring innovative, globally-engaged faculty, staff, and students.
Ray Li, Assistant Vice President for International Advancement and 2023 recipient of University Advancement’s Marilyn Batt Dunn award, describes his experience with community building, fostering relationships with alumni, and international fundraising.
Ray Li obtained a Master of Nonprofit Leadership from Seattle University and a Bachelor of Biopsychology from The University of British Columbia. He held the role of Senior Director of International Advancement at the University of Washington for 11 years. Ray’s prior experience includes serving as the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Advancement for Neighborhood House, working as the Assistant Director of Development for the American Red Cross -Greater Hartford Chapter, and supporting the Canadian Red Cross and the American Red Cross -Seattle King County Chapter.
I grew up in Vancouver, Canada. I was on a pre-med track in high school and was involved in student government. During that time, I was selected to be part of a leadership development program run by the Canadian Red Cross. It was a very pivotal experience for me and I learned a lot about leadership and civic engagement. Supporting the Canadian Red Cross became a passion of mine so I continued to volunteer with them through high school and university. Upon graduating from The University of British Columbia, I realized that I wanted to spend my time making a meaningful impact on my community.
Every job I have had in my career has been focused on community building, leadership development, and organizational change.
I went from working with the Canadian Red Cross to the American Red Cross, where I led a youth leadership development program. I then had a chance to go to graduate school, where I earned a Master of Nonprofit Leadership from Seattle University. At the same time, I started working as the Director of Development for Neighborhood House. Neighborhood House is a social service organization with a long history of supporting immigrants and refugees when they first arrive in the United States of America. I was charged with building the organization up. It was quite an experimental role where I was able to apply my graduate school learning on an evening and weekend basis to my weekday job. During my 12 years at Neighborhood House, our team went through three capital campaigns, raising close to $20 million – something that the organization had never done before. When I left, the organization had grown from 90 staff to 300 staff, our annual operating funds had increased more than four-fold and the organization had buildings they could call their own.
The real core of my work at Neighborhood House was community building. I did a lot of thinking about how to be forthright and authentic with the communities we were serving. I strove to include community members in our fundraising efforts and to invite community members to serve on our board to ensure their voices were heard. I learned some of my greatest fundraising lessons from that role. I learned to treat everyone with equity and to create space for all kinds of donors so they could make their own choices. I learned so much from that job about being aware of my own preconceived notions and about how to create inclusive environments where everyone feels a sense of belonging in some way.
I became aware of the opportunity to create the International Advancement program at the University of Washington due to my fundraising work in Seattle. I was drawn to the job because it was about building a program from the ground up, which felt familiar after my work at Neighborhood House. It felt like a pivotal moment in my career and I was eager to start a new professional adventure.
I started building the International Advancement program from the ground up at the University of Washington 11 years ago. My early days with International Advancement were focused on creating opportunities with foreign ministries and setting up visits with quasi-governmental international entities. I did not have a strong background in international fundraising but I knew that community building was a core element of this kind of work. Looking back, there was a lot of unknown at the time but there was also a lot of goodwill. What was most challenging during those first few years was that I had to balance where the University of Washington wanted to go and what the community was ready for.
During my first international trips on behalf of International Advancement, I heard three major consistent themes from international alumni -they loved Seattle and the University of Washington, they had no idea what the University of Washington was doing, and they were eager to create more sustainable relationships. There was also a disconnected feeling amongst international Huskies. I saw there was an opportunity to build more trust. I also realized that I needed to spend time creating a culture of philanthropy -similar to what we have in the United States of America -but also in the various countries where international Huskies reside. It involved creating a multicultural culture of philanthropy – learning about cultural dynamics, the histories of countries, and the legal realities of what’s possible.
It was clear that we needed to build a robust and sustainable International Advancement program that would make the University of Washington successful as a global presence for years to come. We started with building up communities where there were already concentrations of international Huskies. I prioritized cultivating environments where the university could infuse philanthropy, engagement, and life-long learning. Those three elements are actually thematically present in all of our work in International Advancement –in our fundraising, alumni relations, and marketing and communications.
UW Converge is the University of Washington’s signature event for international alumni and friends. Each year it is hosted in a global city by one of our international alumni communities. It offers a direct connection to the UW, its faculty and leadership, and its global alumni network.
