Internationalization Summit

Summit Schedule - April 14

8:00-8:30 AM Registration & Breakfast (Maglione Hall) 
Please click on the expanding lists below for details on each session.

• 8:30-9:30 AM Opening plenary panel discussion (Maglione Hall)

  Title: Examining the role of higher education in seeking solutions to global challenges
  Panelists:
  Thabo Msibi Dean and head of School of Education (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)
  Sarah Bexell, Clinical Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Work; Faculty Director, Center for Sustainability; Director of Humane Education (University of Denver, United States)
  Casey Dinger, Executive Director for Internationalization (University of Denver, United States)

  Kick off the 2023 Internationalization Summit with a critical conversation that sets the scene for the rest of the day. This panel discussion deeply explores the Summit’s theme: Global Challenges and (in)action: Examining the role of internationalization in higher education. Through a moderated discussion, panel members offer thought-provoking perspectives addressing the social responsibility that higher education has in engaging with the complex challenges in our world today. 

• 9:40 - 10:30 AM Session 1 (SIE Complex)

  Title: Engaging with Global Intercultural Pedagogy in the Classroom
  Presenters: Becca Ciancanelli, University of Denver

  ---

  Title: Returnees Reflect: The 4 Dimensional Experience for Post-Study Abroad
  Presenter: Kara Taczak, University of Denver

  ---

  Title: Influence of Short-Term Study Abroad on Student Affairs Educators' Global Perspectives of Higher Education
  Presenters:
  Patty Witkowsky, University of Colorado Colorado Springs
  Caroline Wooten, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

  Global challenges can only be solved by citizens prepared to address them. Higher education is a key training ground for future global leaders to gain knowledge, skills, and abilities to address global needs. For higher education to truly embody internationalization and prepare future global leaders, faculty, staff, policies, priorities, and opportunities must support those efforts. Student affairs educators represent a key human resource in higher education and are integral to contributing to internationalization. This panel discussion focuses on the experiences of alumni from a short-term study abroad course in a student affairs masters preparation program. After an overview of the course outcomes and design, the alumni will discuss the influence of the short-term study abroad experience learning about higher education abroad on their intercultural competence and global perspective, ability to contribute to internationalization efforts in higher education, and efficacy in supporting international students and students participating in study abroad.

  ---

  Title: Raising 1.8 Billion Youth Voices: The Role of Higher Education & Advocacy
  Presenter: Emily Davis, University of Denver

  COVID-19, climate change, and many other factors have impacted children and young people globally.  An entire generation is at risk. To ensure effective policies, programming, and learning, it is critical that young people have a voice and a seat at the table and have input into decisions that impact their lives. Young people are leading changemakers and need to be part of the solutions. Higher education allows young people to become those change-makers, creates a safe space to brainstorm solutions, and allows them to learn from their peers. This session helps bridge the gap between high education and civil society by discussing the benefits and challenges of campus internationalization and engaging youth.

  ---

  Title: Women and Development in Contemporary Morocco
  Presenters:
  Akbarali Thobhani, Metropolitan State University of Denver
  Ms. Leila Armstrong, Metropolitan State University of Denver
  Douglas Mpondi, Metropolitan State University of Denver

  This session is inspired by and primarily based on a seminar that was conducted in Morocco during summer 2022. The seminar was conducted under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education Fulbright Group Projects Abroad Program. Twelve participants from Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Denver Center for International Studies, a Denver public school, participated in the seminar. In this session, the presenters will explain why Morocco was selected as the focus of the seminar, describe the goals of the seminar, highlight the activities undertaken, discuss the importance of women artists and artisans to the development of Morocco and how they create employment opportunities thereby reducing the prevalence of poverty as well as contributing to gender parity and, finally, examine the role of women as leaders in politics.

• 10:40-11:30 PM Session 2 (SIE Complex)

  Title: Transnational Positionality: How Faculty Challenge Conventional Pedagogy, Research Method, and Researcher's Subjectivity
  Presenters:
  Ping Qiu, University of Denver
  Elizabeth Suter, University of Denver
  Mei Yin, University of Denver
  Runchao Liu, University of Denver

  This panel presents four papers on different but interconnected topics on transnational positionality. It aims to bring together international scholars and researchers that work on the international subject. We discuss how transnational positionality challenges our knowledge-building process that impacted our research and teaching. Mei Yin’s paper details the pedagogical approach and implication from her recent COIL (collaborative online international learning) course in collaboration with an applied math class at the Universidad del Desarrollo. Runchao Liu’s paper provides a researcher’s positionality regarding the politics and predicament of identification and cultural citizenship of international academics in the US on an institutional level in light of George Floyd’s case. Elizabeth Suter illuminates the One Child policy from a transnational adoption perspective while claiming her positionality as an adoptive mother. Ping Qiu’s paper reports on her observation and analysis of contemporary China’s cultural discontent and politics based on her Shanghai lockdown experience and diary entries from April to June 2022. All these papers coming together claim a transnational positionality that addresses academic and institutional issues across national, racial, and linguistic borders. They together address institutional, national, and international politics that continue to affect our daily practices, teaching, researching, and writing.

