Penn State Global 2020 Annual Report

from Penn State Global 2020 Annual Report

by Penn State Global

Penn State Global 2020 Annual Report - Alumni Relations & Special Initiatives

The Office of Global Programs

2020 ANNUAL REPORT

LOCAL TO GLOBAL: FULFILLING THE MISSION OF A LAND- GRANT UNIVERSITY

VICE PROVOST'S COMMENTS

Welcome to the first Penn State Global Annual Report!

This report highlights accomplishments and statistics for the calendar year 2020 – a most extraordinary year, to be sure. While the year presented many unpredictable challenges, it also necessitated and, in fact, accelerated innovative approaches to global collaboration. More than anything, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven that we live in an interconnected world. In addition to this current health crisis, climate change remains an existential threat worldwide. In 2020, some of the largest and most destructive wildfires in the history of California decimated much of the state while Australia saw its worst season of wildfires on record. At the same time, here in the U.S., we have heard the renewed call for an earnest national discourse around diversity, equity, and inclusion. The outpouring of empathy and support from communities around the world affirms the truth that underrepresented cultural and ethnic populations struggle for societal equity in many countries.

At Penn State, we believe that we are ALL connected and that we ALL share common struggles and common goals. With that in mind, the theme of this report “Local to Global, Global to Local,” reflects the interdependent and symbiotic relationship Penn State has with our local communities as well as with the world beyond the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

I joined the university as Vice Provost for Global Programs in April of 2020, when we were already in the midst of the pandemic. In the months since, I have witnessed the incredible work of the Global Programs staff with and in support of colleagues across the university. I have admired the resilience and fortitude of the entire Penn State community – from our students attending classes on a variety of remote platforms and those participating in virtual internships to the extraordinary efforts of our faculty adapting their teaching methods and modalities to reach students wherever in the world they may be to our administrators and staff across the Commonwealth – all of whom took this most remarkable of years in stride and kept the university moving forward.

Penn State is ranked among the top fifteen institutions in the U.S. in terms of hosting international students and among the top ten for sending students abroad (Open Doors, 2020). And, in 2020, we were the #1 university producer of Fulbright scholars! Penn State truly is a global land-grant institution. This Annual Report is, therefore, a celebration – not just of Global Programs, but of the entire university and our outstanding partners around the world. In celebrating our collective accomplishments, which are even more impressive having been achieved during a such a year as 2020 was, I sincerely thank each and every member of our global community!

Without further ado, I am delighted to share this report with you. To be clear, this is not a traditional report. Much like the year it represents, it is a reflection of the innovation required of us all in 2020. It is a visual document - full of graphics and carefully curated stories that, together, paint a picture of Penn State’s global footprint. For those of you reading the digital version, I invite you to follow the embedded links to more detailed information. On behalf of my colleagues in Global Programs, I hope you will enjoy this review of the extraordinary year that was 2020 as much as we enjoyed bringing it to life.

Roger Brindley Vice Provost for Global Programs The Pennsylvania State University

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STRATEGIC INITIATIVES & GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS

The Office of Global Programs is committed to longitudinal, interdisciplinary, global initiatives that are beneficial to all partners. This important work is housed in the Office of the Associate Vice Provost.

Dr. Robert Crane Associate Vice Provost for Global Programs

With over 275 four-year baccalaureate degree programs spread over 20 campuses, 75,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students, and research expenditures of over a billion dollars, Penn State is one of the foremost institutions of learning and research in the United States. Our strong academic profile and dedication to global research means that our faculty connections around the world reflect our size and complexity.

Between 2017-2019, the most recent compilation of data, Penn State researchers published almost 13,000 research papers with international collaborators at over 3,600 institutions worldwide, showcasing our broad faculty connection to researchers in almost every country in the world.

At the University level, our institutional partnerships are strategic and highly focused. We have a long-term and multi-faceted partnership with the University of Freiburg in Germany, where we recently launched a major new joint research venture in “living materials.”

A similar broad partnership with Monash University in Australia focuses on projects and programs at the intersection of health and environment.

In April 2021, Penn State and the University of Auckland (another of our strategic partners) will jointly host the Times Higher Education Impact Summit on the theme of "Cultivating Resilience, Changing the World."

Along with these comprehensive institutional partnerships, we have a number of international collaborations structured around major research themes, and in late 2020, Penn State organized a virtual International Workshop on Biosensing. The workshop was part of an effort that has seen the formation of an international biosensing institute with 110 members from 16 countries and over 50 universities.

