Building a Community for Wildcats Around the Globe

When a student enrolls in the University of Arizona through one of the degree pathways that has been created for students outside the U.S to access their program there is a need – and a sincere desire – on the part of both the student and the University to help them feel welcome and become a part of the global Wildcat family.

How do we help them develop a sense of community, when these students are interacting and engaging in their education through virtual modalities, and from locations all around the world?

Leaders and faculty in UArizona’s Global Education department have come up with a solution.

Meet the Global Student Engagement Team, an initiative whose mission is to provide UArizona’s students outside the U.S with a wide range of engagement activities to create an interactive, culturally immersive community.   

The team is currently serving over 2100 students globally, from 50 + countries, including India, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam. These students are enrolled in Global Education programs such as Global Direct,  Dual Degree, and UArizona Academy, and are pursuing their UArizona studies primarily online. Some of these students wish to eventually transition to the main campus in Tucson for a semester or more and look forward to getting involved with campus life. 

A primary focus of the team is on providing students with various opportunities to improve their written and verbal English communication skills.

“We are working hard to create a safe space for students to improve their English communication skills in a way that is engaging and fun!” says Amanda Agate, coordinator of Global Student Engagement, Global Education. “We conduct games and group students into small breakout rooms where they are given interesting topics to discuss with one another.”  

The team sends a weekly newsletter, The Global Weekly, to highlight the accomplishments of Global students, advertise weekly events, and promote other happenings around the campus that might interest them, such as special lectures, Adobe Suite trainings, and online tutoring services.

“The University of Arizona provides students with a lot of resources to support their academic journeys,” says Bailey Lee Stout, program manager for Global Education. “We ensure that in our communications, we remind students about the many resources that are available to them.”  

Becca Naylor-Sanchez, assistant director for Global Education, especially enjoys the team’s biweekly event – The Conversation Club. “We meet and discuss different topics and include interactive activities to help students learn about each other’s cultures,” says Naylor-Sanchez. “This gives students a chance to get to know one another outside the classroom. This is especially important for our Global Direct students who are completing their entire degrees online. Seeing them laugh and connect with potential new friends is very rewarding.”  

Each semester, the team organizes an in-person welcome party to greet Study Arizona and Global Direct students who transition to the main campus, either for a semester or for the rest of their academic careers.   

“It's wonderful seeing students from around the world interact at these welcome events,” says Stout. “The Spring 2022 welcome event had a mix of Global Direct and Dual Degree students getting to mingle and meet folks from different countries or from their same university.” 

Jennifer Koehmstedt, academic advisor for Global Education, interacts with students every day. “I like how we make the students feel special when they come to the main campus,” says Koehmstedt, “but I also love how we are working to make them feel special when they are still online.”  

For the remainder of the semester, the team will be hosting biweekly Conversation Club meetings, a career services webinar, a student panel, and a virtual game night!  

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