Thursday, February 29 // 3:30-4:30 PM // UW Career & Internship Center Lobby
Are you curious about what it’s like to serve in the Peace Corps?
Join us at 134 Mary Gates Hall to learn about the challenging, rewarding, and inspiring moments of service from four returned Peace Corps Volunteers who will share stories from their unique service journeys abroad.
The University of Washington made the Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of the top Fulbright producing institutions. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar and Fulbright U.S. Student Programs are sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to support academic exchanges between the United States and over 150 countries around the world.
Seven undergraduate or recent graduates and seven graduate-level students (a total of 14 students) received Fulbright awards and three UW faculty were named Fulbright scholars. The Fulbright experience gives students and scholars the opportunity to live and work abroad, learning about their host country and developing a new community of colleagues and friends. These programs are designed to help participants gain a greater understanding of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, ultimately promoting an atmosphere of openness and mutual understanding.
Founded in 1946, the Fulbright Program is an international academic exchange program that aims to increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The UW is proud to have had Fulbright recipients as far back as 1949.
About the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards
The Fulbright application process is supported by the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards (OMSFA). OMSFA works with campus partners across the UW to identify and support promising candidates in developing the skills and personal insights necessary to become strong candidates for prestigious awards.
Thank you to K. Wayne Yang, Provost of John Muir College (UC San Diego) and Professor of Ethnic Studies, for his talk, Building Scyborgs. An evening on decolonization. The event was held on Feb. 13 by UW Public Lectures.
Thank you to the UW faculty and graduate teaching assistants who participated in our workshop on January 25 to explore globally-engaged, inclusive, and culturally-responsive teaching practices to meet the diverse needs of UW’s international student populations.
The workshop was co-sponsored by the UW Office of Global Affairs and the Center for Teaching and Learning and included panelists from the School of Law, Department of English, Comparative History of Ideas, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, and UW Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.
A recording of the workshop is now available -please note a UW NetID is required to access the recording.
Sara Sherrard will lead advancement efforts for the Office of Global Affairs, broadening global opportunities for the Husky community and deepening the impact of the University of Washington’s global engagement.
The Office of Global Affairs (OGA) welcomes our first Associate Director of Development, Sara Sherrard. This inaugural role is a joint hire by International Advancement and the Office of Global Affairs. Sara will focus on frontline fundraising and donor stewardship to advance OGA’s work, including UW Study Abroad, the Global Innovation Fund, and the UW Rome Center.
Sara comes to the UW after five years with Hopelink, where she had increasing frontline fundraising responsibility in annual philanthropy, major gifts and major gifts management. Raised in the rainforests of Costa Rica, transplanted to the icy American Midwest for college, with stints in West Africa and South America along the way, Sara has a deep love for traveling the world and exploring new cultures.
Ladi Carr will direct new and existing international initiatives that support research, teaching, and global engagement among students, faculty, and staff across the University of Washington.
The Office of Global Affairs (OGA) welcomes Ladi Carr, PhD as our new Senior Director of Global Engagement. Ladi joins OGA from the University of Virginia, where she served for nearly a decade in key leadership roles with the Center for Global Initiatives at the Darden School of Business. She brings a breadth and depth of experience that will advance the University of Washington’s global impact both locally and around the world, having developed and delivered academic programs in more than 20 countries.
Ladi is passionate about cross-cultural learning and the international exchange of ideas. She is an ardent advocate of the notion that universities are global catalysts for human progress, and she believes deeply in the value of high-impact global learning, research, and experiences.
Arctic Circle 66° 34’N, Finland
Q: What background and perspective do you bring to this role?
Originally from the Czech Republic (formerly part of Czechoslovakia), I grew up at a time when international travel was severely restricted by the government. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and my country’s rapid transition to democracy, such travel restrictions quickly vanished. And so, upon finishing my graduate studies at Charles University in Prague (Univerzita Karlova), I was afforded life-changing opportunities to experience the world far beyond my borders, and I have dedicated myself ever since to enabling others to do the same.
During my past two decades in higher education, I have spent nearly ten years focused exclusively on global initiatives and engagement. At the University of Virginia, I was chiefly responsible for developing international programs, cultivating global partnerships, managing global operations, and serving as an international ambassador for the institution at-large. As a result, I bring to my role at the University of Washington an abundance of direct, on-the-ground professional experience in more than 20 countries worldwide. In addition, as an avid traveler throughout my life, I have lived, worked, and visited more than 30 other countries. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to bring my passion for global engagement and experiences to the UW community!