In addition, we have continued to lead the development of an African Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus network, and the WEF nexus has become the focus of a rapidly developing partnership with La Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano (Utadeo) in Colombia.

While the absence of international travel for much of 2020 has slowed some of the work, our connections and collaborations around the world continue to produce exciting opportunities for our faculty and students that advance the theme of the University’s strategic plan — Our Commitment to Impact.

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COVID-19: GLOBAL PROGRAMS' RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC

2020 began as any other spring semester for Global Programs. The Directorate of International Student and Scholar Advising was prepping for the incoming class of approximately 200 international students, Student Engagement & Intercultural Learning (SEIL) was readying to onboard those students through International Student Orientation, and Education Abroad was anticipating sending a record number of students abroad.

However, circumstances, on a global scale, changed very quickly.

In early January, SEIL began hearing from some of our Chinese students about concerns they were having regarding a virus back home affecting family and friends. SEIL began reaching out to University resources to help the students cope with this new worry, the stresses of school, and the effects of being so far from home.

At the same time, our Global Safety unit, which oversees the University's Travel Safety Network (TSN), began monitoring health advisory notices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the State Department. The TSN is the database, created six years ago, to document all university-affiliated Penn State international travel in order to better support the health and safety or our travelers while abroad. Education Abroad had just sent close to 900 students and faculty abroad worldwide.

As the weeks progressed, the stresses of COVID-19 were seen in all Global Programs' units and the populations which they support - faculty, staff, partners, international students, and education abroad. Global Programs was quickly pushed to the center of Penn State's COVID-19 response - assisting international students, those wanting to go home and those wanting to stay, with immigration issues, making the very hard decisions to suspend education abroad programs and assist students with completing their studies once back home, and guiding the University's travel restrictions, all while the University transitioned to remote learning. We saw the University respond rapidly - transitioning 100+ thousand courses online in only 9 days - to ensure students remain on-track academically and to mitigate the spread of the virus.

The year proved to be quite challenging, but if we learned anything, it's that Penn State was able to respond to the challenge and able to adapt. As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, Global Programs continues to bring the Penn State experience to all students, whether in Pennsylvania or around the world.

862 Students recalled from 41 countries as COVID-19 spread

55 Travelers supported while sheltering in place abroad from March - late Aug

41 Assisted with travel scheduling during mass flight shortage

2000 International trips canceled for SP & SU 2020 due to COVID-19

Strong collaboration across GP units:

Established GP emergency call center available 7 days a week

Coordinated communication across numerous University-wide units

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GLOBAL PROGRAMS 2020 AWARDS

The Office of Global Programs celebrates and honors global engagement of students, faculty, and staff through several annual awards programs. We are so proud of our 2020 recipients! Please celebrate these global leaders with us.

W. LAMARR KOPP INTERNATIONAL FACULTY AWARD

The W. LaMarr Kopp International Faculty Award is designed to recognize faculty members who make extraordinary contributions to the advancement of the international mission of the University - including leadership and support for international education, service to the international community, and research with a significant international component.

MIKE JACOBSON PROFESSOR OF FOREST SCIENCE, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

ARDETH & NORMAN FRISBEY INTERNATIONAL STUDENT AWARDS

This award honors and recognizes outstanding contributions to international understanding by graduate/undergraduate international students (holding nonimmigrant status) enrolled in full-time resident instruction or its equivalent.

UNDERGRADUATE: NAKUL GROVER, COLL. OF THE LIBERAL ARTS FROM INDIA

LEADERSHIP: UNDERGRAD, GERARDO SUAREZ PENN STATE ABINGTON FROM VENEZUELA

LEADERSHIP: GRADUATE, LINA TAMI-BARRERA COLL. OF AG SCIENCES FROM COLOMBIA

GRADUATE: TERRY TORRES-CRUZ, COLL. OF AG SCIENCES FROM COSTA RICA

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GLOBAL PROGRAMS 2020 AWARDS

Advancing a Global Penn State Awards

OUTSTANDING PROGRAM AWARD

JANELLE LARSON ASSOC DEAN FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND AN ASSOC PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

This award was presented to Penn State’s program with the Children and Youth Empowerment Center in Nyeri, Kenya, recognized for the positive impact it has on vulnerable youth in Kenya and for the unique educational opportunity the program offers Penn State students. Led by Janelle Larson.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

KIM NEELY SENIOR DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT EBERLY COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

This award recognizes one individual who has demonstrated outstanding achievement towards furthering the vision of a Global Penn State.

OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AWARD

MELANIE MILLER-FOSTER ASST PROF INTL AG

This award honors and recognizes exemplary leadership by a faculty or staff member who has demonstrated leadership, innovation, and creativity in developing and/or enhancing international education opportunities for students.

OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH AWARD

PAIGE CASTELLANOS ASSIS RESEARCH PROF PROGRAM MANAGER FOR THE GENDER EQUITY THROUGH AGRICULTURE RESEARCH & EDUCATION INITIATIVE

This award honors and recognizes innovative research projects and initiatives that can be shown to be advancing progress towards one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION ABROAD AWARD

BEN FREDRICK PROFESSOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

This award honors and recognizes exemplary leadership, innovation, and creativity in developing, implementing or enhancing education abroad opportunities for members of the Penn State community.

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EDUCATION ABROAD

Brian Brubaker, Director of Education Abroad

For Education Abroad at Penn State, the 2019- 2020 academic year was challenging, but also a year marked by accomplishment, hope, resiliency, and pride.

The global COVID-19 pandemic left an indelible mark on the year; it gave our team no satisfaction to repatriate hundreds of students who were actively studying abroad or preparing to do so in short-order (in some cases, getting on planes in a matter of hours!). However, we (and by extension, our education abroad students) received unequivocal support from University leadership.

Following the suspension and cancellation of education abroad programs, our team turned to helping our students recover as best we could from their truncated programs. This included reimbursement for return flights, an account credit program for unused/unreimbursed housing and meals, and assistance with academic issues provoked by COVID transitions to remote learning worldwide. Our students and our partners, on the whole, navigated a very trying situation with grace, patience, and ingenuity.

As our work stepped into summer and fall 2020, the EA team intentionally turned to innovative solutions for new challenges posed by the pandemic.

Summer 2020 marked the first term when the Perreault Fellows were to complete internships abroad. The Fellows were offered the chance to pursue a virtual internship or consider options that might be available during a different term – all while recruitment for the second Perreault Fellows cohort continued.

On a larger scale, Education Abroad created the Penn State First suite of programs – hybridresidential programs abroad for first-year international students who would be unable to come to the United States to begin their academic career. Together, these programs in Shanghai and Seoul enrolled over 450 new first year students and were a wonderful opportunity to provide a strong curricular and co-curricular introduction to Penn State!

We are ending 2020 stronger, prouder, and wiser. The global pandemic has pushed us to think and innovate in areas where we had not previously focused. This work, and our expanded field of vision, will undoubtedly serve us well as we build a stronger global engagement platform for Penn State students moving into the future.

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INTERNATIONAL STUDENT & SCHOLAR ADVISING

DISSA is the critical source for immigration advice for all our foreign national faculty, staff, and students, and a vital source of advice and guidance for our international students.

Masume Assaf, Director of International Students & Scholars Advising (DISSA)

HISTORY International students have been at Penn State for more than a hundred years. In 1890, the first international student to graduate from The Pennsylvania State University was Potter M. Brown. Brown was a New Zealand native earning a degree in agriculture. In 1884, the first female foreign student enrolling at Penn State was Elizabeth B. Perry, who was from Quebec, Canada. Since our first international population at Penn State, each student has enriched and diversified our community, sharing their culture and experiences as we do ours with them.

After WWII, foreign (as they were called at that time) students and Fulbright scholars were advised by Professor R. E. Galbraith (who was also the swimming coach), a faculty member in the College of the Liberal Arts. He also advised returning GIs. In 1948, there were approximately 57 international students. International students integrated in every aspect of University life from athletics, classroom, groundbreaking research, and leadership.

PURPOSE

The Directorate of International Student and Scholar Advising (DISSA) is responsible for advising international students, interns, scholars, and faculty who come to the U.S. to meet their goals as well as the goals of Penn State. DISSA is responsible for providing guidance and immigration processing at all Penn State campuses except World Campus and Pennsylvania College of Technology. Our job is to ensure these foreign nationals are able to enter the U.S. and maintain their status while completing their academic and research goals and while following federal regulations and statutes, ensuring Penn State remains in federal compliance.

