Global Garden

My Fulbright in 7 minutes

https://internationalcenter.ufl.edu/my-fulbright-7-minutes-3

Buses, Banners and Learning without Borders

The UF International Center announced the launch of its Fall 2018 “Learning without Borders (LWB)” campaign featuring 42 light pole banners displayed around UF campus, two RTS wrapped buses (routes #21/Reitz to Cabana Beach, and #35/Reitz to SW 35th Place) and half page ads in both “New Student” and “Welcome Back” editions of the Alligator newspaper. This promotional effort seeks to bring awareness about the Learning without Borders initiative, an institutional endeavor that internationalizes the undergraduate experience and supports faculty and staff by offering opportunities to extend their research and careers globally.

To help amplify this initiative, colorful banners displayed in light poles around the UF campus invite students and faculty to further their international connections and to teach, research, study, serve and work abroad. In addition, two wrapped buses circulating in campus routes remind everyone that global engagement at home and abroad provides an outstanding opportunity for academic, career and personal growth.

The LWB signature component is the International Scholars Program (ISP), an exciting campus-wide distinction program available to all undergraduate students across all colleges and majors. ISP enables students to structure their global learning experience through the completion of international coursework, language learning or international learning experiences. As a capstone project, students develop an electronic portfolio. In it, they feature research projects, photographs and reflections to show the ways in which they have been globally engaged and the skills they have acquired through these experiences. “ISP eportfolios help students articulate and demonstrate the ways in which global engagement contributes to their employability,” said Paloma Rodriguez, Associate Director of Undergraduate Academic Programs at the UF International Center.

Other components of Learning without Borders target the entire UF community by supporting faculty designing new or revising existing courses with international content and innovative approaches to teaching, promoting inclusive access to study abroad opportunities through the development of diverse programs and the provision of $3000 scholarships to Pell-eligible students, investing in professional development for faculty, staff and administrators seeking to engage internationally and enhancing co-curricular student engagement by sponsoring guest speakers and other campus life events.

“The Learning without Borders initiative proved critical this past spring, when the University of Florida was selected as one of five institutions to receive the 2018 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization,” said Matthew Jacobs, PhD., Director of Undergraduate Academic Programs at the UF International Center. The award will be formally presented during International Education Week on November 13 in Washington D.C. UF was honored for its broad commitment to international education and research, grounded in the fundamental goals of preparing students to meet the challenges of a globalized world, striving for faculty research excellence with a global impact and advancing campus diversity.

Members of the campus community are invited to learn without borders by visiting the program's new space inside the International Center in the HUB or online.

The Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization is granted to a limited number of institutions each year - usually no more than five. The award recognizes overall excellence in internationalization efforts as evidenced in mission, strategies, programs, and results.

Stay tuned for more photos and updates from UF staff attending NAFSA!

The International Student Affairs Student Government partnered with UFIC to provide a fun event for international students last Saturday before the Blue and Orange game. The event was a tailgate that included games and allowed the students to connect and network. Go Global Gators!

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University of Florida (UF) faculty members traveled to Ecuador in an effort to develop new collaborative opportunities between UF and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ). The trip was funded by the UF International Center and the UF Center for Latin American Studies. Trip organizers were Dr. Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo, UF Anthropology, and Dr. Philip Williams, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies.

UF Faculty met with Dr. Diego Quiroga, vice president of Research at USFQ and Co-Director of the Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences (GAIAS) located in the island of San Cristobal, Galapagos. Dr. Quiroga visited UF last fall, where he met with UF faculty who expressed interest in increasing collaborative research with USFQ.

Currently, UF and USFQ collaborate in various programs. During this trip, UF faculty delivered guest lectures, toured the USFQ campus and San Cristobal Island, as well as met with faculty and admin to discuss study abroad and research opportunities. UF in Galapagos, a study abroad program led by Dr. Eric Hellgren, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, is set to start this fall semester. Both universities are also working to develop a field school that will focus on areas such as anthropology, the social sciences, and the impact of tourism on the environment.