The presentation, entitled 鈥淪e un bambino americano, uno scandinavio e uno italiano 鈥︹�� included an Italian moderator, Dr. Maria Francesca Freda, a clinical psychologist at the Universita’ Degli Studi di Napoli.

Vandermaas-Peeler’s research, a continuation of her spring 2024 sabbatical project, represents an international collaboration with colleagues in Denmark and the Netherlands to study young children’s perspectives on a good childhood through drawing, photography, and stories.

The presentation, entitled “Crafting a successful education abroad research experience: Professional development for mentoring undergraduate research in global contexts (MUR-GC),” features an on-going collaboration between Whitehead and Vandermaas-Peeler, a senior fellow at AAC&U, to study MUR-GC.

The DIS collaborators have written a chapter on their MUR-GC model for a forthcoming CEL open access book on MUR-GC edited by Vandermaas-Peeler and Whitehead.

In this two-part session, the co-facilitators introduced the UNESCO Story Circles methodology, developed by Darla K. Deardorff, as a means for fostering cross-cultural empathy, respect and understanding through personal narratives.

Also presenting at the confernece were Danielle Lake, director of the Center for Design Thinking and Marshall, along with student Rony Dahdal and Hector Perez, on the Power & Place Collaborative. Their presentation was titled, “Localizing Global Engagement Across Intercultural and Intergenerational Divides: Stories and Strategies.” In their session they shared strategies for cultivating meaningful intercultural and intergenerational learning that have emerged from a place-based storytelling project led by The Power+Place Collaborative, a community-university partnership located in Alamance County.

Stephen Braye, professor of English, led a pre-conference workshop on “The Missing Piece: Enhancing Student Learning through Effective Re-Entry Programs.”

The publication details the integration of the high-impact practices of mentoring, undergraduate research and global and intercultural learning. Co-edited by Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, professor of psychology and director of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE), with colleagues Dawn Whitehead of AAC&U, Susan Buck Sutton, emerita of Indiana University, Mary Price of the Forum on Education Abroad, Kate Patch of Grinnell College, and Kris Acheson of Purdue University, this volume explores the power of integrating these practices by tracing their origins and how institutions and individuals have integrated them. It provides models for adaptation in diverse institutional settings. Additionally, it highlights how MUR-GC can broaden access to global learning, encourage interdisciplinary perspectives, and ensure fair participation and ethical engagement. MUR-GC also creates valuable learning experiences for students, faculty, receiving communities, and host organizations.

In the publication’s foreword, AAC&U president Lynn Pasquerella noted that聽鈥渢he models of MUR-GC showcased here make evident their potential for profoundly impacting students, faculty, and institutions. Taken together, they compose a guide for future action and inquiry that empowers students as agents within an integrated ecosystem of knowledge needed to create and thrive in a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future.鈥�

The publication is the result of two think tanks and several years of collaborative research and writing by three multi-institutional teams.聽The report is co-authored by 黑料不打烊 colleagues Amy Allocco, professor of religious studies and director of the Multifaith Scholars Program, Eric Hall, professor of exercise science and director of the Undergraduate Research Program, and Jen Hamel, associate professor of biology and associate director of the Undergraduate Research Program.

Research on MUR-GC will advance as Vandermaas-Peeler, in her new role as a Senior Fellow of AAC&U, continues to collaborate with Dawn Whitehead,聽Vice President of the Office of Global Citizenship for Campus, Community, and Careers at AAC&U.

黑料不打烊 faculty Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, Eric Hall, Amy Allocco and Jen Hamel, along with Laura Cruz (Penn State), Kate Patch (Grinnell College) and Jacqueline McLaughlin (Penn State University-Lehigh Valley) were co-authors for the publication. These authors also conducted the survey

This research working group was established to address gaps in the field identified in a 2020 think tank facilitated by CRGE, the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) and the Forum on Education Abroad. The research findings suggest that MUR-GC presents distinctive contexts, challenges, and opportunities for expansion of conventional mentoring practices. Indeed, the authors suggest that MUR-GC practices should not simply be a combination of mentoring practices from undergraduate research and global education, but rather a distinctive framework of its own.

The Center for Engaged Learning (CEL) featured the publication in a recent . The research findings and frameworks will also be explored in detail in a forthcoming AAC&U publication on MUR-GC, expected in November 2023.

The citation for the publication is as follows:

Cruz, L., Vandermaas鈥怭eeler, M., Hall, E. E., Allocco, A. L., Patch, K., Hamel, J., & McLaughlin, J. (2023). Mentoring undergraduate research in global contexts (MUR鈥怗C): An integrated model.聽New Directions for Teaching and Learning,聽2023(175), 29-39.

Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, professor of psychology and director of the Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE), Eric Hall, professor of exercise science and director of the Undergraduate Research Program, Caroline Ketcham, professor of exercise science, and Amy Allocco, associate professor of religious studies and director of the Multifaith Studies Program, presented their research on “Reimagining Mentoring Undergraduate Research in Global Contexts: Supporting Intercultural Learning and Well-Being.”