UW Converge was born out of good fortune. Michael Young, former President of the University of Washington, was eager to elevate the university’s global presence. He was also very involved in the Pac-12. In 2015, the Pac-12 launched a globalization initiative and one of their first events was to host an exhibition basketball game between the University of Texas and the University of Washington in Shanghai, China. I worked closely with President Young and Jeff Riedinger, Vice Provost for Global Affairs, to collaborate with partners from across campus to make the most of the moment. We ended up using the opportunity to publicly launch the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) in China. We hosted an international innovation summit that featured faculty and students from across the University of Washington who were working on innovative projects. We were lucky to have about 300 people attend from all over Shanghai and China. We also held our first global alumni board meeting with all of our chapter leaders. They came together to share best practices and to connect with President Cauce, who was on her first international trip, as the newly installed UW president, on behalf of the University of Washington. UW Converge in 2015 in Shanghai really laid the groundwork for strong stewardship with a number of international Huskies.
UW Converge, Thailand, 2016
During UW Converge in 2015, the Thailand chapter president raised his hand and asked to host the event the next year. UW Converge in 2016 was therefore hosted in Bangkok and also the island of Koh Samui. The Beijing chapter volunteered to host UW Converge in 2017, which focused on leadership. Then the Japan chapter hosted UW Converge in 2018. That UW Converge focused on innovations in leadership and was modeled after TED Talks.
UW Converge, Taipei, 2019
For 2019, the Taiwan chapter raised their hand to host UW Converge and focused on artificial intelligence -the business of artificial intelligence, the laws, ethics, and policies of artificial intelligence, and research and innovations in engineering. During that Converge, we were also able to feature the University of Washington’s Taiwan Studies Program and meet with various government ministries. President Cauce also had the opportunity to personally present the coveted Laureate vase to one of the foundations that had been giving to the university for many years.
UW Converge, Seattle, 2022
After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to host UW Converge in 2022 in Seattle. It was really great to bring folks together on campus after two years of virtual pivot. As far as this year’s UW Converge, I’m looking forward to the Indonesia chapter hosting the event in Jakarta on August 12, 2023.
In retrospect, UW Converge began due to interest from our various chapters of international Huskies. They had a strong desire to build relationships within specific disciplines but also to create opportunities for alumni within a country to connect across disciplines too. They were also interested in creating spaces for alumni from different countries to come together and establish relationships across international borders. Because of UW Converge, the University of Washington is now more strategically aware of all the relationships and units across campus that are focused on specific countries.
My approach involves a mix of community building, cultivating trust, and brand promotion. The basic principles of traditional fundraising still apply but there is also a lot of nuance to international fundraising. It’s important to be mindful of jargon and to use culturally sensitive language. To be aware of the realities of the geopolitical landscape. To emphasize shared values. At every international interaction I have, I share that if it was just for tuition, the UW would be a good university, but it is because of philanthropy that the UW is a great university. It’s the difference between being able to retain faculty, create international exchanges, launch innovative initiatives, and construct new buildings.
I also try to have a strong understanding of the unique tax laws of international countries. Is philanthropy incentivized or disincentived? Is it incentivized within a country or outside of a country? I make sure to tailor my approach to philanthropic conversations with international donors by meeting them where they are at before taking a deep dive into how they want to give to the University of Washington. In my opinion, it all boils down to having a strong foundation of trust. My job is to clearly convey the impact of what a personally significant gift would mean to the University of Washington.
I should also mention that International fundraising happens over a different medium than traditional fundraising. I often find myself navigating gifts via platforms like WeChat and WhatsApp. Since the pace of those conversations can happen very quickly, I always try to make sure to set the expectations of our prospects from the start so that they keep in mind that the University of Washington is a large university and it can take time to launch new initiatives or process donations.
My leadership style is guided by the values of community and community building. I am a huge advocate of cultivating relationships of trust. I understand that things can take time when working at a large university. I take pride that I am resilient and perseverant. I like to operate with a glass half full mentality. I recognize when the time is right and when the time is not right. I also have a strong value of failing forward and exploring and implementing innovative ideas after reflecting upon community feedback.
I like to plant seeds for the future and navigate with a forward vision of what might be possible down the road.
UW Converge, Taipei, 2019
I am most proud of the feeling of camaraderie around the world amongst our UW community that now exists because of the International Advancement program. It is rewarding to know that when members of our UW community (faculty, staff, alumni, family) go to a country where there is a large number of international Huskies, they will feel welcomed and know that alumni understand what is happening at the university. I am also very pleased that there is now a strong sense of purpose, a passion for philanthropy and a deep community of connection that didn’t exist before.