EVOLUTION The job of advisers in DISSA has shifted over the past two decades since 9/11/2001. Beyond advising, there is more required monitoring and compliance in a federal database. This requires a balancing act to welcome and advise students while assuring regulations are upheld. DISSA has to make sure our international community feels welcome and cared for while safeguarding the ability to bring international students, scholars, and faculty to Penn State by following laws and regulations.

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GLOBAL OPERATIONS & LEARNING

Global Operations and Learning (GOL) facilitates the critical structures that support global engagement for faculty, staff, and students, maintains international student and scholar engagement, monitors global safety, manages international agreements, alumni connections, and sponsored relations.

Mel White, Interim-Director of Global Operations and Learning

"The Past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” So begins the novel The Go-Between, by the British author L.P. Hartley. In the year 2020, the “Past” was as recent as 2019 —a few months earlier. All of us in 2020 experienced the shock of everyday life being different. For most, these differences were uncomfortable but bearable. For some, however, the year was tragic, and we recognize the sacrifice and sorrow that will resonate long into the future for many.

In Global Operations and Learning (GOL) our intercultural development activity is focused on the Global Education and Leadership Experience (GELE). During GELE, we help students investigate the complexities of interacting in a culture different than their own. Real life in 2020 provided the same experience for all of us. Behaviors were different due to physical distancing. Dress and appearances were different due to masks and personal protective equipment. Communications were different due to remote meetings and family gatherings. Language was different: “coronavirus”, “COVID”, “flattening the curve”, “PPE” entered our lexicon…New national figures emerged: Dr. Fauci, New York’s Governor Cuomo, and Dr. Deborah Birx, a Penn Stater herself, among others.

2020 has reminded us of our responsibilities at Penn State. We help prepare students, staff and faculty for the different cultures they will encounter whether a visiting student or scholar to Penn State, a Penn Stater on a program overseas, or through an interaction with someone from a different culture in the face-to-face or digital classroom. Our organizational vision is to foster global responsibility to inspire innovation. Towards that end in 2020, we modified co-curricular programming for international students for remote delivery rather than in-person, and for community-centered programs. We refocused our robust travel risk management processes towards communicating with travelers sheltering in place overseas, while simultaneously monitoring travel conditions across the globe. We continued building partnerships with global collaborators and sponsored governments by transitioning to digital communications, always using proactive dialogue prioritizing students’ welfare. Similarly, we strengthened our partnership with Penn State’s alumni resulting in gifts of medical supplies for use by current students and additional flexibility in the use of endowments with a global focus. Global Programs has long used the idea of a threesided coin to capture our functions. These sides are “Go, Come, Partner”. In 2020, that coin shrank to a single side. Travel restrictions that prevented "coming" or "going" forced us to rely on the remaining aspect: partnership. These strengthened bonds, with both internal and external partners, will be the one legacy from 2020, we will retain.

**Global Engagement & Leadership Experience (GELE)**

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ALUMNI RELATIONS & SPECIAL INITIATIVES

Penn State is proud to have the largest dues paying Alumni Association in the world. With more than 727,000 alumni around the globe, the Penn State alumni network is a powerful way for alumni to stay connected with one another and with the University.

Jennifer Theiss, Senior Assistant Director of Alumni Relations & Special Initiatives

Every day, Penn Staters are making a difference in their communities around the world. Even our most recent graduates are making an impact. Shah Chowdhury (class of 2018) received the 2020 Diana Award, regarded as one of the most prestigious accolades young individuals can receive for their social and humanitarian work.

This year, Penn State’s international alumni demonstrated the “We Are” spirit through increased volunteerism and philanthropy. Through philanthropic gifts to the We Are All Penn State Fund and the International Student Emergency Fund, alumni provided critically important funding that helped students navigate dire financial emergencies and continue their education. Members of the Penn State Alumni Association Chapters in Shanghai and Beijing championed fundraising efforts and purchased 1,000 N95 masks and 3,500 disposable surgical masks that they sent to University Health Services in a time when there were severe shortages.

Alumni then stepped up and supported students whose plans for international internships and education experiences were dashed due to the pandemic. They served as guest speakers in classes and virtual career panel discussions to share lessons learned from their own education abroad experiences and offered sage advice to students about navigating career planning during uncertain times. They opened doors to their companies for Penn State First students in Shanghai and Seoul, and mentored students in the many mentoring programs sponsored by academic colleges and departments across the University.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

115 Global stories were published under the "Impact - Global" category in Penn State News.