Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week on Grad Pod, we’re exploring the world of travel and exploring what it means to study abroad or away as a graduate student. From short faculty-led trips to customized international research experiences, to working with VCU support team (GEO, NSO, faculty, and more) there are more opportunities than you might think to take your studies beyond campus.
Thinking about funding travel? Wondering how to fit travel into your degree, or just starting to imagine what’s possible? Today’s conversation is your guide to making global learning part of your graduate journey.
GRACE: Hello. Happy Tuesday, and welcome to Grad Pod!
This week, we are talking about travel! Specifically studying abroad and away, and to do that, we are joined by Stephanie Tignor from GEO, the Global Education Office. Stephanie, hi!
STEPHANIE: Hey!
GRACE: How’s it going?
STEPHANIE: Not bad. How are you?
GRACE: Thanks for joining us.
STEPHANIE: Thank you, It’s nice to be here.
GRACE: So you have come here today to talk to us about studying abroad in a way, and I have to admit, I was prompted to invite you in part because I keep seeing all these emails coming across.
STEPHANIE: It’s been a busy semester.
GRACE: Yes, I think it has. So why don’t we start by just telling us a little bit about your office and what you do and what kind of opportunities there are for graduate students.
STEPHANIE: Absolutely. I come from the Global Education office, like you said, global education office or GEO as we call ourselves. We always say we’re sort of the one-stop shop on campus for all things international. We work with all units across the institution.
I think we’re one of the few areas of the institution that really touches on everything. We are broken down into different departments, so I am the executive director of global learning. We have other departments like our partnerships division, our immigration division, and our English language program. Our outreach, you know, communications, there’s, there’s other, there’s other departments, but global learning is specifically focused on increasing the global engagement of our students and our faculty.
I always say we get to do all the fun things. I tend to think about our work and our programs in terms of the populations that we serve. So there’s sort of two primary populations: one is our international student population, and then the other is our domestic student population or sort of everybody.
GEO does work with a large number of, um, well, all of the international students at the institution, I should say, not just a large number of them, all of them. We support the students when they like. Get to VCU, so we don’t do the immigration piece in global learning. Those are, that’s what our immigration services colleagues do.
We essentially have two teams in global learning. We have the global student engagement team and the education abroad team. Our global student engagement team is the one that’s really focused on those international students. And then on the other side of the coin. You know, we have education abroad, but there’s also more than just those two things that we do.
Part of our mission is bringing together international and domestic students really for mutual benefit. Right? Yeah because it’s beneficial for international students when they engage with our, our domestic students and they become, you know, more of a part of, the fabric of our institution.
And, it’s really great for our, you know, domestic students to meet and interact and benefit from, from getting to know and, and bring into the fold, right into the, into the RAMily, as they say, our international students.
GRACEL Yeah. I think we’ve, we’ve talked about some of these programs on the grad pod before.
STEPHANIE: Yes. With Kelly, and, yes, and maybe even Jill.
GRACE: Yeah, and so listeners, if you haven’t checked out, we have an international students episode that was just a couple of months ago.
STEPHANIE: Yeah.
GRACE: And we talked at length about some of the really fantastic opportunities available for students to connect, whether they’re international or domestic, and then the services available for international students on campus.
STEPHANIE: Yes. So at, at the heart of what we do, whether it’s study abroad. Or the campus programming, or the community-based programming that we offer.
All of it is really to help our students build cultural agility and to build mutual understanding and really support our students in gaining the skills that they need to be more successful in the world after graduation!
Right! Both, while they’re students, but also, but also once they leave VCU. Go and seek employment and live their lives and become a part of our world. I always say it’s a little bit cliche, but I think we all do what we do in global learning and in the global education office more broadly because we want to make the world a better place, and ultimately at the heart of it is world peace.
You know, if you’re really thinking about what the, what the point of it all is.
GRACE: Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, can you tell me a little bit more? There seems to be, so from some people I’ve talked to, there seems to be a bit of an impression that study abroad and away is mostly for undergraduate students, that this is something you do.
You know, when you’re in your very early twenties and you’re working on your bachelor’s degree and you go spend a semester in Italy, you know, jetting around on a Vespa, right?
