THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Greetings from the director
I’m pleased to send you the latest annual report from the Center for International Education. It has been another successful, exciting year for our faculty and students. But, it has also been a much busier year than usual due to the government’s policy changes. Our staff managed these changes with their typical grace and good humor. Nevertheless, changes in administrations and changes of mind within administrations can keep us all pretty occupied.
Getting American students abroad and enrolling international students at W&L requires a working and constantly updated knowledge of potentially countless rules. When times are calm and politics stable (or, perhaps, mundane), this is not necessarily difficult because rules and policies tend to be predictable. But in times such as the ones we live in — with politics in flux in the USA and across the world — keeping up with shifting policies can be more than a full-time job. It is not uncommon, for example, that American students must get student visas in order to study abroad. Since COVID, some of the most popular destinations — Spain, Italy, Portugal, the U.K. — have changed the processes and requirements for securing visas. In some cases, they change the number of days that a student can stay in the country to study. This has a ripple effect across American higher education as universities must convey new information and advise students how to manage their study abroad plans.
The same applies to our international students and faculty. As the administration changes the processes for securing visas, as our consulates change the schedules for applying for visas, and as the government places new restrictions on which countries can send students to the USA, international student and faculty advisers must keep their charges aware of how these changes impact their status and their ability to remain in the USA.
As always, the CIE staff handles and manages all of this with grace and diligence. The center is always abuzz with students and faculty coming to discuss some aspect of visa status, study abroad or spring term abroad. Our work-study students and peer advisers add to the warm, welcoming, and, occasionally frenetic, vibe of our offices.
Come visit us the next time you are on campus. Meanwhile, best wishes for 2025-26.
Mark Rush Director of International Education
Posi Oluwakuyide ’22 Participates in Global Institute
PPosi Oluwakuyide ’22 studied abroad twice while at W&L. She went to London in the 2022 Fall Term. There she took a class on Designing the Sustainable City. This was no typical class — it is part is part of the new Global Pillars program that IES Abroad founded in 2022. The program is grounded upon the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and provides students with opportunities to “engage in a multi disciplinary and multi-cultural learning community through the lens of a specific and relevant global issue.”
The course required Oluwakuyide to collaborate with other students studying in London to develop a website with concrete proposals for rendering cities
“My group landed on this idea because as college students, we were used to communal laundry, and London’s context exposed to us a laundry practice that many students didn’t utilize – hang drying clothes. In fact, it’s customary for most houses to have washers, but not dryers. So in an effort to achieve further decarbonization, we looked into the ways communal laundry reduced a building’s carbon footprint, as well as the importance of creating a social culture focused on community building, using laundry as a focal point of sorts.” — Posi Oluwakuyide ’22
more sustainable and equitable. Oluwakuyide’s team researched how to develop communal laundry services and attract young professionals to use them. While the project would not decrease laundry usage, it would decrease the cost and carbon footprint of producing numerous washers and dryers for home use. Communal facilities would use fewer, more durable machines and take advantage of the practice of hanging clothes to dry.
The communal systems would be constructed in a manner that would recover the heat produced by the machines and thereby further decrease the carbon footprint. The corresponding reduction in the carbon footprint conformed to the aspirations set forth in the London Plan for Sustainable Design and Construction (https://www.london.gov. uk/programmes-strategies/planning/implementing-london-plan/london-plan-guidance-and-spgs/ sustainable-design-and)
Her experience in London drove Posi to pursue an educational and career path in climate change and sustainability. After London, she went on to
complete an open-source research capstone on sustainability and energy justice in Ethiopia. She so impressed the team at IES that they invited her to participate in their June 2025 Global Pillars Institute in Barcelona, Spain, to review the Global Pillars Program.
After graduating in May 2024, she continued her commitment to environmental justice by joining AmeriCorps VISTA, where she has served as the Policy Fellow with the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. The alliance follows the framework of Just Transitions, which centers well-being, equity, and sustainability in the pursuit of a greener economy. Says Oluwakuyide, “While my work with this organization is localized, we are part of a global movement that shares the consciousness that the world’s most vulnerable populations cannot be sacrificed in this green transition.”
What’s next? In August, she moved to Boston to pursue an MPP at Harvard for the next two years. Godspeed! ■
Tegan Retzer of Boston University, Posi Oluwakuyide and Griffin St. Martin, of St. Olaf College
Certificate of International Immersion, 2025
EACH YEAR, the International Education Committee awards the Certificate of International Immersion to graduating students who show significant commitment to and understanding of global interaction. To qualify, students must have spent time in a particular destination for at least 13 weeks in duration, lived with native speakers, taken coursework in the target language, and volunteered, participated in community service or worked in an internship. In 2025, the committee recognized 18 students. We highlight them and their reflections in the following pages.
