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UMSI launches Global Engagement Fellowship

Three people taking a selfie overlooking a forest and a city

Monday, 04/22/2024

By Abigail McFee

A new program at the University of Michigan School of Information aims to prepare undergraduate students with skills that will take them far: across the globe and back.

“The Global Engagement Fellowship was envisioned as a way for selected students to leverage the value of an international experience beyond what they would get from passive participation,” says Adam Freed, global engagement program manager and adjunct lecturer in information at UMSI. 

Eight Bachelor of Science in Information students joined the program’s first cohort. This past fall, they participated in workshops and pre-departure sessions on multicultural engagement, with a strong emphasis on the cultural intelligence (CQ) framework. 

As the winter semester began, they departed to UMSI study abroad programs in Dublin, Ireland; Uppsala, Sweden; Madrid, Spain; and Thessaloniki, Greece, where they have paired their academic studies with reflective activities like journaling and sharing photos. When they return to UMSI, they will serve as peer mentors to incoming exchange students and to the next cohort of global engagement fellows.

“GE fellows are having similar experiences to the other BSI students abroad, but they're also exploring, questioning and thinking deeply about their interactions across cultural differences,” Freed says. “When they graduate, they'll be able to pair their skills as information professionals with an ability to successfully adapt to the multicultural working contexts they'll find themselves in.”

Yessenia Santana-Perez, a BSI student on the information analysis path, applied for the Global Engagement Fellowship because she wanted additional resources and preparation for her study abroad experience. The preparation she received was “not only for classes,” she says, “but about human interaction with other cultures and countries.” 

Global Engagement Fellowship: Yessenia Santana-Perez

Yessenia Santana-Perez poses in front of the Acropolis of Athens, Greece.
Chicken souvlaki from a local restaurant in Thessaloniki.
During weekend travels, Yessenia sits on Aphrodite's Rock in Paphos, Cyprus.
Yessenia poses in front of Große Bassin in Vienna, Austria.

She is spending this semester in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. Perched upon the Aegean Sea and pocked with ancient ruins, Thessaloniki is home to amazing cultural sites and multiple universities. But among the cities in Greece, it’s less of a travel destination. “There are other cities that are more tourist-friendly,” Yessenia notes. “In Thessaloniki, it’s more like, people are from here. They’re born here.” 

When Yessenia first arrived, she found herself trying to read locals: Did they want to talk to her? What were the cultural norms? She felt a similar nervousness in her classes, where she was joined by university students of different nationalities and from other U.S. study abroad programs. “It was a shock for me to try to jump into conversations and get to know people,” she recalls. “But once I did, you can catch onto personalities, and then some friendships even develop.” 

Freed says these types of experiences, which might feel uncomfortable at first — “adaptation to new academic and cultural norms” — are important parts of building cultural intelligence. 

In Thessaloniki, Yessenia has found her rhythm. She takes classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the American College of Thessaloniki’s campus. Her coursework focuses on data science and computer science, but she is also taking an introductory Greek language class to step outside of her comfort zone.

She has had the opportunity to observe new traditions, including Thessaloniki’s celebration of Carnival — the festive season preceding Lent — and the daily siesta from 3-5 p.m., when shops and restaurants close. During this time when State Street in Ann Arbor would be bustling, Yessenia and her friend slink across the street from their apartments to a café that stays open, though mostly empty. They enjoy the peace of studying side-by-side over a pastry. 

When the city comes alive again at dinner time, they find a new restaurant to try. “We are always exploring,” she says. “Always walking around.” 

She’s not ready to leave, but she can already picture life back in Ann Arbor: “I feel like I'm going to be telling all my friends, ‘You have to study abroad at least once. It makes you see college from a different perspective.’” 

For David Diokno, a BSI student on the user experience design path, this perspective shift has been the best part of studying abroad in Uppsala, Sweden — apart from being able to get a delicious lunch of soup and crepes at the student bistro for $3.50.

“I’ve been thrown into a lot of different and challenging situations that have presented opportunities to learn about myself and to grow as a person,” he says.

A challenge presented itself right out of the gate, when his luggage, which held his WiFi router,  was delayed for four days after his arrival in Uppsala. He set to work making a new friend so he could share their WiFi. This is just one example of adaptability, but it feels representative to him.

“Going abroad is all about broadening your horizons — what you can offer to your work, how you understand yourself as a person — and becoming more adaptable,” David says. “I think that being in this fellowship encourages those kinds of qualities, because you are reflecting on what you're doing, and reflection is essential for growth.”

Global Engagement Fellowship: David Diokno

David Diokno and a friend stand on a frozen lake north of Uppsala.
David and friends visit the Kastellet in Stockholm, Sweden.
David made friends with the owner of a sandwich shop in Dublin, Ireland.
David strikes a pose in front of Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland.

In Uppsala, David finds himself regularly exploring new perspectives and practicing empathy — skills that are valuable for a user experience designer. 

He has adapted to Sweden’s recycling system, which features more specific bins; learned bike etiquette; experienced days with only six hours of sunlight; and adjusted to a new university system. “Sweden has a very different approach to learning, in that it is much more about work-life balance,” he notes. He was pleasantly surprised to find that students clear out of the library around 6 or 7 p.m. for a fika, or coffee break, rather than studying until late at night. 

When he isn’t taking courses on social robotics and advanced interaction design, he enjoys using the sauna at the gym, hanging out at the student pub — where he volunteered for a shift — and traveling to other countries in Europe on the weekends. 

David will return to the U.S. in early June, but he says the experience won’t be complete until he is back in Ann Arbor, mentoring other students as they prepare to go abroad. 

“Being in that mentorship role, and having to re-immerse myself in my experiences and what I learned so that I can communicate it to somebody else, I will have internalized those lessons to an even bigger degree,” he says. 

This is the intention of the Global Engagement Fellowship, according to Freed. “The impacts of ongoing reflection, intentional exploration of difference and a responsibility to mentor their peers are something that the fellows will carry with them for years to come,” he says. 

Supplementary stipends for the Global Engagement Fellowship were funded by donors to the SI Horizon Fund, which supports educational experiences that take place outside of the classroom.

LEARN MORE

Explore global opportunities at the University of Michigan School of Information.