SELECTED ADMINISTRATIVE PROJECTS (as of November 2024)

Global Engagement (2011-  ) • Academic Operations & Strategy (2023-24) • Strategic Initiatives (2021-22) • Undergraduate Studies (2017-19)

As Dean and Vice Provost for Global Engagement (Nov 2011 to present, formerly International Affairs)

Global Sport University Network: Top ten global universities in sport science and sport studies, convened by Loughborough University and the University of Oregon, to convene international collaboration on sport’s impact on human performance, inclusion and societal change, innovation and sustainability. Annual conference bringing together researchers, industry, governing bodies, community organizations, with first to be held at UO in September 2024.

Discover Oregon: Led new program to promote recruitment from India to selected graduate degree programs at University of Oregon. Built in close collaboration with Deans and academic units. Full-time recruiter based in Delhi.

Educational Responses to Israel-Palestine Conflict: Worked closely with faculty committee following Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and Israeli invasion of Gaza, worked closely with ad hoc, representative faculty committee to develop shared principles for educational events in response to the conflict, and first public event, using theater in round student performance of scenes on the conflict from plays by Israeli and Palestinian playwrights.

Diversity and Access Scholarships: Helped launch scholarships for study and internships abroad for students of color; first generation; from families of modest means. For ex: full scholarship for US Native American students to Otago University, New Zealand to study Maori experience.

Campus Climate Survey and Revamped Employee Onboarding & Belonging: Led Division of Global Engagement staff discussion, processing and response to UO campus climate survey. Led to new focus on and new plan for staff onboarding as means to ensure belonging and open conversations on equity and inclusion.

Micro-Credential Exploration for Association of Pacific Rim Universities: Working with international team to explore assemblage of compact micro-credentials on Pacific-Rim related topics, with input from industry and employers on desirable skills needed. Drawing on curriculum and experiential learning programs at 60 top research universities in 19 societies around the Pacific Rim.

Almana Global Health Partnership: Via philanthropy from Saudi Arabia’s leading feminist (Dr. Aisha Almana, led campaign for women to drive), building: scholarship program for female Saudi students to study global health at UO; joint 2+X degree program for students to begin at Almana’s medical college, and finish at UO, with full reformulation of Saudi curriculum and pedagogy to ensure smooth credit transfer.

Student Envoy Program for Oregon22 World Athletics Championships: Over 200 students trained as cultural guides to welcome and support visiting athletic federations from around the world.  Students linked to teams by language expertise, travel experience and cultural connection.  Yearlong preparatory curriculum, with special pathways for first-year students, student athletes and others.  Helped design and guide implementation of program.

Rapid creative adaptions in response to Covid-19 pandemic:

Corona Corps:   Helped design, launch and manage a program to train students as contact tracers to assist UO and Lane County Public Health during covid-19 pandemic.  Includes global learning communities of students and faculty around Pacific Rim engaged in similar work. Managed by DGE Center for Global Health and University Health Center, launched by June 2020, employed as many as 80 students as contact tracers, case managers, and case investigators, dramatically expanding public health workforce for county.  Awarded $1 million grant from State of Oregon Health Authority to expand to other counties to address late- and post-pandemic public health issues and to train a new, expanded public health workforce.

#NoPassportNeeded Pandemic Study Abroad Alternative: As featured in the Wall Street Journal, led development of study abroad alternatives during no-travel period of pandemic (Summer 2020 at UO), including remote homestay family experiences, remote tours with local guides and experts, remote lectures, remote language buddies.  Never intended as a substitute for travel, but worked as a way to maintain interest and prepare for future travel.  Remote homestay = permanent new tool for use prior to travel-based programs, as a means to meet and get to know host families.

#NoVisaNeeded Remote Enrollment for International Students: To assist hundreds of UO students stuck in their home countries during the pandemic, helped design and implement a menu of activities to augment remote learning at great distance and keep students engaged with university.  Program elements: concierge advising and support in local language and same time zone; study abroad programs in China; in-person for-credit internship in China; virtual internships around the world; intensive, remote, challenge-based workshops with students from around the world on sustainability problems posed by real-world customers; and English Around the World offerings to connect with a conversation buddy in Oregon, tutor in London and alumni career counselor in Singapore (giving students exposure to and practice in a variety of forms of English).