Tuvshin Anderson
I fondly recall the valuable opportunities I had studying overseas: completing two internships in Germany, opening a restaurant with my host family in a historic town hall, spending a semester studying in Vienna, and participating in the Virginia Oxford Program at the University of Oxford in the U.K.
Lela Casey
I came to love Jordan, and I was devastated to leave a place that felt like my second home. When I was in the taxi driving to the airport, I was already thinking of ways to return to Jordan.
Natalie Beinlich
Every place I visited reaffirmed my belief in the kindness of people. Across all my travels, I encountered individuals willing to offer assistance if I was struggling and eager to share their culture with me.
Stephanie Boktor
The language barriers I was able to overcome due to my time spent in the clinic in Valencia and my invaluable knowledge of medical Spanish terminology allowed me to form unique connections with my patients that summer that I cherish to this day.
Vic Ernst
The most important things I learned were perspective and what I want: to be a hard worker, to continue to grow, and to be in an environment that allows me to do both.
Luke Fountain
Studying abroad fundamentally reshaped my worldview, academic pursuits, and career aspirations. Copenhagen, Barcelona, and London each shaped a different piece of who I am today and have fueled my passion for education policy, language, and international journalism.
Veronika Kolosova
I feel more confident working with people from different backgrounds after I gained a deeper understanding in the professional differences of people from other countries.
Elena Lee
Studying abroad is so much more than taking classes in a different country. The real learning happens in the experiences of growing as a person and getting to listen, learn, and live in the vibrant cultures and histories that blossom around you in your host country.
Lily Nannini
At that moment, on that train, somewhere in Australia, I knew I wanted to teach because I realized that it was my own teachers who instilled this love for learning within me, and I want to do the same for others.
Alexis Park
Participation in societies as a visiting student such as the Oxford Women in Computer Science Society that weren’t necessary for my tutorials brought me access to untouched stories from around the world.
Haley Minnery
This experience reinforced my understanding of global health care disparities and deepened my interest in international medicine.
Lucas Pleasants
The students’ inquisitiveness, ranging from inquiries about my preferred soccer team to life in the U.S., showed me the importance of attentive listening and meaningful engagement.
Xavier Raymondson
I found some of the most fun I had was at the local game café where I played chess with locals and discussed politics. Understanding the varying political beliefs in what some could call authoritative societies was a welcome fold in my perception of the region.
Stone Shepard
I lived in a homestay with a host mother, named Andrea, who taught me about the fraught political condition of today. We watched the presidential debates and spoke about what direction the country was headed in. Andrea encouraged me to soak up every moment in which I was there.
Anna Udassi
When I first came to the States, I wanted to fit into the American culture. Now, I am not scared to stand out. I have four clocks on my phone because I talk to friends all over the globe, and I love them all.
Liv Ullmann
Learning about health care access and community innovations across all of the different groups of people we visited caused me to reflect on my privileged position. It’s one thing to want to help, but an entirely different thing to know how to help, or if a community wants help.
Tara Trinley
In the long term, my time abroad has confirmed my desire that I want a career in international law specializing in the post-Soviet space and South Caucasus, explore themes like competing territorial claims, ethnonationalism, international organizations, and sovereignty.
Lydia Yang
We must acknowledge that we live in a globalized world. A world of migrants. Ethnicity and nationality are no longer interchangeable. Yes, Europe does not have the same relationship with race like the United States does. This is a world shaped by migration, globalization, and hybrid identities.
Mark Drumbl Co-Sponsors
International Conference on Transitional Justice
TThe Center for International Education was pleased to co-sponsor an international conference on “Transitional Justice Boundaries, Innovations, and Refractions.” Professor Mark Drumbl, together with his Canadian colleague professor Kirsten Fisher, co-organized the international conference that was held in Canada at the University of Saskatchewan.
Transitional justice addresses how societies reckon with and recover from massive human rights violations. The conference brought together speakers and researchers to address cutting-edge developments and
issues in the practice of transitional justice. It explored four areas in particular:
Artificial intelligence, tech, and digitization
The natural and human environment
Justice beyond the state, including abolitionism
Racism, misogyny, and supremacy and how to innovate to overcome these specters
Thirteen speakers participated in addition to two moderators and the organizers. Participants hailed from Japan, Mexico, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Colombia, Finland, Italy, the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom. Presenters ranged from chaired research professors to doctoral and law students. Contributions from the event will lead to the publication of a book co-edited by Drumbl and Fisher.
