My daughter Gabriela is doing a quasi-virtual internship in Peru that she created for herself!

My daughter Gabriel just graduated high school and in fall she will start her college career at Temple University!  In April 2019 she participate on an exchange in spring 2019 in Lima, Peru through Spotlight Perú: A Performing Arts Company. In August 2019 she returned as an Invited Artist for Spotlight Perú. She misses her friends from Lima and is now doing a quasi-virtual internship through Spotlight Perú over the next few weeks. Essentially, she will be connecting with the students via Zoom every once in a while to talk to the students and to provide guidance and feedback! Very proud of her!

Here she is Zooming in to Spotlight Perú  from our home here in Chicago on May 15, 2020 

Below are several embedded Spotlight Perú Facebook posts that feature my daughter Gabriela!

I got to meet and talk with Elspeth Jones for her new #IntlEdChat interview series!

I am a big fan of Elspeth Jones, Emerita Professor at Leeds Beckett University, and I have been for many years! So when she invited me to connect for her new #IntlEdChat interview series I jumped at the opportunity. It was our first time meeting and while making that virtual connection was great I look forward to an in person connection sometime in the [hopefully near] future!

You can subscribe to Espeth's International Education YouTube channel here and if you are on Twitter you should follow her at @ElspethJones.

I also want to highlight the Routledge Internationalization in Higher Education book series of which Elspeth serves as the series editor! It's an excellent collection of topics, editors and authors with more on the way! You can learn more about the Routledge Internationalization in Higher Education book series here.

Latest #IntlEdChat with @DavidComp We discuss the importance of having a global network of connections for personal and professional reasons, and internationalisation at home as an alternative to mobility https://t.co/24q3wGd7kh. Subscribe here for more https://t.co/BaU2oemRpv pic.twitter.com/3Cn1qp7Ki4

— Elspeth Jones 🇪🇺 (@ElspethJones) May 18, 2020

IHEC Blog Initiative Named a Finalist for the 2020 GoAbroad Innovation Awards new "Innovation in Crisis Response" category!

I'm proud to announce that my colleague Jessica Oldford and I have been selected as a finalist for the 2020 GoAbroad Innovation Awards new "Innovation in Crisis Response" category! Our initiative for which we are a finalist is: IHEC Blog: Policies and Statements on Study Abroad Programs and International & Domestic Travel Due to COVID-19. You can see all of the finalists and categories on the 2020 Innovation Awards Finalist page at https://blog.goabroad.com/innovation-awards-2020-finalists/.

I also want to thank Travolucion for sponsoring this award category!

The Global Learning Collective is hosting a free webinar titled "The Future of Student Mobility: A Student-Centric Approach" on Thursday, May 21st, at 4pm EDT/1pm PST

I'm excited to be a panelist on the upcoming free webinar titled "The Future of Student Mobility: A Student-Centric Approach" hosted by The Global Learning Collective. The webinar will be held this Thursday May 21st at 4:00pm EDT/1:00pm PST.

I am very fortunate to find myself included on a panel with the following colleagues:

• Bradley A Feuling, The Asia Institute (Collective member)
• Stacy McKay Benander, Athena Study Abroad (Collective member)
• Jenna Graff, Director of the Office of International Education, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh 

I also want to thank Rebecca Smietana, Director of Partner Relations at The Global Learning Collective for all her work in bringing this collaboration and webinar together! Very much appreciated!

My daughter’s passport photos over the years! ❤️

New Book "Undergraduate Research Abroad: Approaches, Models, and Challenges" Edited by Kate Patch & Louis Berends

Happy to have contributed a piece on the "History of Undergraduate Research Abroad" for the newly published book edited by Kate Patch and Louis Berends.entitled "Undergraduate Research Abroad: Approaches, Models, and Challenges" which was published yesterday by NAFSA.

More information about the book is available here.

Final Call for GoAbroad Innovation Award Nominations - Deadline is May 10, 2020 at 11:59pm MST

This is the final week to submit nominations for the GoAbroad Innovation Awards!  Nominations must be submitted by Sunday, May 10, 2020 at 11:59pm MST. 

Since the NAFSA 2020 annual conference was cancelled there will be no GoAbroad Innovation Awards reception in St. Louis later this month but they will be held virtually this year!  Following is from the GoAbroad Blog about the 2020 Innovation Awards:

The GoAbroad Innovation Awards acknowledge institutions, organizations, and individuals moving the field forward, and commend leaders in the community for their efforts to go beyond the conventional—and we want to ensure that those innovations do not go unnoticed in 2020.

GoAbroad has added two new Special Awards for 2020:

*NEW 2020 SPECIAL AWARD* Innovation in Online Programming

This award recognizes an innovative individual, institution, or organization that has provided an exemplary and intuitive online experience in the field of international and experiential education. Evaluation will focus on program development, creativity, quality, and ease of access.

*NEW 2020 SPECIAL AWARD* Innovation in Crisis Response, sponsored by Travolucion

This award honors an individual, institution, or organization that has displayed innovation, agility, and responsiveness to the global coronavirus crisis. Nominations are evaluated on their scope and ability to provide specialized support.

You can learn more about the Innovation Awards and submit nominations here.