STEPHANIE: Because, but ‘cause that’s what they all do.
GRACE: No, yeah, exactly. That’s the only study abroad that anyone can do. Right. But there are programs for graduate students. Is that right?
STEPHANIE: Absolutely right. Study abroad is for everybody. There’s, there’s some kind of international program or opportunity for, for any student who is, who’s interested in seeking that out. You know, we, and we really try. Not to have it be the kind of thing that somebody has to do, a lot of work to seek out, but something that really is embedded into the programs and, and, um, integrated into the curriculum across the board.
So there are absolutely opportunities for graduate students as well. I think some of that misperception comes from sort of the history, right, of study abroad and how study abroad has been experienced by U.S.students, you know, over the years and how that has evolved as a. As a thing that people do, like in, you know, past generations, it was very typical to hear about a junior year abroad or a junior semester abroad.
But interestingly, as time has gone on and universities have evolved and students have evolved, what we’re seeing more of than anything else. Our short term faculty led programs, that typically happen in the summer or. Even now, winter break, spring break, those are some of the more popular time periods that students are going abroad for, or lengths I should say.
You know, there’s an assumption that well, graduate students can’t go abroad ‘cause you can’t do a whole semester because that would be, you know, for a master’s student, a quarter of their degree. Right, like, that would be a big chunk of their time; and that’s, it’s just, it’s not true! And we actually even do have semester programs.
There’s few, there’s fewer of them, but, but I would say far and away our most popular type of study abroad experience overall for VCU students are the short term faculty led experiences, which are group experiences and they tend to be pretty structured. So these are experiences where, you know, you’re gonna have an itinerary every day of the things you’re doing. It usually is tied to a course.
So you’re doing this as a part of an academic course, you’re having this experience as a part of that, you know, in order to fulfill the requirements of that course, but it, but it’s still, there’s a, there’s a great variety in, in where they’re going and what the courses might be and how that’s structured.
But even then, that’s, that’s not even the only option for graduate students and I think for graduate students, because. A graduate student is at the point in their academic career where they are becoming more specialized in what they’re studying. There’s often more of a, you know, a niche experience that we see students having at the graduate level when it comes to education abroad.
So this is where. You know, students do sort of have to, to work closely, both with our office and their academic or faculty advisor or academic department to customize an experience that’s gonna meet their needs and, and help them accomplish what it is that they’re trying to, you know, accomplish and learn through the experience.
So there’s a, there’s a great variety of what this can look like. And so, there’s a lot of these custom built, make your own. You know, studying abroad is a kind of experience I think that we see more of at the graduate level than at the undergrad.
GRACE: That’s fascinating. I didn’t even know that was an option.
Can you say just like a, a little bit more about that and maybe like if you have an example off the top of your head, like what it looks like to kind of build your own?
STEPHANIE: Yeah. So, and, and, and this is where, you know, students may not always think to do this unless it’s sort of presented to them, but you know, we see students, graduate students who might be.
There might be an opportunity that presents itself, let’s say an international conference or a connection with one of VCU’s partner institutions abroad, where maybe there’s a faculty collaborator with a VCU faculty here that officers an an opportunity for a, a student to come over to that institution and do, let’s say, a research experience for a short period of time or, you know, engage in some kind of like independent study, you know, or something, something that’s a bit more self-directed than, sure.
Than a typical program which is more prescribed. So we’ve, you know, we have sent for EX for instance, VCU has a campus. In Doha in Qatar, and we’ve sent students at the graduate level there, I wanna say it was the Master’s of Educational Counseling program. We have sent a student over there in the past who did their practice experience working on our campus in Qatar.
You know, getting their hours in for, you know, student advising and, and whatever else they were, they were doing as a part of their. Their program that they were learning about student development and, and , you know, higher education practices across the world. And they had hands-on experience right there in, you know, on our campus in Qatar.
Thanks to that connection and the establishment of our campus there, I mean, we truly are a global institution and that. A great example of that where, you know, we have that resource for students. So that’s one example. You know, we also have a number of faculty-led programs, which I’ve already referenced, and there are programs that have graduate level courses on those programs, but there’s also programs that don’t have graduate level courses.