One of the speakers and future authors was W&L Law student Will Vardy ’26L. Prior to attending law school, Vardy completed graduate studies in international relations, and in 2023, he published a book called Concrete Inferno: Terror and Torture Under Brazil’s Military Regime, 1964-1985 (Rowman & Littlefield). Vardy presented a paper analyzing how democratic backsliding may co-opt the language of progressive transitional justice. Professor Juan Espindola Mata of the Autonomous University of Mexico, who visited W&L and co-taught one of Drumbl’s classes on international environmental law, joined a discussion on
“Informers: Why Do People Betray Others to State Authorities?”
The book of conference proceedings will be published by Routledge in late 2026. The work will follow two additional books that Drumbl launched in 2025. Sights, Sounds, and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecutions debuted in January 2025 at the University of Stockholm and in February 2025 at the Asser Institute in The Hague for the Benjamin Ferencz Annual Lecture. Edited by Drumbl and Caroline Fournet, a law professor at the University of Exeter, the work examines how atrocity is perceived, remembered, and condemned.
In addition, Drumbl presented Informers Up Close: Stories from Communist Prague in February 2025 at Cambridge University and in December 2024 at the Charles University School of Law in Prague. Informers Up Close , produced in collaboration with former W&L scholar in residence Barbora Holá (Free University Amsterdam), chronicles how and why informers speak to the secret police in repressive times and considers how transitional justice should approach informers once repression ends.
Drumbl also published a co-edited volume, Children and Violence: Agency, Experience, and Representation in and Beyond Armed Conflict. ” The book was the product of an international law conference that was co-organized with professor Mohamed Kamara (Romance Languages) at W&L in 2023. ■
WLTA
World Language Teaching Assistants
ONCE AGAIN, W&L welcomed world language teaching assistants from around the globe. Their experience at Washington and Lee propels them along their career trajectories while giving them the opportunity to experience and work in a small, liberal arts college setting. We invited them to offer reflections on their time with us in 2024-25.
Yameng Tian, Jessica Sousa Bourges, Kazuya Shirahama, Francesca Pastore, Kira Binder, Amal AlQassimi and Paul Moreaux
Francesca Pastore (ARGENTINA, SPANISH)
I had a great teaching experience as the professor managed to incorporate me into the lessons in an easy and well-ordered way. We exchanged ideas, and he took into consideration my contributions. Being in class was not only fun but also a great opportunity for growth. My favorite travel experience was going to the FLAVA Conference in Norfolk with the other WLTAs, as well as our trip to Washington, D.C. Both experiences were bonding moments with people who were going through the same journey as I was. We learned about teaching foreign languages, U.S. history, and more about one another.
Amal AlQassimi (BAHRAIN, ARABIC)
I loved when students stayed after class to chat, share feedback, and express how much they enjoyed learning about the Arabic language and culture during my sessions. I’m truly grateful for the kindness and support I received at W&L. The staff and faculty were incredibly welcoming, helpful, and made my experience even more enjoyable.
Jessica Sousa Bourges (BRAZIL, PORTUGUESE)
I was honestly surprised by how warm and welcoming the W&L community is. I felt really supported by the university, not just at the beginning, but throughout my entire stay. It truly felt like everyone looked out for one another, and that made it really easy to feel at home quickly. I really loved developing small in-class projects with the students. One that stands out was when I asked them to create a start-up and write descriptions in Portuguese. They were so creative, coming up with fun ideas, using the vocabulary we’d learned, and presenting everything with so much energy. Their oral presentations that day were fantastic, and it was one of those moments where I could really see their progress and confidence shining through.
Just a big thank you. Being part of W&L this year has been one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had professionally and personally. I learned so much, not just about teaching, but also about myself, and I’m leaving with wonderful memories and a deep appreciation for this community.
Words From Our TAs
Kira Binder (AUSTRIA, GERMAN)
I liked the people. I like the people in the department who I worked with, the students, and, most of all, the other TAs. I mostly enjoyed being inside the classroom, holding actual lessons. I really enjoyed the cultural cooking events: We had a traditional German dinner once and also prepared Austrian schnitzel. But I liked it best to share my culture and language knowledge in class. I also feel like the students took away the most in this setting.
