ACADEMIC AFFAIRS | “What started as a public health crisis quickly became an international education crisis,” said Adel El Zaim, the University of Ottawa’s chief internationalization officer and president elect for the Association of International Education as the co-moderator for an AIEA/ACE (American Council on Education) co-sponsored webinar on “Provosts Perspectives on Internationalization” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual meeting of more than 225 attendees was a follow-up to a similar session at the AIEA conference in February 2020.
That stark assessment began an hourlong panel discussion by university provosts, including Tom Poon, Loyola Marymount University’s executive vice president and provost, the second AIEA/ACE panel he has participated in. The four provosts talked about their perspectives and concerns about internationalization initiatives on their campuses as they respond to the numerous challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis.
“The crisis required quick decision making and potentially strained longtime relationships,” Poon said. He added that his immediate and long-term goals include retaining faculty, staff and students’ engagement and enthusiasm for ongoing internationalization efforts in general while trying to maintain positive relationships with international partners.
Poon said that having a senior internationalization officer in place throughout the crisis response has been a distinct advantage. He said that the SIO, Roberta Espinoza, was heavily involved in assuring our students safe return from abroad as well as participating in various emergency operation center working groups, such as the continuity of instruction working group. He highlighted the importance of including Espinoza, LMU’s vice provost for global/local initiatives, in key meetings and conversations. “Roberta adds an important voice to our strategy, and keeps our internationalization priorities in every consideration,” Poon said. Katy Heyning, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the College at Brockport, SUNY, agreed, saying, “Global considerations factor in everything you do. The SIO’s expertise is a valuable resource.” She said that her SIO was very involved in the immediate days of the crisis, including helping students to return home.
Poon also said that much attention and work is being focused on the modality of online instruction, such as encouraging asynchronous approaches to accommodate international students who are in different time zones and may be navigating connectivity issues. Heyning said that Brockport faculty are offering one-on-one support as best they can, and she said ADA accommodation is a priority for her, including mental health services. Poon agreed about the significance of comprehensively supporting students transitioning to online instruction and, as important, working closely with international students to ensure they have up-to-date information about visas and the relaxation in the standards for online courses that differ from country to country.
The provosts, including Austin Agho, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Old Dominion, and Jing Luan, provost for international affairs at the San Mateo Colleges of Silicon Valley, also looked ahead to what internationalization might look like the days after restrictions lift. Poon noted that applications for students who want to study abroad in the fall look healthy right now and Robin Matross-Helms, deputy chief innovation officer and principal internationalization strategist for the ACE, added another highlight: Fulbright application numbers are also looking strong for next year. She speculated that students might be “craving mobility.”
El Zaim said that it will be important to utilize the SIO in “peacetime,” when the pandemic crisis is over. Poon added that LMU is trying to leverage the crisis to help our community members see the connection between comprehensive internationalization and COVID-19. As a current participant of the ACE Internationalization Laboratory, the ACE Lab working groups are being encouraged to use COVID-19 as a case study to facilitate their charges and think of creative ways to engage the campus in dialog about the globally interdependent world we live in and must consider in our future global engagement initiatives.
According to Espinoza, the ACE Lab working groups are continuing to make progress in our new online working modality and updates to the website: https://academics.lmu.edu/acelab/ are forthcoming in the next few weeks.