Success in Online Learning Course and Student Resource Kit:  Course to help international students threatened with deportation if they did not enroll in-person during pandemic; expanded into resource kit to serve all 19,000 UO undergrads working to make the best of extended online learning in the 2020-21 academic year.  Helped design and guide implementation of program.

Liberal Arts Revitalization, Experiential Learning & Global Engagement: Links every liberal arts degree program to experiential learning opportunities (internships, service-learning, practica, etc.), both overseas, and in US cross-cultural settings.  Integrates critical thinking and global citizenship skills with job experience, ground in coursework. Addresses skepticism of parents, legislators, students re liberal arts & employability.

GlobalWorks International Internships: Program of worldwide, career-enhancing, credit-bearing, personally challenging internships for students from all majors, with placements in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.  Accompanied by virtual, multi-site, cross-cultural training course.  Enrollment growth averaged 65% per year in four years since program launched.  Helped design and guide implementation of program.

iFIG Program for Low-English International Students: Helped design and implement new, structured first-year curriculum for international students who score above UO entrance level (TOEFL 61) and below TOEFL 88.  Integrated into university-wide first-year interest group (FIG) program; launched Fall 2017 with strong retention and GPA outcomes.  Students are pre-enrolled in two English language supplemental courses per term, linked each term to a core education course.  English courses scaffold the core ed course, introducing students to the vocabulary, learning, analytic, and writing style of the gen ed course. GeCoren ed courses organized as pathways based on international student interests and major selection patterns (business/economics; journalism/communication; STEM; social sciences; design).

Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Research Hub of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities: Founded, in collaboration with key UO faculty and 13 partner universities around the Pacific Rim, a collaborative research network to bring together urban planners, architects, environmental scientists, landscape architects, geographers, economists, developers, business people, policy-makers, and community leaders to improve the ecological sustainability, livability and efficiency of cities.  Network considers cities in landscape terms and looks at city-landscape interactions, with particular focus on topics such as renewable energy, vulnerable communities, and smart cities.  Helped launch collaborations resulting in Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Cities and Landscapes in Pacific Rim (2022, 64 chapters); trainings for Asia-Pacific Mayors Academy; UNESCAP white paper series. The Hub engages appx 200 scholars from 30 institutions, and is one of seven collaborative research programs sponsored by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the top 60 research universities in 18 societies around the Pacific Rim.

Anti-Xenophobia Campaigns: University-wide messaging to encourage global engagement (from study or internship abroad to making a friend with an international student on campus) as a kind of vaccine against xenophobia and nationalistic hate. Response to fact that international students & students of color feel increasingly unsafe and unwelcome in recent years.  See for example, pandemic-era efforts to combat anti-Asian hate.

Oregon-Africa Network for Resilient Development: Designed and secured philanthropic funding for seed-grants to joint teams of researchers representing Oregon and African institutions to address problems of environment, public health, and marginalization.

Global Studies Institute: Designed and help manage Institute to supports nine research centers and ten projects and initiatives, while incubating new, revenue-generating endeavors. Encourages interdisciplinary and cross-regional research, curriculum development, and community outreach. Ensured achieves economies of scale by pooling resources & sharing staff among centers, programs and initiatives.

Global Education Oregon: Created in 2014 via merger of UO Study Abroad office and a UO study abroad subsidiary, AHA International. Serves students and faculty at UO and network of partner universities. Propensity score matching shows 11.4% increase in 4-year graduation rate for students who participated in a GEO study abroad program.

Global Oregon Faculty Collaboration Fund: Developed and raised funds to support program by which UO faculty invite visiting scholars from top global universities for a fully-supported 4-8 week collaboration experience, to culminate in a joint paper for publication, joint grant proposal, or other relevant joint project.

Global Corners International Student Recruitment and Retention Fund: Secured resources for and launched scholarship program to enable UO departments to recruit or retain international students (grad or undergrad) who add to overall campus diversity (defined in terms that are meaningful to the department).