Paul Moreaux (FRANCE, FRENCH)
I liked the very close-knit community of Lexington. It is very pleasant to know the people who pass by and have conversations with them on the go. One of the fears I had before arriving was the fear of being apart because I am an international TA: not a student, not a teacher, not a regular international. The community’s atmosphere and size made it much easier for me to fit and make friends.
My favorite teaching experience happened every week, when I was able to meet students for French tables at the Tea House and discuss whatever topic they would bring about while sipping coffee. This was even better during the warmer times as we could hang out outside and discuss topics like French politics, sports or even just whatever they had been up to the past weekend. French + coffee is the best possible combo, especially for the student, and it allowed me to develop a more friendly relationship with many of them.
Yameng Tian (CHINA, CHINESE)
I will be back as a TA again in 2025-26. It was wonderful to see how much the students want to know about life in China. It is amazing to chat with students about real experiences there. I’m impressed by how much our school is studentcentered and focuses on students everywhere in their study and life.
Students Mentoring and Advising International Students
The increase in the international student population has provided CIE with the opportunity to create roles for students to play in the mentoring and advising of firstyear and continuing international students. Each August, a new class of some 40 international students arrives to campus for orientation a week before the Leading Edge trips. CIE arranges to get the students to W&L from Dulles International Airport, settle them into campus housing, and take a breather before engaging in three weeks of orientation.
During orientation, first-year international students engage with international orientation leaders in a week-long schedule of meetings and activities including everything from mock class sessions, to public safety, the Honor System, student health, and Walmart (!). After a week, the internationals join fellow American students for the Leading Edge trips and then first-year orientation. The interaction provides a soft landing and welcoming atmosphere for the incoming students and an opportunity for current students to provide ongoing mentorship to the first-years.
During the academic year, Global Peer Advisers (GPA) continue the process of getting accustomed to life at an American university and assisting with
With thanks to Kelsey Goodwin and the Communications Office.
Global Peer Advisors, 2024-25
Ammar Alhajmee ’26 (Iraq)
Linh Ngo ’26 (Vietnam)
Elias Eichhorn ’27 (Germany)
the many small, but important, details of being an international student. The GPAs assist the CIE with programming such as:
Midterm check-ins during the fall term to see how the first-year international students are doing and adjusting to campus.
They assist with connecting first-year students with support staff across campus. For many internationals, the environment of a residential campus is a new experience. Accordingly, the GPAs remind the first-years about access to academic support, health care, help dealing with culture shock, etc.
In the winter and spring terms, the GPAs reach out to incoming students to assist with questions about and preparation for visa interviews.
The GPA program enables our students to serve as a conduit to the staff when particular issues may be percolating up through the student body. As well, it provides the students with different perspectives on their questions from advisers who have only recently been in the same position. Finally, it’s rewarding to give our students the opportunity to engage with the intricacies of being an international student, not simply as consumers, but as practitioners. ■
“
Mentors provide the first impression the new students get of the university. We’re the first indication that they get of how people are going to treat them, and for people who are flying here from all over the world, people who’ve never been in the U.S., being the friend that they need has been the highlight of my experience here at W&L.”
— Veronika Kolosova ’25
Whenever I’m talking to other W&L people who have already graduated on networking calls, something everyone says is, ‘Someone has helped us get here. We are trying to help you get to where you want, and we expect you guys to do the same with people coming up.’ So that’s something that inspires me. That’s what I’m trying to do in whatever capacity I can. If I can help make my mentees’ lives easier by giving them advice, helping them register for classes, or getting more involved in extracurriculars, I’m more than happy to do that because alumni and seniors have helped me.”
— Adhip Adhikari
’27
I enjoy this role specifically as it allows me to serve as an invaluable resource to my fellow peers. It is highly fulfilling when my advice and mentorship leaves a meaningful impact for other students. I especially enjoy my work with first-years as it is great see how our work is part of the reason why their transition to college, and the U.S. in general, has been as fluent and pleasant as possible.”
— Elias Eichhorn ’27
Olha Tsviliuk ’27 (Ukraine)
Alumna Allie Stankewich ’23
Recognized for Research and Community Service
When Allie Stankewich graduated in 2023, two of her many accolades reflected her commitment to global learning and international service. The International Education Committee awarded her the Certificate of International Immersion, and the Center for International Education selected her for the Global Learning Leadership Award. Most recently, she was awarded the Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship by the School for International Training (SIT) to support her work in building a fish farm social enterprise in Uganda.
