Cultivating Success: A Global Faculty Initiative offers events to support new international faculty transitioning to the university. The series includes panel discussions on international research collaboration, teaching in diverse cultural environments, and navigating academic challenges, while providing networking opportunities and support to help faculty thrive in their academic careers.

Lorenzo Sanford, the youngest elected chief of the Kalinago people in Dominica, visited the University of Iowa as part of the Major Project Award, Sacred Threads: Spirituality, Health, and Collaborative Partnerships for Health in Indigenous Communities.

International Programs provides funding opportunities and grant-writing assistance for UI faculty engaged in international research, partnerships, and other activities, and is invested in the success that faculty have in their field.

Three events in late April will provide a unique platform to celebrate Indigenous leadership; discuss spirituality, healing, and cultural preservation; and strategize for community-based health solutions that foster equity and well-being.

Veteran faculty from international destinations will share their advice and experiences with early career international faculty members.

Special Projects Awards are granted to individual staff, faculty, programs, or departments associated with the university.

The International Programs (IP) grants office assists faculty and staff in the development of grant proposals for external funding in support of their research, teaching, and service goals—especially those related to the mission of International Programs.

MeToo began humbly in 2006 as a way to mobilize grassroots support for victims of sexual violence, but it exploded into a worldwide phenomenon beginning in 2017, exposing crude, harassing, intimidating, and violent behaviors by individuals as well as the systems that allow such behaviors to thrive. A group of prominent feminist scholars will join WorldCanvass host Joan Kjaer on February 1, from 5:30-7 p.m., in a virtual discussion of “The Global Implications of MeToo.” With expertise on MeToo in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, France, India, Korea, and various parts of Africa, panelists will not only reflect on the aspect of solidarity behind MeToo but on the backlash that accompanies it.

Helen Shen, professor and DEO of the UI Department of Asian & Slavic Languages and Literatures, has been awarded a STARTALK grant for the 2022-23 school year. STARTALK is a program of the National Security Agency, aimed at increasing the number of U.S. citizens learning, speaking, and teaching critical foreign languages.

On the heels of a sabbatical in which he wrote and recorded an album involving eight string players and a jazz quartet, University of Iowa Associate Professor Damani Phillips is preparing for a master class with students at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD).

A recent collaboration between the University of Iowa School of Music and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD) has created opportunities for global exchange for bass students at both institutions.

Eloy Barragán, associate professor in the UI Department of Dance, is passionate about the importance of international collaborations in higher education and the benefits gained by students as a result. “It is important for students to interact with another culture to gain new ideas and perspectives. It not only helps students start to know a different country and different ways of behavior, but it also helps them to build their global network—which is so important as a practitioner of dance—to really become an artist for the world because the community is becoming more global,” said Barragán.