DU’s Internationalization Initiatives Provide Global Opportunities for Faculty, Staff

Professors Barry Hughes and Lena Lundgren have taken their work abroad through DU's internationalization efforts.

At the University of Denver, studying abroad isn’t just for students.

The University offers a litany of international programs and leverages its partnerships with organizations and educational institutions across the globe to provide faculty and staff the chance to further their careers abroad.

Uttiyo Raychaudhuri, vice provost for internationalization, says the internationalization programming is about creating comprehensive global engagement among the DU community. For faculty members, this often means taking their research efforts abroad.

“Our goal is to create synergy, give them opportunities and provide them with the right environment where they can collaborate, connect and advance their work in the global space, so that they not only get recognition, but they contribute and advance scholarship in that global spectrum,” Raychaudhuri says.

Barry Hughes, a professor with the Korbel School of International Studies and founder of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures, is scheduled to visit the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India. There, he will sit on a panel with representatives from the other three countries of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue—Australia, Japan and India—to discuss the future of infrastructure development.

Additionally, Lena Lundgren, a faculty member within DU’s Graduate School of Social Work, is working on issues of mental health in partnership with Lund University in Sweden and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

“It is bringing together key collaborators and leaders in the field to tackle these modern-day, difficult, global challenges of mental health,” Raychaudhuri says. “We are jointly solving these kinds of problems in the global space for the rest of the world. That is what a true global university looks like.”

DU’s reach spans even to one of the most remote places in the world.

 “In December 2024, I will be taking a group of students on a teaching program to Antarctica, so that we will truly have our DU flag on every continent,” Raychaudhuri says.

In addition to partnering with education institutions abroad, DU often hosts representatives from other countries. Earlier this year, a delegation from the Finnish government made the trip to Colorado, where DU served as one of the group’s hosts and exhibited some faculty work and research.

“They came and visited our labs in the Ritchie School to see what our research facilities look like,” Raychaudhuri says. “We had faculty who gave presentations to them. They brought industry delegations, academic institution delegations, all of that. It’s an example of where the University is partnering with an entire country and giving them insight.”

Faculty aren’t the only DU employees who benefit from the University’s global connections. Raychaudhuri says the Office of Internationalization has taken University staff on trips abroad for professional development and education, including in programs like Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).

“When faculty and staff have the global mindset, outlook and connections, they bring that to the classroom and bring that in their interactions [with students],” Raychaudhuri says. “That intercultural understanding helps them in them navigating their everyday lives and in the university setting. Overall, I think it makes them more human, brings in a sense of humility, all of that.”

For more information about DU’s global connections and partnerships, visit the Office of Internationalization’s website.