The project is entitled “Sustainable Fish Farm for Thriving Youth Farmers of Uganda.” It entails the construction of a fish farm and a sustainable
“We have been working together through a labor-intensive process of constructing three fish ponds, where we employed local youth under the supervision of a contracted aquaculture specialist. Bringing in local expertise to ensure the quality and sustainability of the ponds, we were also able to organize a community training facilitated by two aquaculture experts. We had 26 community members of youth attend to learn about how to start and sustain fish ponds. We then hosted a second training session, which I facilitated, for nearly 30 youth and community members on nutrition education and climate change and its impacts on food security. These community-based workshops will continue to educate on both theoretical and practical skills of agriculture, health, and livelihoods.” — Allie Stankewich ’23
aquaculture-based youth empowerment program. Stankewich will oversee the construction of three ponds: a nursery pond, a water reservoir, and a pond for rearing fish. This complex will be part of a larger working farm and training center operated by Stankewich’s partner organization, Thriving Youth Farmers Uganda (TYoFU) in Kalongero Village, Masulita. Besides supporting the harvesting of fish, the aquaculture system will provide training programs for Ugandan youth to develop practical skills that are transferable to other sectors, including basic finance, nutrition education, resource management, and community sanitation. (For more about the project details, see SIT’s website here: https://www.sit.edu/story/alice-rowan-swanson-fellow-fish-farm-uganda / ).
SIT’s Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship was established in 2009 by the family of SIT Nicaragua 2006 alumna Alice Rowan Swanson as a living tribute to her life, her passion for bridging cultures and helping others, and the role that SIT Study Abroad played in her life. A 2007 Amherst College graduate, Swanson was killed while riding her bike to work in 2008. The fellowships are awarded twice annually to SIT Study Abroad and International Honors
Program alumni to return to their program country and pursue further development projects benefiting human rights in that region.
Successful projects must originate in and be requested by the community in which they will take place. Improving human rights in that region or community is a key requirement. The project must be innovative, culturally sensitive, and feasible and implemented and overseen primarily by the fellow.
Stankewich studied abroad in Uganda during her time at W&L. She then spent 2023-24 as a Fulbright English language teaching assistant in Kampala, Uganda, at Makerere University and Mengo Senior School. She returned in 2024-25 as a Fulbright mentor. After finishing her work abroad, Stankewich plans to return to the U.S. She hopes to gain more direct work experience and will seek jobs in the intersection of research, policy, and development, particularly in the nonprofit space.
“I am eager to explore social and environmental determinants of health, pulling inspiration from both my sociology and environmental studies degrees at W&L.” ■
Forging Their Futures
H
elen Ezgo ’25 and Maina Shodmonbekova ’25 were the 2024-25 recipients of the John M. Gunn Scholarship. The Gunn Scholarship invites eligible undergraduate students from around the world to spend one year at Washington and Lee University to augment the major studies in which they are engaged at their home institutions. The scholarship pays one year’s full tuition, room, board, and transportation costs. Gunn Scholars may major in any academic discipline, but preference is given to students who plan to focus their work in the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics and are interested in a broader experience in the liberal arts. Over the past decade, the scholarship has supported students from South Africa, Indonesia, Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, and, in 2025-26, Mexico. Thanks to additional funding from the Harrison J. Pemberton Fund for International Education, the university was able to welcome an additional scholar in 2024-25.
Both Shodmonbekova and Ezgo came to W&L from the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, although they did not know each other before arriving on campus. Ezgo, originally from
Maina Shodmonbekova ’25 and Helen Ezgo ’25
With thanks to the Communications Office.
Afghanistan, attended AUCA before moving to Colorado in 2023 and continuing to take virtual classes with her home institution. Shodmonbekova came to AUCA from Tajikistan and, like Ezgo, applied for the Gunn Scholarship during her senior year at AUCA.
Ezgo majored in human rights at her home institution and has enjoyed the opportunity to take politics courses at W&L. “Helen was a tremendous asset to our global politics class,” said Seth Cantey, associate professor of politics. “She brought uncommon perspective, having experienced U.S. foreign policy firsthand.”
“I’ve had wonderful professors here who have been welcoming and encouraging,” Shodmonbekova said, noting that professors encouraged her to come to their office hours to make sure she was adjusting well to the course material and that she had the opportunity to ask further questions. Both students emphasized the personal attention they have received from faculty as one of W&L’s greatest strengths. Shodmonbekova added that her relationships with other international students and with the Center for International Education have helped her acclimate to life in the United States and form friendships on campus, particularly with Ezgo.