But we’ve had graduate students approach the faculty leaders of those programs and say, Hey. Can I come with your group and do some sort of special project part of that and maybe get independent study or, you know, capstone credit or what, you know, whatever that might be for them, whatever. That more flexible course , availability is within their program.
You know, most of the graduate programs have some kind of course within their curriculum. Be it an independent study type course or, or what have you, that would allow for more of that self-directedness to happen, you know, in, in planning something that’s more niche like this. That’s really cool.
GRACE: Yeah, those are both really interesting opportunities. So if a student is interested in pursuing something like this, it sounds like the place for them to start is really their department, or should they start by reaching out to you?
STEPHANIE: would say both. I would say having conversations with faculty advisors is really valuable because.
Our faculty are really internationally engaged and they don’t always, you know, flaunt that and, and, and, and mention that to students. You know, some, some do better than others. But our faculty do really interesting things, you know, research and other types of collaboration abroad. And some of that may not even involve them going abroad, but they’re working with collaborators who are abroad in other countries, maybe at our partner institutions.
And so I think just having curiosity, about who our faculty are, what their connections and you know, what, who their collaborators are in the work that they’re doing, or just what their knowledge is of, you know, where is the bright place to do this thing that I’m really interested in. They’ll know where the place, where that’s happening, where that’s at, and they often can open doors and make connections, which we may not, you know, even have knowledge of, which is great.
So I say, absolutely talk to faculty, advisors and, and, and faculty across the departments to express interest in engaging internationally. You know that the more you share what your interests are as a graduate student with the faculty around you, the more they can help you and connect you.
And then definitely connect with us in GEO to see, you know, what connections we have. I mean, we have a plethora of international partners, um, that you can see on our website. It’s visible to anybody who has an eID. You know, you have to log in through the VCU system to see it, but you can, you can see who all of our partners are abroad so that you can get a sense of, you know, where maybe you could connect and, and do something and, and how you could customize something.
We have a whole team in the Global Learning Department of Education abroad, advisors who sit down with students and can meet with you on Zoom, can meet with you in person, you know, whatever suits your needs, and just really hear what you’re interested in, but also share.
What opportunities are available, and then another, there is sort of a third place that I would also recommend connecting, which is VCU’s National Scholarship Office, which is housed in the Honors College.
So there’s this misperception, this is one of my big pet peeves at VCU, if I can say it. There’s a big misperception that you have to be an honors student, that the honors program is only an undergraduate program, so automatically graduate students are gonna be like, what?
That’s not for me, but there’s, you know, there, but you don’t have to be an honor student. You obviously don’t have to just be an undergrad to work with the National Scholarship Office. So there’s two fantastic colleagues over there, the director of the National Scholarship Office, Mr. Jeff Wing, and then, the associate Director, Dr. Meredith Sisson.
And, they are the ones who work with students across the institution who are interested in applying for the funding to help students to do things like Fulbright, which is a very prestigious U.S.government funded program for doing international research and, and work like this or the Borin Fellowship, which is, you know, more of a national security focused program that’s also government funded.
You know, so there’s, I mean there’s, there’s many, opportunities. I won’t list them all, but, but a number of them are internationally focused, so, so we partner really closely with. With Jeff and Meredith regularly to support students and, you know, identifying these avenues to help them get abroad and to find, and to get the funding to do it, ‘cause obviously there is, there is that cost that helps. That’s always like the elephant in the room, right? Is like, well what’s the cost and how do I cover my airfare, and all of that; and so, you know, obviously with the scholarships and fellowships that they offer through the National Scholarship Office, those are typically fully funded programs.
So that’s another super important place to connect. Yeah. Those are great resources. Yeah. Thank you. True.
GRACE: Now there’s a distinction that I’ve seen in some of the emails coming out of Geo that I was not familiar with, which is you’ve, there’s study abroad and there’s Study Away.
STEPHANIE: Mm-hmm.
GRACE: What does that mean?
STEPHANIE: Yeah, so that’s a good question, and this is something we didn’t really start doing until. The pandemic. So domestic study away are experiences that would happen here domestically in the U.S. or in its territories, as opposed to, you know, study abroad, meaning outside of the United States. We have started working with some faculty on domestic programs since the pandemic because.