Worlds of Difference: Partnerships in an Unequal World: A Workshop to Explore Reciprocity, Institutionality and How We Want to Engage Globally
Many of us are grappling with how to do good work and lead meaningful lives in an unjust and unequal world. While our intellectual and political projects link us with people in other parts of the world, the institutions through which we work can sometimes help and sometimes seriously hinder our collaborations. Whether you are new to international collaboration or have experience with international partnerships, we invite you to join our three UW faculty panelists – co-founders of The Global Reciprocity Network – as they share practical guidance from their ongoing work with international partners. We’ll engage in hands-on-activities and participate in lively discussions about how we navigate issues of reciprocity and structural inequality, and connect meaningfully across difference.
This free event is hosted by the Office of Global Affairs. UW faculty and staff are encouraged to attend.
The deadline to apply is Friday, May 15th at 5:00pm PT.
The Office of Global Affairs (OGA) is pleased to announce the opening of the AY 2023-2024 application for Global Engagement Fellows (fellows), a Global Innovation Fund (GIF) award that is focused on creating inclusive global communities at UW. In recognition of fostering new connections among the UW community, OGA will grant $3,000.
Fellows will convene new groups that share a common interest in:
• A region or country
• A research theme
• Good practice and innovation in inclusive globally engaged teaching, including study abroad
• Other topics relating to global engagement
Strong projects should demonstrate:
• Clear outcomes and outlined goals
• Consideration of long-term sustainability
• Cross-disciplinary and/or cross-college focus
Funds may be used for:
• A salary supplement for the fellow/s
• Hiring a student assistant
• Community activities (ex: refreshements for meetings, speaker honoraria)
Eligibility:
• Faculty members
• Staff members (with a co-lead faculty applicant)
• Post-docs (with a co-lead faculty applicant)
• Current PHD students (with a co-lead faculty applicant)
The Office of Global Affairs is pleased to announce that Gayle Christensen has agreed to serve as interim Vice Provost for Global Affairs beginning July 1, 2023, stepping in for Jeff Riedinger who is retiring from the UW next summer. The next UW Provost will conduct a search and select a new Vice Provost for Global Affairs.
As Associate Vice Provost for Global Affairs since 2016, Dr. Christensen manages global engagement and business operations and directs strategic priorities, working collaboratively with colleges, schools and centers across the UW to further their global efforts. She is also an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the College of Education and has taught graduate courses in leadership and globalization of higher education.
Prior to joining the UW in 2014, Dr. Christensen spent a decade working in international education. At the University of Pennsylvania, she served as the inaugural Executive Director for Penn Global. There, she developed a range of initiatives aimed at strengthening Penn’s global engagement.
As an expert in comparative education, Dr. Christensen has served as a consultant and researcher in the U.S. and abroad for organizations including the World Bank, Urban Institute and the Bertelsmann Foundation. Her recent research has focused on the study abroad as a high impact practice. Previously, her research focused on the global reach of Massive Open Online Courses and has appeared in such publications as Nature andThe Atlanticand online at Slate. Her research has been featured across major media outlets including Harvard Business Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She holds a master’s degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a master’s and doctoral degree from Stanford University.
The Office of Global Affairs is excited to celebrate Dr. Dan Zhu for our October 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. Dan Zhu began working as the International Engagement Specialist at the VP’s Office of Student Life Division at the UW in November 2015. This position afforded Dan the opportunity to build Unite UW, an on-campus cultural exchange program that has connected 1,800 domestic and international students since its launch.
In September 2019, Dan became Assistant Director of CIRCLE (Center for International Relations and Cultural Leadership Exchange), a new center that serves as a resource hub and a home away from home for 8,000+ international students at UW. One of her accomplishments includes creating Regional Connection Groups, a summer program that connects and onboards international undergraduates before they arrive on campus.
Born and raised in a small village in South China, I learned how to make the best out of the little that I had. After graduating from Beijing Normal University in 2005 as a first gen, I became a middle school English teacher in Beijing. My parents were disappointed because by becoming a teacher, I destroyed their only hope to bring fortune and fame to the family. However, I was more disappointed at China’s testing-oriented education which, in my opinion, squelched kids’ motivations to learn.
Three years later, after I won an “important” teaching competition, the school in Beijing sent me to Edinburgh as a reward to teach Chinese language and culture. During that year, while I got to show a more authentic China through the lived experience of my friends and family to the 400+ Scottish pupils and teachers in my hosting school, my eyes were also opened to many exciting ways to teach and to inspire. Besides whisky and Ceilidh dance, I learned so many wonderful things from my Scottish friends and mentors, including new perspectives of life and of the world.