Ezgo and Shodmonbekova said that the W&L Speaking Tradition as well as the friendliness of the local community have been a pleasant cultural discovery as they have settled into life in Lexington. Both students are Muslim, and Ezgo said she has appreciated the opportunity to explore local churches and attend services for the first time.
International students create a tight-knit community on campus. One way the Center for International Education (CIE) fosters these relationships is through the International Student Mentorship program, which connects students like Ezgo and Shodmonbekova to other international students to answer questions and welcome them to W&L’s campus. Former Gunn Scholar and international student mentor Danae Manta ’24 kept in touch with Ezgo and Shodmonbekova frequently after they arrived on campus. “The mentor-mentee relationship is really about just being able to
understand the perspective of a new student who’s excited but also a little bit scared about coming to a new country and a new educational environment,” said Hunter Swanson, associate director of the CIE.
Ezgo plans to take a gap year before applying to graduate school and hopes to find work that can also support her family back in Afghanistan. Ezgo worked for a law clinic at AUCA as a researcher and caseworker for those seeking asylum in Kyrgyzstan and said she hopes to find similar work in the United States while she plans the next phase of her education.
Shodmonbekova is exploring her options after graduation, including graduate studies, working in the United States or returning to her hometown. Shodmonbekova’s major at AUCA was social entrepreneurship, and she hopes to one day take the knowledge she has gained from her undergraduate studies and apply it to opening her own business. ■
“I can now say that I have friends from Nepal, Pakistan, and the U.S.”
— Maina Shodmonbekova ’25
I hadn’t considered graduate school before, and now I know that is what I want to do.” This experience has inspired me, and I now have a better plan for my future.”
Helen Ezgo ’25
Tav Lupton Establishes Fund to Support Summer Experiences Abroad
During Reunion Weekend 2025, the Center for International Education had the opportunity and pleasure to meet with Tav Lupton ’75 and Michael Kurilecz ’75. Lupton had been in touch with the university and Kurliecz — one of the reunion chairs — for some time regarding international education and the possibility that he could support it. After meeting with CIE, Lupton created a new fund that will support summer opportunities for high-need students for three years starting in 2026.
Lupton studied the History of Ideas at W&L. He studied abroad at SMU-in-Spain in Madrid. At the time, W&L had a six-week study program in the spring at San Miguel de Allende, but he wanted a longer experience. “SMU-in-Spain turned out to be a perfect venue,” says Lupton. “My art class went to the Prado once a week;
the group toured Barcelona, Segovia, Casas de Colgadas, etc.; I lived with a Spanish family and spent weekends traveling Spain with other students.”
SMU had a 30-day mini-term after the fall semester. So Lupton and a friend bought a Eurail Pass and traveled for 30 days. They met up with other SMU students in Munich at the Hofbrau Haus. A friend suggested that he visit the L’Abri Fellowship (a Christian think tank) in Huemoz, Switzerland. “I spent three months there, and it was a perfect fit. I framed a Christian worldview.”
Lupton urges all students to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad: “I would tell current students the same thing I tell my kids: ‘Travel is equivalent to education. You are learning about yourself, another culture, or another person.’ And, as my son reminds me, it is also about the adventure. What you learn will impact your life and thinking from your time abroad thereafter.” ■
That time abroad was probably the best 12 months of my life. It wasn’t planned that way. The time in Madrid was really fun and a much needed break. The time in Switzerland helped me put together a viable worldview, which I still hold. The W&L component in all of this was two professors I had, one English, one in history, who challenged my deficient worldview at the time and precipitated the year abroad. So, they were doing their job as part of a liberal arts institution.” — Tav Lupton ’75
Fearless Speech Under Fascism: A Book Talk with Mary Anne Franks
On April 3, The Center for International Education and the Law, Justice, and Society Program hosted a public talk by internationally acclaimed scholar, Mary Anne Franks. In her remarks, Franks spoke about her latest work, Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment, where she discusses the need for the courts and society to modernize interpretation of freedom of speech in order to address challenges such as those posed by deep-fakes, online harassment, and other aspects of social media and technologically-powered speech that the Constitution’s framers could not have imagined. In this respect, Franks highlighted the suffering that victims of such speech endure and celebrated the courage of individuals who have challenged speech traditions that enabled the powerful to threaten and harm others.
Franks is also the president and legislative & tech policy director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating online abuse and discrimination. She has been a crusader in the battle against revenge pornography. In so doing she has testified extensively before Congress and has advised state and federal legislators on various forms of technology-facilitated abuse. Franks also advises major technology platforms on privacy, free expression, and safety issues.
