Guest Editorial
Toward a Global GW
By Donna Scarboro
Viewpoint

Perspectives from Turkey
By Mark Feldstein
GW News
A Faculty for Writing
Alumni Newsmakers

Cultural Communicator
Changing Lives, One Smile at a Time

GW Alumni Around the World
International Chapter Contacts

GW's International Contacts
Postlude


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Guest Editorial: Toward a Global GW


Julie Woodford

As the stories collected in this special issue of GW Magazine illustrate, the University is a leading force in research and practice that affect and involve people on every continent. Our efforts in teaching, research, and service are global in a complex sense: On one hand, we are blending experiences, points of view, voices, and languages into new insights; on the other hand, we are distinguishing and celebrating culturally unique experiences, points of view, voices, and languages. We recognize the good fortune represented by our location in an international city, while we pursue our global mission with more than the occasional e-mail.

This spring and summer, GW faculty members, in cooperation with the Office for Special and International Programs, have organized and led programs in England, France, Spain, Belgium, Eastern Europe, India, Argentina, Panama, Chile, and China. Hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students have been served through courses that offered extraordinary experiential and classroom learning opportunities. Among our undergraduates, hundreds more have participated in programs offered through affiliated study abroad organizations and institutions. The number of GW students studying abroad has grown so significantly over the past several years that we have been ranked 11th in the nation for the percentage of the student body studying overseas. Beyond this, many of our faculty members have participated in scholarly research and conferences overseas, presenting findings in concert with colleagues in multiple countries. And our International Services Office welcomes hundreds of students from overseas to our Washington campus each year.

These students, most of whom are with us through their full degree sequence, bring unique perspectives to GW classrooms, as students from a vast variety of U.S. and overseas backgrounds put their heads together over topics from math to music. This is the state of play for a major university such as GW.

In every corner of our institution, you will find international people and people with highly developed international expertise. Even our neighborhood, with the International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, World Health Organization, and the State Department, bespeaks the global nature of GW.

Our commitment to world issues is broad and deep. I hope those whose energy and vision have brought us to this point will enjoy seeing a small sampling of what it means to be a world-class and world-embracing institution.

Bon voyage!

Donna Scarboro
Assistant Vice President for Special and International Programs