Holding onto those new learnings, I believed the world would become bigger if I allowed myself to see more. That’s how I came to the U.S. in 2009, specifically to the University of Washington in Seattle, to pursue graduate school in Education (M.Ed.), in TESOL (M.A.), and later in English Composition (Ph.D.). Much more than the degrees themselves, I tutored students from Japan and South Korea, volunteered to teach seniors from minority backgrounds to pass their citizenship interviews, taught after school Chinese immersion classes with small children, and substitute taught with many other instructors’ lesson plans. I also learned about discrimination in Education first hand: imagine me teaching ESL to students who only want to learn from native English speakers; or imagine a Chinese lady teaching American college students how to write in English.
A better question to ask is, who inspired me to launch Unite UW? The answer is that students inspired me. When I was teaching first-year composition at the UW from 2012 to 2016, students shared many of their struggles at my office hours. It seemed that the UW they were experiencing was siloed and disconnected. Many struggled to fit in or to find belonging. I also observed many UW classes as part of my dissertation. Often times, I would see a very diverse class with students from different backgrounds, but deep down (e.g. during peer reviews), there was always this barrier keeping them from truly connecting with one another, let alone appreciating each other. This invisible barrier made a lot of international students feel like guests on this campus rather than that they belonged.
Meanwhile, I interviewed the very first group of the Husky Presidential Ambassadors who just returned from Beijing for a mission to connect with incoming Chinese international students. From them, I found a strong desire to connect with international students and to gain cultural competency. It turns out, the Husky Presidential Ambassadors students were also desperate for a platform to encourage deep cultural exchange. As a matter of fact, they became the pioneers for this program and named it Unite UW.
From there, Unite UW has evolved into today’s equal partnership program to provide a mutually-enriching global experience in a local setting. Through cultural exchange and bonding activities, domestic students gain different worldviews and enhance cultural competencies on one hand, while on the other hand, international students are introduced to American culture and feel valued and empowered to truly take ownership of their academic and social life here at the UW.
Unite UW offers a variety of workshops and events that encourage cultural exchange, leadership building, resource sharing, and bonding. For example, as a tradition, Unite UW alumni make dumplings together to celebrate Lunar New Year. During the second week of the quarter, we take the entire cohort of 90 students (half domestic and half international) to UW’s Pack Forest Conference Center for a two-night weekend retreat. Besides various bonding activities, students spend Saturday engaged in Roundtable, a sharing circle where each student shares their personal stories and experiences that have shaped who they are.
According to student reflections, Roundtable has created “magic” moments when everyone is able to let their guard down and open up to each other. Roundtable creates a judgement-free space that blurs the divide between domestic and international students, as one student stated: “When we had that sharing circle at the weekend retreat I realized that despite our cultural differences, we were all united and similar in some way.”
My advice is to be vulnerable and to really listen! Having listened to more than 20 quarters or hundreds of roundtable stories, I have learned that vulnerability is strength, not weakness.
Our students have translated this for us beautifully: At the Unite UW retreat, they often spend the entire Friday night learning everyone’s names. We are talking about 90+ students who were strangers a week prior. It can be very uncomfortable to forget or mispronounce some names, especially names from different cultures, let alone building connections with one another. But they keep on trying and learning throughout the retreat: listening to others’ stories, asking questions about their cultures and families, or sharing comments or connecting moments on sticky notes.
I am most proud of the good values that Unite UW has passed onto students: to listen, to understand, to include, to embrace, to support, and to love.
Having experienced Unite UW, students have seen the possibility of building strong bonds over differences. In other words, they don’t have to hide their true identities or alter themselves in order to fit in! Good friends or good partners embrace their differences and appreciate who they are. They have also become ambassadors of cultural diversity and inclusion, so wherever they go, they have a sense of responsibility to create a more connected and inclusive world.
Lastly, they have all learned about the importance of taking care of themselves and of looking out for others, by building a support system for themselves wherever they go and by making efforts to become part of others’ support system.
For the next few years, I will continue focusing on building a support system for UW’s international students. I did not feel that I had one when I was an international graduate student at the UW many years ago, so I made a promise to myself: I would build one if I ever had the opportunity. CIRCLE afforded me that opportunity, so I am very grateful. I am really looking forward to the day when this support system takes a good shape.
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.
