Enhancing Global Consciousness: Inviting International Student Voices into our Communities of Practice

Commission for Global Dimensions of Student Development
By Sarina Chugani Molina As a teacher educator and English teacher of over 20 years, I have learned much from my work with refugees, migrant, immigrant and international students and teachers both in domestic and international contexts. As an international student and multilingual user of English myself, I came to realize the different ways in which I conceptualized the world as an English...

An Ending is a New Beginning - Part 2

Commission for Global Dimensions of Student Development
By Vicky Lee “Job searching” was one of the most daunting phases that I have ever been through during graduate school. Being an international student complicates things even more. The daunting “job search” haunted me constantly for 6 months - SIX SOLID MONTHS - while I was also working at both my assistantship and practicum site, as well as taking full-time graduate coursework. To say that job...

An Ending is a New Beginning - Part 1

Commission for Global Dimensions of Student Development
By Vicky Lee Picture: Vicky Lee and Team OISS at MSU In my favorite Disney movie Tangled , Rapunzel and Flynn Rider had a sweet little dialogue that I happen to love so much. When Flynn brought Rapunzel to see the lanterns, Rapunzel asked Flynn: “I’ve been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it’s not...

Your Role with Mental Health as a Student Affairs Professional Abroad

Commission for Global Dimensions of Student Development
By Cody Rosenbarker "Students studying abroad come face to face with the larger questions in life" Photo taken by Paige Spaulding Mental health is a concern Imagine if one out of every five adults you encounter during the day has a mental health condition. If the statistics were evenly distributed across the adult population, that imaginary scenario would be true for all of us ( Mental Health...

No Regrets

Commission for Global Dimensions of Student Development
By Bianca Chau My time as an international graduate student specializing in higher education student affairs was a tough one. Being an international student in this field already put me at a disadvantage because student affairs is an American concept and the language used in this field was one that I was interested in but extremely unfamiliar with. On top of that, I chose to study at a private...