Center for International Education at UMass Amherst

02/14/2025

SAVE THE DATE: Student-Faculty Dialogue and Lunch!
📍 Where? Furcolo Room 102
📅 When? Wednesday, February 26
⏰ Time? 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

01/09/2025

Save the date to join this wonderful event with Café Without Borders.

12/10/2024

11/09/2024

Dear All;
We are thrilled to invite you to the upcoming Café Without Borders workshop on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 10:00 AM EST. This engaging, participatory session will be facilitated by Sai Gattupalli, a Learning Technology Researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Please mark your calendar and join us for an interactive workshop on "Prompt Literacy as a New-Age Skill."
Date: November 23, 2024
Time: 10:00 am EST
Venue: Cafe Without Borders
Communication: Cloud - Virtual
Zoom Link: Join here
https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/6061330899?omn=98389215589

11/01/2024

Dear All,
We are excited to invite you to the upcoming participatory Café Without Borders workshop on Friday, November 1st, 2024, at 10:00 am EST. This interactive session will explore how AI can help lighten teachers’ workloads and enhance the classroom experience.
This hands-on and collaborative workshop will cover how AI can:
• Automate routine tasks: Save time on grading, lesson planning, and more.
• Personalize learning: Meet the unique needs of each student with AI-powered recommendations.
• Create engaging experiences: Make learning more interactive and exciting.
The featured speaker, Ahmad ElZorkani, Manager of Instructional Video Production at the Center for Learning & Teaching, American University in Cairo, will guide us through the potential of AI in education. Ahmad brings over two decades of experience helping educators implement technology to enhance teaching. You can learn more about him here: Ahmad ElZorkani's LinkedIn.

Special thanks to Alia Attia from the American University in Cairo for creating the poll and investigating our members' monthly topic preference, and to Nasratullah Mussawy, RA at the Center for International Education at UMASS Amherst, for designing the flyer.

Event Details:

Date: November 1, 2024
Time: 10:00 am EST
Venue: Cafe Without Borders
Communication: Cloud - Virtual
Zoom Link: Join here

We look forward to your active participation as we collectively explore how AI can make a difference in education!

05/17/2024

Café Without Borders hopes this message finds you well. As proud graduates and graduate students, we are excited to invite you to join us for our monthly gathering as we delve into a new topic. This month, we are excited to explore " Mastering Traditional and Digital CVs for Career Success" with our colleague Sai Gattupalli.

Event Details:
Date: May 25th
Time: 9:00 am EST
Venue: Cafe Without Borders
Communication: Cloud- Virtual

Zoom link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/6061330899

In this dynamic workshop, we will delve into the art and strategy behind crafting compelling traditional and digital CVs. As the professional world evolves, so does the landscape of job applications and personal branding. This session is designed to equip us with the tools and insights necessary to stand out in a competitive job market.

This workshop is ideal for anyone looking to refine their job application materials, whether entering the job market for the first time or seeking to transition careers. Equip yourself with the knowledge to create a powerful CV and an engaging digital presence that truly represents your professional persona.

04/30/2024

On behalf of Nangyalai Attal, EDUC 674A: International Higher Education Policy is being offered this summer. Please take a look at the course description below and the flyer attached.

Description:
This course introduces students to international higher education policy and the geopolitics of higher education in a multipolar world. We examine topics of globalization, massification, ranking, funding, knowledge commercialization, and higher education internationalization, along with movements of decolonizing the university. The course offers comparative regional and country higher education case studies, mainly on how the neoliberal university model affects global inequalities in a post-pandemic world. We discuss recent trends in international higher education, including the prevailing role of AI, MOOCs, and the future of teaching, research, and applied sciences universities in the Global North and the Global South.

04/22/2024

Café Without Borders members are thrilled to announce an upcoming event that promises to be both enlightening and engaging - our AI Practicum Workshop! Due to the considerable interest in the potential of AI, we are organizing a practical, hands-on workshop designed to explore how AI can enhance both our academic studies and our teaching methodologies.

Event Details:

Date: April 27th
Time: 10:00 am EST
Venue: Cafe Without Borders
Communication: Cloud- Virtual

Zoom link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/6061330899



Interactive Session:

We encourage you to bring your favorite AI platform to the workshop. It’s a chance for each of us to share and delve into how different AI tools can benefit both our learning and teaching experiences. Through a cozy and collaborative atmosphere, we will learn from each other, with each participant presenting their chosen AI tool to the group.