In her prior, highly acclaimed work, The Cult of the Constitution, Franks set forth the intellectual and historical framework for rethinking and modernizing the manner in which courts interpret the First and Second Amendments. Together with Fearless Speech , Franks offers a powerful, innovative argument for balancing the exercise of fundamental constitutional rights that may come into conflict such as when one person’s speech compromises another’s privacy. Franks addressed this conflict and the challenges it presents in her remarks and with students while meeting professor Nathan Dean’s LJS 101 (Introduction to Law, Justice and Society) and professor Dayo Abah’s Journalism 301 (Law and Communications classes). ■
Spring Term Abroad is Booming: New Faculty and New Courses
W&L’s Spring Term Abroad program continues to be a signature part of our curriculum that creates unforgettable experiences for our students. As we turn to Spring Term 2026, our course offerings have grown in number. As this report goes to the printer, we boast a record 25 courses on the books. In addition, STA 2026 will include the brand-new destinations of Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
This growth in the number and diversity of courses is due in no small part to the number of new faculty on the STA team. In 2025, we added five new faculty to the Spring Term roster. In 2026, that number doubles to 11 faculty who will be leading courses for the first time. This boom is due to the great work of Jillian Murphy, senior assistant director of the CIE, and the capacity of CIE to support faculty as they undertake reconnaissance trips to blaze trails to new destinations and provide ongoing support while faculty and students are away. This includes real-time monitoring of events in the STA countries, 24/7 support from International SOS, and close relationships with study abroad organizations that CIE has cultivated over the years.
Spring Term Abroad (STA) Enrollment by Year
Spring Term Abroad 2025 Courses
Course Title
BUS 191: International Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
BUS 369: Green Information Systems
BUS 367: Social Innovation in Scandinavia
CLAS 288: Rome: The Eternal City
EDUC 235: Educating for Global Citizenship: Policies, Practices, and Purposes in the U.S. and Italy
EEG 373: Regional Geology of New Zealand
FILM/SOAN 273: Creating Field Documentary on Human Rights in Ghana
Germ 305: Traces of Empire
JAPN 100, 115, 265, 365 Japanese Languge and Culture Study
JOUR 299: Reporting and Communicating the Climate Crisis in Barbados
MUS 239: Haydn and Mozart: A Musical Tour of Prague and Vienna
POL 280: Bitcoin in Practice
SPAN 201: Supervised Study Abroad: Costa Rica
SPAN 213: Seville and the Foundations of Spanish Civilization
Faculty Location
Elizabeth Oliver and Rob Straughan Denmark
Keri Larson
Drew Hess
Caleb Dance and Lily van Diepen
Haley Sigler and Eric Moffa
Margaret Hinkle and Emily Falls
Christopher Brown
Debra Prager
Janet Ikeda
Toni Locy and Jared Macary
Akiko Konishi
Seth Cantey
Aroldo Nery Mora
Matthew Bailey
Austria, Czech Republic Argentina Costa Rica Spain
The Davis United World College Program: an Enduring Partnership
The Davis United World College Scholars Program (DUWCSP) was established in 2000 with the aim of fostering global engagement on U.S. college campuses. What began as a pilot with just 43 students on five campuses has since grown to over 4,500 scholars at more than 100 partner institutions over the ensuing 25 years.
Through the leadership and support of co-founders Phil Geier and philanthropist Shelby Davis, in 25 years DUWCSP has become the world’s largest privately funded international scholarship program for undergraduates. Since its founding 25 years ago, the program has awarded more than $900 million in scholarships, supporting over 15,000 UWC graduates from approximately 160 countries to study at more than 100 U.S. partner colleges and universities. W&L alone has received more than $2 million to launch its partnership and to provide scholars with need-based financial aid.
DUWCSP is closely linked to the United World Colleges (UWC), founded in 1962, a global network of 18 international high schools. These schools are united by the philosophy that “education is a force to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.” UWC graduates are selected for their academic
potential and demonstrated commitment to intercultural understanding and service.
DUWCSP provides funding to partner institutions to support need-based scholarship awards for students who attended UWC institutions. W&L formalized its affiliation to the program as a partner institution in 2004. Since then, more than 50 Davis UWC Scholars have earned their degrees from W&L. In recent years, as many as 20 Davis UWC Scholars have been part of the campus community annually. ■
In December 2024, first-year Davis UWC Scholars, from left, Christian Hindsberg, Paula Yaniz Macia, and Cheng Hu, received globes to commemorate each scholar’s background and the global diversity they bring to campus and their role as a bridge between cultures.