Travel was halted. International travel in particular was halted during the pandemic, but we still wanted to engage students in place-based education, you know, experiential education and support faculty who wanted to, who needed a framework to do the things that they had, you know, ideas to do. So, you know, there was a faculty, for instance, who had created an experience that she was leading to Arizona, where they would visit the U.S. Mexico border and they connected with local organizations that were supporting the migrants and learning about, you know, global migration and all of the things that surround that topic.
We have also worked with and supported faculty through our seed grant program that we offer faculty funding to, to create new things for students.
We worked with some faculty who created a program in the Deep South on the Civil Rights Trail Program last year. So those were some faculty from Poli Sci, from Political Science and the College of Humanities and Sciences, there have been some faculty and interior designers who’ve done some interesting things on the eastern shore of Virginia.
So, usually with these domestic programs, we are asking that to be working with faculty who are creating experiences that are tied in some way to themes of the United Nations Sustainable development goals or what we call the SDGs, the UN-SDGs, are these, it’s sort of a roadmap for peace, if you will.
There’s various goals that the UN has identified for world peace and there are 17 of them in total. So things like, you know, world problems essentially, that we all can be a part of helping to solve and ultimately all should be a part of helping to solve in, in some way, shape or form in the work that we’re doing.
Despite what discipline, you know, we’re coming from, there are ways that we can, we can all approach these things and, and help to solve them. So some of the goals are things like gender, equality and clean water and sanitation, or, affordable and clean energy or zero hunger, peace, justice, and strong institutions.
There’s many of them. There are 17 of them in total. Yeah, but, we do encourage the faculty that do domestic programs to sort of theme their programs in some way in connection with the SDGs. So, they are global learning programs, they’re happening domestically, but they’re focused on global issues because what happens in the U.S.is not in isolation, right?
Like the thing, right. The problems that we face in our own country. Typically our problems that other countries are also facing or that have implications internationally. Right?
GRACE: Yeah!
STEPHANIE: So I think that’s really at the heart of what we see with those domestic programs. There are fewer of those than there are international programs, but that’s an, that’s an area that we are supporting faculty to increase in, in development
GRACE: Domestic programs with an international spirit. Yes, exactly. That’s great. And this just popped into my head, do you ever get international students turning around and doing study abroad or study away programs?
STEPHANIE: Yes, absolutely. I mean..
GRACE: Coo!
STEPHANIE: I mean we, we, like I said in the beginning, we sort of tend to think about our two populations being international and domestic, but that doesn’t mean that we’re forcing the international students to stay here.
There’s great benefit to any student studying abroad or participating in these kinds. These are high impact experiences, so they have the potential to benefit those who participate, and we certainly want our international students to participate in them. I will say that oftentimes though, when I, when I interact with an international student, let’s say at an event or like if I’m sitting at an information table about our office.
I’ll say,” Hey, do you wanna study abroad?” They’ll say,” oh, I, I’m already studying abroad here.” And I’m like, well, yes, yes. And you can still also go abroad. So that’s really been cool to see, you know, our international students participate in some of our programs abroad. You know, we’ve. We’ve had students go on faculty-led programs, we’ve had them do longer programs, like semester programs as well.
So really, anything that’s available for a domestic student is available for an international student in terms of study abroad. Oh, the places you will go?
GRACE: Yes, exactly. Exactly! All right, so my last question and to tackle the sort of other elephant in the room. Yes. I, at this particular moment in the geopolitical landscape, I have been seeing the emails coming out of your office.
Yes, trying to keep students aware and prepared as things change, which they are doing every day.
GRACEL Could you tell me a little bit more about how your office kind of puts those messages together? What kind of information are you providing for students who might have concerns about the travel that they have planned?
STEPHANIE: Yeah. That, you know, let’s, let’s talk about that briefly. Yes, absolutely. I think it’s really important that we talk about this and it has been very. Active time for us, , this, this year with everything that’s going on in the world. You know, I think our, our, our VP for Global Initiatives, Jill, Dr. Jill Bloon, my boss, she always says.
Global education never sleeps!
