Passport to everywhere

I didn’t study abroad as an undergraduate, but I am fortunate that my research, teaching and personal travel have taken me across the globe in the decades since. As dean, it has been my privilege to travel to Berlin, London, Stockholm and the Galápagos. I love seeing firsthand how our talented students are learning from our extraordinary faculty as they experience a different culture — taking classes, talking with locals, trying new foods and being exposed to new ways of seeing the world. These students never fail to tell me how this opportunity has expanded their horizons and transformed their lives.

Our cover story is about the study abroad experience and Carolina’s push to be the great global public research university. Why the emphasis on global education? Our students need an international perspective if they are to be the leaders of tomorrow. I often talk about the College being the place where we will take on some of the world’s grand challenges. The first step to doing that is understanding how the world works today.

By the time this magazine reaches you, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will have launched its comprehensive Campaign for Carolina. One of the important campaign priorities of the College of Arts & Sciences is to provide more study abroad experiences for our students. In November, I will be in Shanghai and Hong Kong to meet with alumni, students and global partners to help establish new experiential learning opportunities. Other campaign priorities are to expand our efforts in digital literacy and to build a new home for convergent science.

You can read about all of these initiatives, and much more, on this web site. I hope these stories enlighten and inspire you.

Best,