Sascha Goluboff Participates in the Sancho Panza Literary Society Summer Workshop
CIE supported Sascha Goluboff’s residence at Trinity College, Dublin for the Sancho Panza Literary Society’s workshop. The society was founded as “an independent forum for unmitigated artistic expression and vigorous debate” for scholars in residence each summer at Trinity College. The daily academic schedule is hybrid between open workshop of attendees’ work and open-forum debate of featured published works. Goluboff joined nine other scholars for a week of intense writing.
The society was founded in 2017 by its director, Joseph Reynolds, who also serves as editor-inchief of the society’s journal, New Square Literary Magazine. The society hosts two workshops each summer and one in January.
Goluboff was thrilled to recount her experience at the workshop. “I submitted a draft of a short story that I am working on, and I received in-depth and excellent feedback. It is a rarity to have so many smart people read your work and spend quality time conversing about it! I also learned much about the craft from comments on others’ pieces. Joseph Reynolds, the founder of the Sancho Panza Literary Society, said that he created this workshop so that participants would leave inspired to continue our writing journey, knowing that we belong to a community of writers who care and support each other. I am honored to now be a part of it.” ■
“I was excited to be selected, as I was looking forward to discussing the literary process where so many Irish writers learned their craft. We gathered in one of Trinity’s academic buildings in the morning to workshop participants’ fiction and nonfiction pieces. Later in the day, we visited local museums and attended several plays.”
Sascha Goluboff
Sambridhi Tuladhar ’25 Receives Global Learning Leadership Award
The Global Learning Leadership Award is presented annually to a student in the undergraduate senior class who manifests the values, aspirations and spirit of global learning. The 2025 recipient is Sambridhi Tuladhar from Kathmandu, Nepal.
Tuladhar is an accounting major and data science (business analytics) minor. She participated extensively in the university’s travel abroad programs. She spent Spring Term of her first year in Denmark and her sophomore Spring Term in Morocco. As a junior, she spent her Fall Term in the United Kingdom at the University of Oxford. In addition, she served as a team leader for both the Diversified Capital Group (DCG) and Washington and Lee Student Consulting (WLSC), was co-founder and treasurer of the South Asian Student Association (SASA), was event coordinator for the Student Association for International Learning (SAIL), and was a member of Kathekon. She was also a key part of the work-study team in the Center for International Education. As a student worker, she assisted with projects ranging from organizing the first summer storage program for international students to maintaining the center’s website and social media platforms.
According to Tuladhar, the CIE was “a second home on campus” since her first year. “From the moment I was admitted to W&L, even before I set foot on campus, the people at CIE were with me every step of the way. From navigating visa processes to finding a sense of belonging, the staff have been incredibly supportive and genuinely invested in my growth. As an international student, I know how overwhelming it can be to adjust to a new environment, and the support I received inspired me to give back, by mentoring new students and creating digital content that spotlights international voices, helping others feel seen, heard, and at home.”
According to Hunter Swanson, associate director of international education, “Sambridhi made exceptional contributions to global learning at W&L. Her engaging videos for the CIE Instagram page brought both the experience of international students on campus and our study abroad opportunities to life. Additionally, her work with the International Student Mentor Program helped many new students successfully transition to campus life. Having navigated the international student and study abroad experiences herself, Sambridhi brought an authentic perspective and genuine empathy to everything she does. Her dedication exemplifies why she’s so deserving of the Global Learning Leadership Award.” ■
178 212
international students from 61 Countries
$153,000 272
students in 13 countries for Spring Term 2025 in grants to 21 students for summer research and internships
students studying abroad during the academic year and summer in 35 countries
Mark Rush Director, Waxberg Professor of Politics and Law rushm@wlu.edu
Cindy Irby Associate Director and Study Abroad Advisor cirby@wlu.edu
Kristy Reed Office Manager, Center for International Education kreed@wlu.edu
Hunter Swanson Associate Director and International Student and Scholar Advisor hswanson@wlu.edu
Jillian Murphy Senior Assistant Director and Study Abroad Coordinator jmurphy@wlu.edu
The Center for International Education 204 W. Washington St. Lexington, Virginia 24450 go.wlu.edu/global
Credits
Spring Term Abroad 2025: Top left and right: Yining Zhong ’26, Oxford Study Abroad Program. Bottom left and right: Lui Blomberg ’25