UO International Guest Apartments: Secured funding for and set up three guest apartments in UO’s Spencer View Apartments, to host international visiting scholars and other guests.  Available on a first-come, first-served, sliding-scale cost-share basis.

UO London Apartment Faculty Researchers: Secured funding for and set up guest apartment for faculty doing research in London, located in GEO-leased study abroad center in Bloomsbury, walking distance to British Museum, many universities.

UO Academic Embassies: Network of permanent overseas offices to:

• • Promote UO academic excellence and research interests;
  • Recruit top students to the UO;
  • Expand study abroad and internship opportunities for UO students;
  • Develop an employment network for UO graduates;
  • Facilitate research projects that benefit host institutions and communities.
  • Offer training programs for local higher ed, business, government, and society;
  • Develop and maintain academic partnerships with local universities;
  • Engage our alumni and friends in support of all our activities.

UO Language Council (2014-2018) – Helped create and manage regular gatherings of ~70 language faculty and administrators to promote language enrollment and language innovation.  Fostered curricular innovation, improved marketing and advising, and explicit linkages to career and personal benefits of language study. Helped stem enrollment decline and contributed to creation of School of Global Studies & Languages.

Global Oregon Initiative— From 2010 to 2014, the Global Oregon Initiative worked to enhance internationalization in the UO student experience, in research, and in our outreach to the state and the world.  Global Oregon blurred boundaries among teaching, research, and community service. It established new synergies among all three to develop new modes of learning, and new ways for the university to fund itself and give back to the community. Global Oregon was deliberately cross-regional and interdisciplinary, drawing together UO expertise on every world region and from many academic domains to address truly global challenges and to internationalize the student experience, and by extension, the state.  Global Oregon was institutionalized in 2014 into the new Global Studies Institute (see above).

As Interim Vice Provost for Academic Operations and Strategy

Re-working Central Initiatives to New Context: Working closely with Deans, Provost and President to reset former central initiatives to align with and follow interests of schools and college leadership. Resulting in greater thematic focus and targeted investment in area of environment, climate change and sustainability; also external engagement and gap analysis in areas of sport and human performance.

Support for Several Direct Reporting Units to Provost: Helping with day-to-day oversight, management and strategic planning for:

• Services for Student Athletes: Academic advising unit for appx 500 scholarship athletes; underwent external review and leadership change
• Museum of Natural and Cultural History: First leadership transition in several decades, need for new facilities and expanded resources
• Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art: Transitioning to support from shared services model
• Labor Education and Research Center: Helping unit with day to day management, as well as development new curriculum and connections to academic units

Member of Provost’s Executive Team: Weekly meetings with Provost and one other Vice Provost to discuss ongoing matters of academic planning, operations and strategy.

As Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives (July 2021 to June 2022)

Provost’s Academic Initiatives: Provide strategic support, operational guidance, thought partnership and problem-solving for five Academic Initiatives launched by Provost in 2019 to focus UO academic excellence in areas of UO comparative advantage and strategic opportunity.  Cutting across, disciplines, schools/colleges and departments, these Initiatives are developing interdisciplinary curriculum, degrees, experiential learning opportunities, community service and research.  Each is problem-centered and designed to tackle grand societal challenges of our moment, and help recruit top faculty and students to the UO.

Institutional Obstacles to Interdisciplinary Innovation: Leading small, focused working groups to identify obstacles, real or perceived, to the interdisciplinary transformations and program building at the hearty of the Academic Initiatives:

Joint Faculty Hiring and Review (completing work Winter 2022): Toolkit and standard template to ease joint hiring across units, with guidance on thorniest issues such as service loads, multiple review criteria, multiple publication lists, belonging/community, and impact on faculty from historically marginalized and disadvantaged groups (especially faculty of color and female faculty).

Joint Teaching (completing work Winter 2022): Central fund, on application basis, to cover cost to academic units when a faculty member teaches a “half-course” as part of a joint teaching arrangement.  Circumvents the “half-course-debt” dilemma by providing a central subsidy (credit or funds) to offset partial teaching load debts.