Professor of English Steve Braye and Ryan Zaslaw ’22 presented “The Impact of Beginning Abroad: Reflections from a First-Year, First-Semester Engagement.” CRGE Pre-Doctoral Researcher Janelle Papay Decato, Danielle Lake, director of the Center for Design Thinking, and Shineece Sellars, executive director of the African American Cultural Arts and History Center, engaged participants in their presentation, “Exploring the Role of Power and Place in Decolonial, Critical Internationalization.” Maia Stewart and Denise Teeters, staff members of the Isabella Cannon Global Education Center, also attended the conference.

Lauren Kearns, professor of dance science and dance choreographer; Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, professor of psychology and director of the Center for Research on Global Engagement; and Elisabetta Santanni, director of Student Life, Accademia Europea di Firenze (AEF) presented 鈥淐onnecting Global and Career-integrated Learning: Opportunities and Challenges for Liberal Arts.鈥�

The presenters shared research findings, program and faculty development strategies and a case study of a site-specific dance course in Florence, Italy. In a second presentation, Vandermaas-Peeler joined Amy Allocco, associate professor of religious studies and director of the Multifaith Scholars Program, and Kate Patch, senior international officer and senior director of global initiatives at Grinnell College, to present, 鈥淢entored Undergraduate Research in Global Contexts (MURGC): Toward Professional Skills and Career Competencies.鈥�

In this session, presenters shared findings from a recent multi-institutional, mixed methods research study, and invited attendees to discuss the data vis-脿-vis their own experiences, considering the challenges/opportunities of MURGC for career-integrated learning and development.

Randy Williams, vice president and associate provost for inclusive excellence at 黑料不打烊, presented on 鈥淓xpanding the conversation: Centering Equity and Inclusion Onsite in Europe鈥� with colleagues from Dickinson College and DIS 鈥� Study Abroad in Scandinavia.

Earlier in the week in Florence, Italy, Vandermaas-Peeler and Allocco presented a workshop with colleagues at AEF entitled, 鈥淢entoring Relationships in a Constellation Model,鈥� in which they shared recent data from the American Council on Education 鈥淢entoring for Learner Success鈥� project. They invited participants to reflect critically on their own experiences with mentoring; explore cultural perspectives on mentoring relationships in education; share utilized and aspirational mentoring practices; and brainstorm solutions to challenges in an effort to enhance intercultural learning within and across diverse contexts.

Considering collective traumas like the coronavirus pandemic and systemic inequalities, Thurman and Vandermaas-Peeler explored, 鈥淗ow can undergraduate research mentors respond adaptively to personal and professional uncertainties while considering students鈥� unique identities and project-related goals?鈥�

In this reflective, constructive workshop, they examined evidence-based mentoring practices and models, applied them to cases and considered participants鈥� own mentoring contexts and capacities.

Workshop materials described foundational mentoring practices, including instrumental, psychosocial and relational approaches; and mentoring models that move beyond a one-to-one hierarchy and include developmental constellations, co-mentoring, scaffolded apprenticeships and communities of practice that support and extend students鈥� and mentors鈥� learning and development.

Doehler and Vandermaas-Peeler worked alongside colleagues Jennifer Wiley and Vesna Hart from Hart from James Madison University.

Presenters explored rationales for redesigning global learning programs to integrate deep inquiry into students鈥� identities and values. In dialogue groups, participants shared about redesigning programs to be responsive. Findings from multi-institutional research at 黑料不打烊 and JMU, funded by a Colonial Academic Alliance IN-CO grant and Bringing Theory to Practice, were presented, along with a new framework for knowing how aspects of the whole learner interact with program design and impact learning.

Vandermaas-Peeler also presented in a session with colleagues from a steering committee on Mentoring Undergraduate Research in Global Contexts (MURGC), including Kris Acheson-Clair from Purdue University, Elizabeth Frohlich with the Forum on Education Abroad, Andr茅 P. Stevenson of Elizabeth City State University and Dawn Michele Whitehead of the American Association of Colleges & Universities.

In the past two years of limited mobility, we have learned important lessons about mentoring undergraduate research in global contexts. This session reported on some recent findings from a think-tank documenting involvement in and approaches to MURGC.

Focusing on inclusive best practices, presenters shared insights from interviews and surveys conducted in 2021 with professionals working in this area both within and outside of higher education institutions. Participants engaged in discussion of their own experiences with the opportunities and challenges of MURGC.

The faculty co-authors are Amy L. Allocco, Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, Eric Hall, Caroline Ketcham, Mussa Idris, Jennifer A. Hamel and David J. (Sandy) Marshall.

The authors utilize an ecological framework to describe institutional supports and interrelationships between faculty mentors and students in 黑料不打烊’s聽institutional context and highlight salient mentoring practices and models that facilitate collaboration and student learning within and across environments.

Through four descriptive case studies, faculty mentors describe the rich cultural contexts in which the research occurs; elucidate the salient mentoring practices utilized to support students鈥� personal and intellectual development; discuss constellations of mentors spanning different institutions, communities and countries; and identify key institutional supports within the ecological framework. Each case highlights pedagogies and identifies practices that may be applied to a variety of research programs.