Campus News

Global Engagement Academy Opens Enrollment for Spring 2021

Global Engagement Academy Logo

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March. 18, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Global Engagement Academy (GEA), which offers faculty and staff a myriad of courses to help enhance understanding of campus internationalization, has opened registration for this spring.

UK is striving to become a more diverse campus and deepen global engagements. With those efforts in mind, the UK International Center (UKIC) launched the GEA initiative last year. So far, the program has provided 115 faculty and staff members insight into the various aspects of education abroad, international student success and international recruitment, among other areas.

The GEA is the first free professional development program at UK designed to build crosscutting competencies in international education and engagement. Participants can take courses in an à la carte way but can also choose to earn a GEA certificate by completing three foundation courses and three elective courses within three years.

To date, nine UK faculty and staff have already completed their GEA certificates and become eligible to apply for a $250 academy grant to help support their professional development.

“The Global Engagement Academy really increased my awareness of all of the international activities going on at the University of Kentucky,” Kristine L. Urschel, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies for the Equine Science and Management in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, said “I look forward to using the information that I learned as we work toward increasing international semester abroad opportunities for students in the equine science and management program.”

Like Urschel, Misty Howard, personnel officer for the College of Fine Arts, decided to pursue the GEA certification to gain more understanding of internationalization as a whole and also learn about the challenges her college’s students, faculty, staff and scholars face.

“As the sole college personnel officer for the College of Fine Arts, I encounter individuals from all over the world daily and play a vital role in partnering and supporting staff, faculty and students. We are witnessing a rapidly ever-changing environment within the workplace regarding global and international activities, issues and trends,” Howard said. “No matter how much we think we already know, there is always much indispensable information to be acquired so that we all may support the university in achieving its goals and promoting diversity and inclusion across the globe.”

According to Sue Roberts, associate provost for internationalization, the level of interest has been gratifying and the program’s evaluations have been encouraging.

“The assessment tools reveal that participants are very positive about the courses and their experience,” she said. “We have had participants from almost every college and our UK colleagues have completed a total of 345 courses. This demonstrates that our campus is hungry for this type of opportunity.”

The GEA is an ideal professional development opportunity if you:

  • are interested in teaching, researching or traveling abroad;
  • work with and support international students;
  • manage or implement international-related programs/policies;
  • manage international transactions; and/or
  • promote/recruit for the university internationally.

The foundation courses this spring include Internationalization at UK and Global Trends, and Intercultural Communication. The elective courses include:

  • Developing a Course Abroad
  • Global Health 101
  • Advising and Teaching International Graduate Students
  • Hiring and Hosting International Faculty and Staff Part One (J-1 and F-1 OPT employment)
  • International Financial Management

To register for the Global Engagement Academy, visit the UKIC website. For additional questions, please email shan.huang@uky.edu..

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.