  ---

  Title: Counseling Competence Scale on Refugees and Immigrants
  Presenters:
  Ruth Chao, University of Denver
  Seth Wyncott, University of Denver

  ---

  Title: The Role of Language, Culture and Diversity in Global Engagements and Partnerships
  Presenter: Gugulethu Mazibuko, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

  As universities expand global engagements and partnerships it is of great significance to unpack the role of traditions, culture and diversity in such engagements because partners need to be familiar with the host institution, community and country. With mobilities, traditions and cultures come in contact, culture has a role in this highly globalized society. Cultural diversity is key to sustenance of such through partnerships and engagements.

  ---

  Title: Silence Reflects Compliance
  Presenters:
  KP Hartman, University of Denver
  Veehangi Singh, University of Denver

  Modeled after Rehearsals for Life, this workshop will utilize theater as a tool for engaging in critical consciousness, implicit bias examination, and confronting bias as a method of change. With repetition over a series of skits, the audience is invited to actively engage and alter the direction of the skit. They grow progressively more comfortable with this confrontation, enabling them to approach subsequent skits with a clean slate of engagement. The purpose of this workshop is to create a space for acknowledgement, accountability and insight about the role that educational institutions play in shaping narratives of different identities and communities. As globalization and internalization continue to impact most sectors of society, we need to question how the western education system contributes to the larger narrative, thereby making this particularly relevant to the present time.
  *This is a two part session and will continue in Session 3

• 11:40-12:20 PM Session 3 (SIE Complex)

  Title: Collaborations between NGOs and colleges to create healthcare solutions in the developing world.
  Presenters:
  Joseph Parker, University of Denver
  Nancy Lorenzon, University of Denver

  Health Outreach for Latin America is a non-profit focused on improving access to key healthcare services in rural Nicaragua. Drawing on HOLA’s work and experiences, this session will focus on how non-profits and their local partners can work together with students and universities to create sustainable and impactful programs in the developing world.

  Key areas of discussion will be: 

  • How to build effective infrastructure in the country’s we choose to work.
  • How to blend learning opportunities for volunteers with work that is equally impactful for the communities we serve.
  • How to create greater student engagement and opportunities within the non-profit sector.
  • Prioritizing long-term impact over short-term solutions.

  ---

  Title: International Students Perspective of Internationalization in the United States (U.S.): Reflections on University of Denver (DU) International Student's Experiences.
  Presenters:
  Dorothy Khamala, University of Denver
  Dr. Rashida Banerjee, University of Denver
  Qiunan Liu, University of Denver
  Vongai Chokuda, University of Denver
  Chisomo Kamwendo, University of Denver
  Daphne Rajenthiram, University of Denver

  International students bring unique perspectives and experiences to universities in the United States (U.S.), making them more competitive globally. Despite institutions' efforts to accommodate them, providing high-quality international education remains a difficulty, since students face numerous challenges in a different sociocultural environment. To train students to address global concerns and give back to their communities, discussions about developing curriculum that promotes intercultural interactions alongside equality, diversity, and inclusion is essential. In this presentation, the panelists will draw on their experiences with diversity, equality, and inclusion, curriculum, securing accommodations, socio-emotional issues, and finding jobs in the U.S. This session will provide institutions with rationale/frameworks for embedding an internationalized education curriculum, allocation of resources and mitigation of challenges raised to support internationalization efforts on campus and advocating for equitable and sustainable education.

  ---

  Title: The Phantom Menace: From Bias to Belonging
  Presenter: Brian Henry, University of Denver

• 12:30-1:45 PM Keynote Lunch Address (Maglione Hall)

  Dawn Michele Whitehead

  Vice President
  Office of Global Citizenship for Campus, Community and Careers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities

  Disruptive Innovation: Tackling Global Challenges with Action 
  Moving from (in)action to action to tackle the global challenges of today and tomorrow 
  During the last two years, the global health pandemic and racial reckoning have challenged the field of higher education to adjust and become more equitable, aware, and responsive to the intersections of global and local realities. This has elevated the importance of global learning while also inspiring a period of reflection in the field. As a result, the academic community has been rethinking long-standing practices and approaches to address global challenges. The time has now come for action. Action will require a disruption in the way things have been done, from the types of curricular and co-curricular experiences to engagement of more faculty, staff, and students in a variety of global learning opportunities. This presentation will explore strategies and provide examples for moving from inaction to action in global learning to tackle global challenges.

