Broadening Global Experiences for All Tritons

With more than two decades of experience leading international efforts in higher education, Cunningham will develop and implement a strategic internationalization plan for UC San Diego that will unify existing programs on campus and grow opportunities for research, teaching and collaborations worldwide.

As leader of Student Affairs’ Global Initiatives (formerly known as Global Education), she manages a team of experts who drive strategic international engagement in support of comprehensive internationalization as well as welcomes and supports international students and scholars. These include the International Students and Programs Office, International Faculty & Scholars Office and Study Abroad.

“For a global campus of our distinction, we needed a leader whose primary responsibility is to collaborate across all aspects of UC San Diego and the world to ensure we fully realize our mission,” said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Alysson Satterlund. “AVC Cunningham will help broaden global experiences for students and scholars, leading to better understanding of the perspectives, values, beliefs, traditions, expertise and experiences across and within cultures. When this happens, innovation emerges and opportunities for peacemaking abound.”

First impressions

During her first 100 days on campus, Cunningham has been learning about the university’s myriad global engagements to begin to map out a strategic internationalization plan. She is guided by four key recommendations that were identified in the American Council on Education Internationalization Laboratory Report. These include:

• Supporting faculty and scholars as frontline champions for internationalization
• Breaking silos and building bridges
• Cultivating a culture of global citizenship 
• Creating a community of lifelong Tritons

Though UC San Diego already has a reputation of being highly connected around the globe, the imperative to collaborate with others who have different expertise and providing students with access to high-impact learning experiences is stronger than ever. Fighting a deadly, highly contagious virus like COVID-19 cannot be successful without the input of the world’s top medical minds. And mitigating the catastrophic impacts of climate change is impossible without the unique knowledge of experts from different hemispheres.

Cunningham believes that offering UC San Diego students, faculty and research scholars international experiences should be non-negotiable. “If we want to educate and prepare global changemakers who can address issues like world war, pandemics and geopolitical issues with wisdom, intelligence and compassion, these opportunities can never be seen as a luxury.”

Another goal is to enhance support for international students and scholars who leave their home to study and make contributions at UC San Diego. Originating from more than 110 different countries, the campus’s international students bring diverse perspectives, knowledge and experiences that strengthen classrooms, research and the chance to build cross-cultural competency. 

Working with the Office of Research Affairs, Cunningham is also helping faculty and researchers find and secure grants to expand teaching and research abroad, as well as mitigating barriers for students seeking global experiences. She is approaching this by unifying the principles of internationalization with equity, diversity and inclusion efforts as described in her co-authored article “Intersections of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Internationalization: A Framing Guide,” published by the American Council on Education. This means integrating equity into the international education curriculum while also considering how global education can become more inclusive.

What does this look like in practice? It could be enhancing scholarship funding so that students from all financial backgrounds can participate in an education abroad experience. Or supporting faculty members in adding an international component into their curriculum. And for those who have an interest in travel but may not be able—such as students who are undocumented—Cunningham explained that there are field projects and community engagement initiatives happening in San Diego or within the United States that can offer similarly valuable experiences.

“AVC Cunningham will be just the driving force we need to greatly expand our already strong portfolio of international research and collaboration done in the service of global good,” said Vice Chancellor for Research Corinne Peek-Asa. “We have one of the most dynamic research faculty and scholar communities in the nation and we look forward to building more opportunities.”

A foundation for these experiences already exists at UC San Diego, with plenty of room to grow. The Rady School of Management hosts an innovation course each spring that brings together graduate students from UC San Diego and Israel to collaborate on a 48-hour business case and start-up strategy. And through Global TIES, undergraduates have the chance to design sustainable solutions working with nonprofit organizations in San Diego and developing countries around the world, from designing an earthquake-resistant school in Fiji to memorializing COVID-19 pandemic stories of UC San Diego community members.

Strengthening UC San Diego’s network of global changemakers

Beyond offering the opportunity for Tritons to gain global experiences, Cunningham plans to strategically leverage UC San Diego’s institutional collaborations to jumpstart even more activity around the world. Named the 20th best global university by U.S. News and World Report in their 2022-23 rankings, UC San Diego is already top of mind for many international students and scholars.

Over 2,000 international faculty and scholars are visiting, studying, teaching and conducting crucial research projects across UC San Diego. Among U.S. universities, UC San Diego is the seventh most popular host institution for international scholars, according to the latest report from Open Doors.

And partnerships are often multi-dimensional. For instance, UC San Diego established a strong connection with Japan’s Kyoto University in 2014. Initially centered on programs at UC San Diego’s School of Medicine, the cross-disciplinary collaborations that have been catalyzed now span every school at the university. UC San Diego and Kyoto University have also held joint symposium events to propel research and advance knowledge. And UC San Diego is home to the Kyoto University San Diego Research Center, established in the Center for Novel Therapeutics in 2019 to promote joint research and academic exchange.

In addition, the university is currently engaged in approximately 400 active international agreements with organizations and higher education institutions around the world that integrate research, industry and experiences abroad (explore them all at partnerships.ucsd.edu). A key facilitator of these experiences is UC San Diego's International Institute, which coordinates and supports multidisciplinary scholarship and teaching on international issues, while also offering support for dissertation research and undergraduate Human Rights Fellowships. These multilateral partnerships and networks provide funded opportunities for students to gain experience abroad while at the same time connecting faculty to networks of international colleagues that spark unimagined directions. 

UC San Diego researchers are regularly journeying abroad to join international collaborators in making exciting discoveries that fill in historical gaps. Through UC San Diego’s Cultural Heritage Engineering Institute, housed within the Qualcomm Institute, scholars have traveled to Greece, El Salvador, Switzerland, Mongolia, Spain and many other locations to “engineer a future for the past.” Using advanced conservation tools, they help monitor, preserve and restore monuments, sculptures, archaeological sites and natural environments that are vital parts of our world’s cultural heritage.

The scope of worldwide initiatives already happening and the potential to transform the lives of students as they become global citizens is what excites Cunningham the most. “I can't believe I have this opportunity; every day I wake up to do this work, I feel like I'm making a real change in the world,” she said. “I want to look at this work as though I'm affecting generations. This one student, their children, their children’s children—when you start to add it up, there's no calculating the impact.”