Experiential Learning (completing work Winter 2022): Standard toolkit/guide and central support fund for creation of internships, service-learning, practicum, lab research and other activities that meet criteria of the National Society for Experiential Education.  Gradual expansion towards universal requirement.

Student Recruitment (completing work Winter 2022): Collaboration with Office of Admissions to help Academic Initiative teams and other faculty create three-part recruitment process: 1) short, appealing, video-based content-nuggets for use by Admissions Recruiters, at their discretion, to draw interest to new, interdisciplinary majors in the pre-January application period; 2) recruitment, vetting and training of faculty from new programs to conduct personal appeals to admitted students in the January to May decision period; 3) summer camps, hackathons, contests and other programs for high-school teachers, counselors and students to train in new academic areas (e.g. Moneyball Camp on Data Science and Sport; Global Sustainability Challenge Workshops).

Joint Curriculum & Degrees (beginning work Winter 2022): Developing more streamlined processes and incentives to address fact that as new topics, challenges, student interests, and market demands emerge, curriculum & degree offerings do not always evolve at sufficient pace.  Exploring pathways/tools to innovate and experiment, count experimental curriculum for student graduation requirements during the experimental phase, and then institutionalize as new degree programs.

Value Proposition of Higher Ed and Student Experience (beginning work Winter 2022): Revitalize liberal arts education via a full academic experience focused on the skills and practice of making a difference on major issue/topic of interest to students.  A “difference maker” approach to the student experience would align: recruitment, orientation, housing/residential life, advising, core education, degree programs, experiential learning, career development services, honors or capstone experiences, and career placement.  This could be done within a grand challenge style initiative (Environment, Innovation, Diversity), but would require threading a consistent theme through the full four years of a student’s university experience.

External Partnerships & Societal Impact (beginning work Winter 2022): Enhance partner engagement with UO to maximize: UO societal impact, student job placement, and grants/contracts/gifts. Systematize ad hoc connections. Coordinate tools and processes to analyze external partner potential, connect to and mobilize various units that manage relations, quickly define pitch, deliver and measure impact.

Faculty to Donor Translation (beginning work Winter 2022):

Dilemma — Faculty may sense they have fund-able ideas that are donor ready. Donors may have no idea what faculty are talking about, or no interest. Lack of training for faculty (and administrators) in how to engage fundraising and donors. Lack of training among fundraisers in teasing out marketable ideas from faculty.  Translation breakdown between nerds and jocks.

Solution — Develop translation-based training curriculum for faculty, administrators and fundraisers. Implement in bootcamp format for fundraisers, new administrators and willing faculty. Will enhance fundraising revenue by widening pool of faculty and ideas that can be presented to donors as gift opportunities.

Data Integration (beginning work Winter 2022):  Facilitate cross-disciplinary innovation by ensuring data collection, analysis and reporting tracks linked to cross-disciplinarity.  This can help showcase UO excellence to build reputation and enhance recruitment.  May require new data fields, gathering techniques and reporting mechanisms.

As Interim Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies (Sept 2017 to Feb 2019)

Universal Wrap-Around Advising: Formulated plan to extend 300:1 (students to advisor ratio) wrap-around, whole-student advising services from a pilot program for Pell-eligible in-state students to all undergraduates. Developed and pitched proposal for recurring funding to undertake advising expansion.

Reorganization of Student Success Unit: Led process to reorganize key unit devoted to student success (Undergraduate Studies Division) to ensure that all 80+ staff and 8 units aligned to see and enact their role in the university-wide student success mission.  Wound down or consolidated activities and/or programs not serving student success mission.

Multicultural Requirement Reform: Worked closely with faculty teaching US race relations and global cultures to update 1980s multicultural general education requirement.  All UO students will now take a course on difference, power, and inequality in the US, as well as a global engagement course.  Enables US students to know the wider world, while also understanding core issues of belonging and difference in their own society.

Low-income Student Pipeline Expansion: Helped establish new organizational home and planned the expansion for the Summer Academy to Inspire Learning (SAIL); a pipeline program bringing low-income students from local school districts to campus for a week-long empowerment and college-knowledge program centered on faculty presentations.  Expansion to include residential component and students from around the state.