And, and it’s true that we have jobs that are directly impacted by things going on in the world, and we have to respond to them. You know, I think we were one of the early responders to, for example, the COVID-19. Pandemic because we had students abroad. We had students in China, we had students in Italy, in the places where they were first hit with those large pockets of viral activity.
And so, you know, we were ones who were first sort of paying attention to that and sort of sounding the alarms; and, so we do pay very close attention to world events and know that those events impact our international students. Oftentimes on a very personal level, which is very, very difficult, right?
Like some of our students are from the region that’s impacted right now. You know, we have a large number of students from there, and we want to be sensitive to their needs and the challenges that they’re facing, you know, because of those things. So we often do respond and communicate things like even just a reminder of the resources that we provide in our office and the ways we can support students who are dealing with, with whatever it might be.
Then obviously because we have students abroad, we have to do the same. We have to constantly be monitoring where there might be events that could impact our travelers because we have a duty to keep them safe and to keep them informed and make sure that they’re paying attention to messaging in particular, that might be coming out like the U.S.Department of State.
So a lot of our travel structure is, you know, and sort of parameters for response are built around the Department of State’s travel advisory levels and messaging from, the State Department. So as I’m sure you’re aware from getting our messages, there have been, you know, some recent changes in communication from the Department of State, including increases in travel advisory levels for the region, you know, in the Gulf in particular, impacting, you know.
Our campus and Qatar, for instance, Qatar is now at a travel advisory level three, which is to reconsider travel according to the Department of State. We also have seen the Department of State come out with the message of worldwide caution, which is cautioning travelers anywhere in the world, any U.S. travelers abroad, that there are, there’s a heightened risk right now.
And so. Sometimes those messages, if just taken at face value, could cause panic or concern. You know, oh gosh is this you gonna cancel programs? Do I need to come home? And we always wanna provide context and information to help students better understand what that messaging is and why it’s there, and how it impacts them.
So like our recent messaging, you know, we’re assuring folks that we are still running programs. There certainly are concerns. If you have, you know, on your flight itinerary, have you connected through Dubai, like that might be something we need to reconsider right now because of the airspace being controlled and for good reason in that region.
But, you know, we’re still running programs and there haven’t been, you know, specific threats. I think there’s the, the Department of state is cautioning travelers of, you know, potential risk for sites that are connected to the U.S. I think, you know, U.S.embassies abroad particularly could be a target, you know, for those who are, who are wishing harm on the US, you know, things like that.
So it’s good for our students to, to know that, have that situational awareness when they’re traveling to stay safe and to stay connected. And, not just with VCU, but with the Department of State through the, the mechanisms that our government provides, such as our Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, also known as STEP enrollment, which is a system that we want all of our students to be enrolled in, so that the U.S.knows about their presence in that country so that if there was an emergency, they could reach them and, and support them, you know, whatever that might look like.
So yeah, we have a duty of care as an institution to, to keep all of our travelers safe with, with so much international travel happening. But we also want students to know that when these things come out, it doesn’t mean everybody comes home, you know, don’t go anywhere, batten down the hatches, just stay in your basements.
Like, yes, you can still travel, but let’s, let’s, here’s some tips and here’s some things you need to know to make sure you’re doing so safely. And I think this also really underscores the importance of connecting with us and of utilizing those support, making sure that students are registered with our office so that we know that they are abroad so that we can respond and connect with them if there is an emergency, you know, we have some great resources like our insurance plan, we have a comprehensive international insurance plan that we require all students to be enrolled in.
If they are participating in some kind of university sanctioned international travel experience, it’s great support. I mean they’ll help you out. If you have, you know, your flight delayed and you have to get yourself a hotel for the night, they’ll reimburse you for that.
You know, they’ll get you connected with an English speaking counselor if you’re in another country and you. Are feeling the stress of it and, you know, anxious of world events and or you’re feeling homesick and you need to speak with a therapist. You know, they have coverage for that. So we have a really great plan and everybody’s gotta get into it, you know, so these are all the kinds of things that we’re doing to allow our students to keep traveling, to keep exploring the world and learning from the world and, but doing so safely.
So, yeah. So that’s, I hope that’s helpful. It’s a little bit of what’s behind some of those messages? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
GRACE: Look, forewarned is forearmed. Yes. But the world is still out there waiting for us. Yes. And it’s, despite the vagaries of geopolitics , these experiences are still there.
