USF World International Education Week Event: " Building Faculty International Partnerships through Virtual Global Exchange" Judithanne McLauchlan and Larisa Patlis join as panelists

USF World hosted a faculty workshop:  Building Faculty Partnerships through Virtual Global Exchange" on Thursday, November 10th.

As it turned out, Tropical Storm Nicole was blowing through Florida, with maximum winds through our Tampa Bay region at about the start time for our event. Somehow we all managed to have our electricity and WiFi during the duration of this panel!

Learning to "Improvise-Adapt-Overcome" is what Virtual Global Exchange is all about, so, in that regard it was no surprise that all of our USF colleagues and our partners overseas (in Columbia and in Moldova) all contributed to making this panel an informative and lively discussion -- regardless of the challenges we were facing. 

Each of us shared more about our VGE collaborations - how we identified our faculty partners, how we created the assignments and collaboration for our students, the impact of the global classroom projects on our students, and more.

What a pleasure to learn more about what other colleagues across USF are doing in their classes -- and to share more about my long-time partnership with  Larisa Patlis and ULIM.

Thank you so much to Wendy Baker, who directs USF World initiatives on the St Pete campus, for the invitation.

for more about USF World: https://www.usf.edu/world/

USF World -- Global Achievement Award - Early Adopter of Virtual Global Exchange

It was a treat to celebrate the global achievements of USF at the USF World Global Excellence Awards ceremony on the USF Tampa campus.

I arrived late (after presenting virtually at the conference in  Chisinau - see this blog post) and left early  (to get back to St Pete for my US Constitutional Law class) -- but --  I did have the opportunity to hear from student recipients of the Genshaft/Greenbaum scholarships (especially enjoyed hearing about one student's archeological research in Romania), to see President Genshaft honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, to re-connect with the Fulbrighter from Moldova, and to learn more about the global reach of USF.

One aspect that was recognized at the event was the impact that faculty have had in developing Virtual Global Exchanges. I was honored to be recognized as an "Early Adopter." 

More than 10 years ago, I developed, along with my colleague Svetlana Suveica (then at) the Moldova State University's American Studies Center (see this blog post from Fall 2011 semester) my first "global classroom" project.

Since then, I have partnered with colleagues throughout the Middle East (see this blog post about our work with Raya and the Women Lawyer's Group blog post) (2012, 2014)

with Professor Gabriel Andreescu of the Scoala Nationala de Studii Politice si Adminstrative (SNSPA) in Bucharest, Romania (blog post) (2015)

Professor Karolina Rostova-Aasterud of UKIM in Skopje, North Macedonia  (blog post) (2018)

Professor Blerim Reka former Vice Rector of South East European University in Skopje, North Macedonia (see this blog post and blog post) in 2018

Professor Jusuf Zejneli (now Dean of the Faculty of Law) of the University of Tetova in Tetovo, North Macedonia (blog post) (2020)

and most recently with colleague Larisa Patlis at ULIM in Chisina, Moldova- with special thanks to Vice Rector Valentina Ciumacenco and professor Elena Margineau (2022) (blog post)

I am so grateful to these brilliant colleagues and their students. This award recognition belongs to them as well.

It takes a great deal of planning and additional effort and flexibility to organize these programs -- on the part of the faculty colleagues and on the part of the student researchers -- but how rewarding for all involved. 

Creating a "global classroom" provides a way to internationalize the curriculum and a way for students to develop relationships with students overseas without leaving their home campuses. Students develop global citizenship competencies while learning more about the course content.

Wonderful to see this Fulbrighter from Moldova (we met previously at the Fulbright Welcome Reception in August)

I spy the Moldovan flag on this centerpiece!

student recipients of the Genshaft/Greenbaum scholarship describing what the award for international travel meant to them. I was especially interested in the archeological research conducted by the student who traveled to Romania

President Genshaft receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for her tremendous leadership

ULIM's Symposia Investigatio Bibliotheca conference "Libraries in the 21st Century: Gateway to a Progressive and Integrated Society"

 It was an honor to present with ULIM colleague Larisa Patlis during the Symposia Investigatio Bibliotheca, "Libraries in the 21st Century: Gateway to a Progressive and Integrated Society."

During our presentation - “Creating a Global Classroom: Developing Collaborative Legal Research Partnerships for Undergraduate Students in the U.S. and Moldova" -- we talked about the role of libraries in developing students' civic literacy and global citizenship skills.  It was a pleasure to discuss the research accomplishments of the USF - ULIM students from our "global classroom" during the Spring 2022 semester.  It was wonderful to be back at ULIM, if only virtually.

USF - ULIM Global Classroom featured in the Fall 2022 edition of USF St Petersburg "Where Discovery Shines"

At the Fall Faculty meeting there was a copy of the Fall 2022 USF St. Petersburg Where Discovery Shines brochure at each place setting.  What a treat to open it up to fund a blurb about our research partnership with ULIM!

The article was entitled "Students Collaborate with Peers in Moldova during International Crisis"

Student Research Presentations and Celebration Event at the U.S. Embassy America House in Chisinau - May 2022

Students from ULIM had the opportunity to present their research with their American colleagues from USF at the U.S. Embassy America House in Chisinau.  (The USF students joined virtually.)  

This was a wonderful celebration of our US-Moldova research collaboration.

Even though this celebration took place after the USF semester was over, several students joined from Florida to have the opportunity to join their ULIM colleagues one last time this semester.  But we hope the friendships formed will continue into the future!

Many thanks to our colleagues from ULIM for this productive research collaboration!

 

 

 

Students Interviewed by CW44 WTOG Andrea Alvarez for her report about the USF-ULIM Research Cooperation

CW44 WTOG reporter Andrea Alvarez interviewed USF students about our Global Classroom and observed our USF students presenting at the ULIM Symposia Studentium: Creating Classrooms and Communities for Global Awareness.

The story is posted separately here on the blog.

 

 

 

Student Presentations during ULIM's Symposium Studentium: Creating Classrooms and Communities for Global Awareness

Representatives from the USF-ULIM student groups also had the opportunity to present at the ULIM Symposia Studentium:   Creating Classrooms and Communities for Global Awareness -- the third opportunity for students to present their posters.  (Earlier this semester students were invited to present at the Florida Political Science Association Annual Meeting at Bethune-Cookman University and at the USF St. Petersburg Undergraduate Research Symposium.)