• 2:00-2:50 PM Session 4 (SIE Complex)

  Title: Internationalization through Interterm Classes - Intensive Curricula for Global Awareness
  Presenters:
  Erika N Trigoso Rubio, University of Denver
  Mike Kerwin, University of Denver
  Helen Hazen, University of Denver
  Julie Morris, University of Denver
  Linda Olson, University of Denver
  Robert Uttaro, University of Denver

  International field courses provide a valuable opportunity for further exploring student academic and personal interests. Interterm sessions managed by University Academic Programs, add to the numerous study abroad opportunities that DU provides. Interterm sessions are intensive, immersive, and focus on short-term curricula providing inclusive opportunities with generous scholarships for multiple destinations around the world. This panel will focus on the experiences of several faculty who recurrently participate in this program. These faculty members facilitate engaging courses for exploring focused topics at top international destinations. 
  
  The panel includes experts in interdisciplinary courses taught during DU interterm sessions. The audience will learn about international field intensive curricula in Belize, Kenya, England, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa, Spain, and Tanzania. Panel members will discuss their expertise in incorporating leadership, health and the environment, physical and cultural geography, indigenous knowledge, sustainability, bio conservation, international partnerships, and service learning.

  ---

  Title: Higher Education: Responding to Global Environmental Change
  Presenters:
  Derek Brannon, University of Denver
  Sarah M. Bexell, University of Denver
  Julia Senecal, University of Denver

  This presentation will share results of a comprehensive review of published literature on higher education’s response to global environmental change. This review was performed to learn how universities globally are responding through appropriate changes to their curriculum and career pipelines to ensure a safe future for humanity and all species on Earth. Additionally, a focus group was performed with University of Denver and Denver Public School students on how they would like to see universities prepare them for their future, one different than that their professors faced when they were in school. There is deep concern that higher education is not preparing young adults for the future that in many ways has already arrived, and certainly has for marginalized and oppressed populations. There is also concern that university training is exacerbating global environmental change instead of supporting learning that will ameliorate these changes to ensure our young people have a future. This is a grave intergenerational injustice. This presentation will end with sharing Center for Sustainability programming to support students with skills and wellness to engage in meaningful careers and lives in the face of global environmental change.

  ---

  Title: Considering Intersectional International Identities for LGBTQ+ Campus Outreach
  Presenters:
  David C. Kemp, University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology Joint PhD
  Steven James, University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology Joint PhD

  The essentialization of Queer identity can contribute to white/Eurocentric normative expectations for Queerness on higher education campuses. Whether they come from Argentina where they have had the right to obtain gender-confirmation surgery since 2007, or Taiwan, which did not grant same-gender marriage rights to civilians until 2019, international Queer BIPOC students benefit from undertakings that provide them with opportunities to explore their multiplicities. Out of the University of Denver’s international student population—four percent of the whole school—some are Queer, BIPOC, or both, and advancing events and spaces that restrict the ambivalence of exploring intersectional analyses can lower the isolation, rejection, and irritation that international Queer BIPOC students feel at DU. We propose the following question to help DU promote cross-cultural and cross-national coalitions for the benefit of international Queer BIPOC students: How can higher education institutions more equitably create LGBTQ+ spaces and programming for international BIPOC students?

  ---

  Title: Rethinking Internationalization through Digital Storytelling: Voices of International Post Graduate Alumni Students from a South African University
  Presenter: Dr. Thoko Esther Mnisi, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

  The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of higher education, including internationalization. We analyze digital stories of international post graduate alumni students where they share their experiences of internationalization. Internationalization must be viewed as a way to strengthen and diversify higher education, not just as a means to attract international students. We need to embrace a more comprehensive view of internationalization, one that includes global collaboration, virtual exchange, and the development of intercultural competencies.

  To achieve this, we need to re-evaluate the structure of internationalization and prioritize strategic partnerships that allow for collaboration between universities and stakeholders. We also need to expand access to international opportunities beyond traditional study abroad programs and develop alternative forms of global engagement that leverage technology and virtual exchange. In conclusion, the post-Covid-19 era presents an opportunity to reshape internationalization in higher education.