Helsinki, Finland
Q: What has been your most impactful international experience to date?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Finland aspired to draw leading professionals from around the world to spend three months or longer in the country as part of a broader strategy to amplify its shrinking pool of native talent. To achieve this, the city of Helsinki created a special program, 90-Day Finn, making it possible for non-Finns to enter and stay in the country to immerse themselves in one of the world’s most dynamic, innovative, entrepreneurial, and tech-focused economies – despite Finland’s small population and remote location. After receiving more than 5,000 applications, my husband and I were among 15 people selected for this unique and life-changing opportunity.
Taking up full-time residence in Helsinki along with our middle school-aged son, we began a journey to understand and appreciate the virtues of a life in the Nordics. We became enchanted with Finland’s people and a culture that values transparency, honesty, directness, and equality. It is a place that respects its natural environment while also ensuring that urban spaces provide high levels of livability. And all this is achieved while delivering first-rate health care, education, and other public services. Finland’s model is a breathtaking achievement, considering that barely two generations ago, its economy had barely developed beyond the cultivation of its vast timber resources. Our horizons and perspectives were forever altered, and we now see the world in new ways – but only because we embraced this opportunity for global engagement.
Wuzhen, China
Q: How do your experiences align with the mission and work of the Office of Global Affairs?
As a bilingual, dual citizen (CZ-US) who has lived and worked in different cultural and political contexts around the world, I feel a personal sense of mission to introduce others to the transformational potential of international education and research. As my students and faculty colleagues would probably tell you, when it comes to global education and exploration, I am an ardent (exuberant!) cheerleader and champion for global experiences. In fact, I truly believe that universities have a uniquely important role to play in bridging the world’s most diverse cultures and contexts, and through our collective efforts they can serve as catalysts for human progress. For these reasons and many others, I am honored to do what I can to advance the mission of UW’s Office of Global Affairs in research, education, and community engagement – both at home and around the world.
Q: What do you hope to focus on in your first year of serving in this role?
OGA’s Strategic Plan
Four key priorities guide the Office of Global Affairs’ vision for global engagement at the UW.
Listen, learn…and then listen some more. As is always the case at great universities, and as the old saying goes, I am privileged to stand on the shoulders of giants. The University of Washington has achieved a well-earned reputation as one of the very best and most highly ranked global universities. While I may have good and relevant experiences to contribute at the UW, I also have much to learn from those who have come before me. Fortunately, we can draw upon the Office of Global Affairs Strategic Plan (2022-2026) as well as an excellent framework for action developed by the Global Engagement Task Force (2021). Over the course of the year, I look forward to working though these ideas, consulting with UW’s leaders, meeting with stakeholders across the university, and together envisioning a future of even greater global impact and recognition for the University of Washington.
Monsters, machines, and mortals, we are the objects of colonization, and perhaps, we can be the agents of decolonization too. Join scholar, organizer, and co-conspiratorK. Wayne Yang as he shares stories about decolonizing endeavors from past, present, future and speculative somewheres. How do we bend our own complicity in colonial institutions to forward Indigenous, Black, queer, and Other futures locally and globally? Come ready to consider your own scyborg powers and plans.
The livestream of this lecture will be accompanied by an ASL interpreter and will include CART captioning.
Co-sponsored by The Graduate School, UW Public Lectures, Simpson Center.
Co-hosted by UW Office of Global Affairs, School of Law, Comparative History of Ideas.
The Population Health Initiative and the Office of Global Affairs are partnering again to offer a one-credit General Studies course, “United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Global Goals, Local Actions” (GEN ST 297A), on Tuesdays from 1:30 to 2:20 p.m. during spring quarter 2024 in Condon Hall 139.
Registration opens February 9, 2024!
This one-credit (graded as credit/no-credit) course will introduce undergraduate students to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, research at the University of Washington that aligns with those goals and the role the goals play in improving local and global population health, societies and the environment. Yen-Chu Weng of the UW’s Program on the Environment is the lead facilitator of this course.
This seminar will invite experts and scholars from the UW and the Seattle region. Each lecture will include an overview of the selected SDGs, case studies based on speaker’s expertise and programs in the Seattle regions that are working towards realization of the SDGs. Visit our website to see the course overview, details, learning goals, and facilitators.
*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.
Join our virtual workshop to explore globally-engaged, inclusive, and culturally-responsive teaching practices that are particularly important in meeting the diverse needs of UW’s international student populations.
A workshop for UW faculty and graduate teaching assistants.
Co sponsored by the UW Office of Global Affairs and the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Facilitators:
Anita Ramasastry, Professor of Law, School of Law; Senior Advisor, Office of Global Affairs
Anu Taranath, Teaching Professor, Department of English and Comparative History of Ideas
Dana Raigrodski, Associate Teaching Professor and Director, General Law LL.M., School of Law
Ben Gardner, Associate Professor, UW Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences; Chair, African Studies Program, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Wei Zuo, Instructional Consultant, Center for Teaching and Learning; Affiliate Assistant Professor, Department of English
Tuesday, February 13 // 6:30-7:30 PM