They’re still waiting, they’re still worth pursuing. Mm-hmm. , and VCU’s gonna do what they need to do to make sure that our students have the information they need to pursue them safely.
STEPHANIE: Absolutely. And to do so affordably, you know, one of the things we communicated in our most recent message was, if you’re going somewhere this summer or this fall, book your flights now! ‘cause prices could be going up. You know, that’s one of the ramifications..
GRACE: Sure.
STEPHANIE: ..of this conflict in the Middle East right now is the potential for, for rising gas prices and oil prices and airfare prices. So, you know, cost is a big concern for our students and we want them to, we wanted them to have a heads up about that.
You know, obviously, in addition to all of this. Scholarship information that we always provide and ways that we also help students tap into aid in order to go abroad. But yeah, this, that’s a, that’s one of the big considerations right now is just watching those, those airlines, um, prices and, and making sure that students are, are able to to get on their programs in an affordable way.
GARCE: Yeah, absolutely. I really appreciate the scope of information that comes out of your office. It’s a, it’s a, I’m, I’m sure it’s a lot of work to put together, but I, I know that the students appreciate it.
STEPHANIE:Yeah. It’s a big world, so there’s, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot going on, so there’s a lot of, a lot of things that we have to do to respond to it, that’s for sure.
GRACE: All right. Last question as we wrap up. If you could study abroad anywhere right now, Ooh. Where would you go and what might you study?
STEPHANIE: Oh my gosh, that is a great, great question. You know, I work in higher education and international higher education, so that is my. That is my passion and something that I am always enjoying learning more about and, and, you know, every country does higher education a little different from, from another.
There are programs that we’ve done like this where we, you know, we’ve sent students to some of our partners or, you know, even to our campus in Qatar, like I mentioned earlier, to learn about, you know, how the systems are running there. So I can imagine myself, I mean, anytime I go anywhere I’m always asking like, what are the universities nearby and, and whatever.
I would say one of my favorite places to go is Mexico.
Mexico has always been one of my favorite countries. I love Spanish, I love the people of Mexico. I love the diversity of Mexico. So I feel like if I had to hop on a plane today and go anywhere, it would probably be Mexico. And there’s so much more to learn down there.
You know, we just started partnering recently with more universities in the Yucatan Peninsula because we had a Mexican ambassador come to campus a couple of years ago, he gave a talk and we had some great connections made as a result of that visit. And, there’ve been a number of new things kind of built with universities in Mexico, particularly in the Yucatan.
So we’re talking with somebody in social work, a faculty member in social work who’s gonna start to build a new program there; so that’s kind of top of mind for me right now. So I’m thinking I would love to go down there and I would love to visit the institution, learn more about it, and meet with their students.
That would be probably what I would do if I were to go anywhere today. But, gosh, I mean, there’s the world, the world is so big and I think the more you travel, the more you realize just how, how big it is and how little you know. Even though you’ve, you know, done more and more travel throughout your life, you know, there’s just so much more.
I always say if I had nine lives to live, you know, this is what I would do and here’s all the things I would do. So, there’s never enough time to see everything and learn everything that there is. In the world and all the places, you know, not to mention the places I haven’t been. A long way of answering that question, but that’s kind of where my, where my brain goes is, is to sort of the things that we’re, we’re building for VCU right now and, and of course all the rest of it.
GRACE: Well, that’s a great place to leave us. And, for all of you listening, you know, you with your, with your one life to live. Yes. Consider studying abroad or studying away, and follow your professors around campus. Anyone who looks particularly well-traveled to find out what they’re doing or, reach out to GEO, and what is your website again for students who are interested?
STEPHANIE: Yes, so global.vcu.edu.
GRACE: All right. You heard her global.vcu.edu. Go see what they have to offer and consider. Taking off this summer or next year and doing some studying in, in a new place. Yeah. Well, Stephanie, thank you so much for being here with us.
STEPHANIE: Thank you so much for having me.
GRACE: We will be back with all of you in two weeks for another episode of Grad Pod. Bye bye.
CREDITS:
Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.
Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!