Let's embark on this journey of mutual discovery and make the most out of what AI has to offer. We look forward to seeing you there and exploring these exciting possibilities together!

03/27/2024

Cafe Without Borders invites you to our upcoming gathering (Saturday March 30) is set to delve into the dynamic realm of education policy and reform—a topic that deserves our collective attention and insights.

Event details:
Date; March 30th
Time: 10 am EST
Venue: Cafe Without Borders
Communication: Virtual
Zoom: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/6061330899?omn=98389215589

Our guest speakers:

Teklu Abate Bekele, PhD, is an associate professor of International and Comparative Education (ICE) at the Department of Educational Studies, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, AUC. Employing qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and including policy and practice dimensions, Bekele has been studying the field of HE for over a decade. Bekele’s study on the contextual production of knowledge received The 2019 Outstanding Author Contribution Emerald Literati Award on International Perspectives in Education and Society. His research received intramural funding and has collaboratively won competitive extramural funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the U.S. Department of State, Save the Children Norway, and the European Commission Erasmus+ grant. Bekele serves as an editorial board member in international academic journals and currently serves as a Board Member and Awards Committee Chair for the Higher Education SIG, CIES. Within the contexts of the SDGs and the Africa 2063 centennial Agenda, his current research project interrogates emerging university-society engagements in Africa.

Laura Valdiviezo, PhD, is a dedicated scholar focusing on reshaping schools as catalysts for social justice. Her research delves into diversity, pluralism, and knowledge production within institutional policies, aiming to understand and challenge the reproduction of inequality. Drawing from sociocultural and comparative perspectives, she explores language policy, multicultural education, and Indigenous schooling. As an education ethnographer, she conducts participant observation in culturally diverse public schools worldwide, examining the intersections of language, pedagogy, and equity. Her work, published in prestigious journals, reflects her commitment to transformative education. Additionally, she has served in editorial roles for prominent academic publications and currently oversees an acclaimed education book series.

Cliff Meyers is the interim Director. Center for International Education, UMass Amherst. Cliff worked for UNICEF in Asia and the Pacific on early childhood development and basic education for 23 years - after completing his doctorate at UMass. He will speak on the tensions and disconnects between donor demands at the macro level and the interests of national leaders – with examples from the Lao PDR.

03/26/2024

On behalf of Krishna Poudel, we are pleased to announce the third talk in the IGH 2024 Global Health Seminar Series. This seminar, scheduled for April 2nd at 1:00 pm, is open to all.

Anyone interested can access the webinar through this link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/97258295033
Passcode: 2202

02/13/2024

Café Without Borders hopes this message finds you well. As proud graduates and graduate students, we invite you to join us for our monthly gathering as we delve into a new topic. This month, we are excited to explore " Introduction of Financial Literacy with Khan Academy & intuit free MOOCS " with our colleague Tuan M. Pham.

Tuan M Pham is a dedicated educational leader and financial professional, currently an ABD in Educational Leadership focusing on a student-centered approach at Western Kentucky University (WKU). My expertise is further enhanced by a Master's in Organizational Leadership from the same institution, where I specialized in leadership theory and organizational development. As a Series 6 licensed Financial Representative, Tuan brings a unique investment, retirement, and financial planning perspective. Beyond academia and finance, he is deeply committed to nonprofit work, focusing on sustainable development, and SDGs, and fostering international collaborations, especially between Vietnam and the US. His career is a testament to his dedication to blending educational leadership with financial acumen and a strong commitment to global sustainability and social responsibility.

Event Details:
Date: February 24th
Time: 10:00 am EST
Venue: Cafe Without Borders
Communication: Cloud- Virtual
Zoom link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/6061330899

To stay updated on our upcoming events and engage with our community, we encourage you to join our WhatsApp group by following this link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/IUnV9iPZbap4N4qwKfFdhD

We look forward to your participation and making this event a success. Please mark your calendar for February 24th, and we can't wait to see you at Cafe Without Borders.

"Empower Together: Unleash the Strength of Unity, Spread the Word!"