Hosted by the Isabella Cannon Global Education Center and campus partners, the week invites students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to examine and connect through cross-cultural and interdisciplinary experiences.

IEW highlights the strengths of international education and exchange. �鶹��Ƶ’s celebration aligns with the university’s relationship-rich, engaged learning, helping us develop a deeper understanding of our interconnected world.

Week-at-a-glance

The full schedule is available on the International Education Week website. This year’s schedule features a mix of cultural, academic, and community-building events.

Highlights include:

• Global Flow Yoga at Sunset (Nov. 8)
• Research in Global Contexts: Student and Faculty Symposium (Nov. 9)
• French Poetry Slam (Nov. 9)
• Traditional West African Dance and Drums (Nov. 10)
• Global Film Series (Nov. 10)
• Minute to Win It! Meet and Greet (Nov. 11)
• International Cheese Festival (Nov. 11)
• International Coffee Hour and International Books and Authors (Nov. 12)
• Amici dell’Italia (Nov. 12)

Why it matters

IEW provides a focused moment to elevate global learning that happens across �鶹��Ƶ every day, in classrooms, residence halls, student organizations, and the Alamance County community.

IEW’s core idea is that international education thrives on meaningful relationships, shared experiences, and collective purposes.

“At its core, this year’s theme and events highlight how global learning is strengthened when students, faculty, staff, and partners come together across cultures, disciplines, and perspectives,” said��Jessica Gisclair, associate dean of global education.

�鶹��Ƶ continues to lead nationally in study abroad and Study USA participation as part of the �鶹��Ƶ Experiences.

Most IEW events are open to the entire �鶹��Ƶ community. Some programs require an RSVP or have limited capacity. Visit the IEW website for times, locations, and updates. For questions, contact the Isabella Cannon Global Education Center at 336-278-6700 or visit Sato Commons 360 during business hours.

Currently the largest and most active scholarly society in the United States devoted to the study of adaptation, the LFA and its affiliated journal “” emphasize scholarship related not only to film and literature, but also to television, video games, new media and other forms of audio-visual culture.

A panel of �鶹��Ƶ College and Communications Fellows kicked off LFA 2026 with a session focusing on generic hybridity across a range of classic and contemporary U.S. science fiction, fantasy and horror texts. Ashley Hess’s paper on Jeff Vandermeer’s novel “Annihilation” and its film adaptation explored the theme of “architectural illegibility” at work in both texts, while Sophia Sta Rosa surveyed the cultural mythology of “Superman” as a uniquely nationalist franchise across multiple mediums and formats (comics, cinema and television). The panel concluded with Lealand Oakes, Alana Denby and Emma Briceño’s presentation “Don’t You Remember? Second-Hand Nostalgia as Co-Creation in The Duffer Brothers’ ‘Stranger Things’ and Andy Muscietti’s ‘It’ Duology” — an expanded version of their final research project for an adaptation course on the fiction of Stephen King.

In collaboration with faculty member Sandy Marshall and the Global Neighborhood Film Series, Thursday’s conference programming continued with a screening of Todd Haynes’s 1950s-era lesbian melodrama “Carol”��in honor of LGBTQ+ History Month. The film was introduced by Pamela Demory, lecturer emerita at the University of California-Davis and recipient of this year’s Jim Welsh Prize for Excellence in Adaptation Studies. Demory detailed Haynes’ adaptation strategies with respect to the film’s source, Patricia Highsmith’s novel “The Price of Salt,” and contextualized the director’s position within the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s. After the screening, Nikita Shepard of �鶹��Ƶ’s Department of History & Geography provided historical background on the post-war surveillance of LGBTQ communities and moderated a lively Q&A between conference participants and attending students.

Friday’s keynote speaker, , delivered an excerpt from his forthcoming monograph “Patinas of the Moving Image,” an examination of the materialist aesthetic concept of “patina,” which Warner defined as “the historically sedimented look and feel of a film arising from the residual stamp or signature of media-technical formats and processes.”��Filmic patinas, he went on to argue, adapt historically situated ways of seeing and feeling while variously sustaining, revising or contesting the nostalgic lenses through which nations imagine and scrutinize their pasts. Working through a range of examples including “Carol,” “Jackie,”��“Ash Is Purest White” and “The Secret Agent,” Warner also asked the audience to consider what happens when the adaptive object is not a discrete text but a decade. In what ways, he queried, does the “felt character of an era make its way into a film’s materialized tones, textures, and atmospheres”?

Continuing this year’s conference theme of “Adaptation/Nation,” Saturday’s schedule included panels on subjects such as “New Cinemas and Internationality,” “National Ecologies,” “Resisting Racism” and a session devoted entirely to Paul Thomas Anderson’s recent counterculture epic “One Battle After Another.” Also featured among the panel presentations were two roundtables devoted to publication and pedagogy.

The 2026 Literature/Film Association Conference was supported by a variety of �鶹��Ƶ programs and entities including the Dean’s Office in��the School of Communications, the Dean’s Office in �鶹��Ƶ College, the College of Arts & Sciences, Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies, Latin American Studies, Peace & Conflict Studies, the Department of English, and the Global Film & Cultures minor.

Next year’s LFA Conference will be hosted at the University of Baltimore. A call for papers will appear on the association’s in May 2027.

The article, “,” was co-authored by Jennifer Stephens, director of Academic-Residential Partnerships and assistant professor of education; Jill McSweeney, assistant director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning and assistant professor of wellness; Nina Namaste, professor of Spanish and assistant director of First-Year Seminars in the �鶹��Ƶ Core Curriculum; and Brandy S. Propst, director of �鶹��Ƶ 1010 and assistant director of Academic Advising.

The collaborative nature of this work is, in itself, a unique reflection of �鶹��Ƶ’s approach to the first-year experience, as it brings together offices across academic affairs and student life to create a unified and campus-wide ethos to the first-year experience, which they argue is essential but often missing in institutional approaches to the first-year experience.

The piece explores how institutions should view the first-year experience as a culmination beyond first-year seminars, and that in doing so, it requires us to see this as a unique pedagogical context that differs from teaching students in their sophomore to senior years of college. The authors present a framework for faculty development in First-Year Pedagogies, incorporating CATL’s Teaching for Equity and Inclusion work, and faculty, staff, and student data at �鶹��Ƶ. The framework asks educators to think intentionally about who they teach, what they teach, and how they teach, all within a commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity.

The article outlines how other institutions can put this framework into practice, by sharing how over the last two years, �鶹��Ƶ has developed specific faculty development opportunities to bring together faculty and staff from across first-year experiences (e.g., residential learning communities, gateway major courses, advising seminars). The goal of this work has been to build shared values, language, and classroom strategies focused on preparing students to be engaged, autonomous, and self-directed learners during their college degree and supporting students through the numerous transitions they experience during their first-year at college.

This work reflects why �鶹��Ƶ has earned national recognition for the first-year undergraduate experience and emphasizes the importance of uplifting and supporting staff and faculty in order to continue to best support our first-year students.

Performers can either do karaoke, sing an original song, or lip sync — the one stipulation is that it must be in a language other than English. This year, there were 14 performances with songs in 10 different languages:��French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Italian, Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, and Old French/Latin.

Global Vision was inspired by the Euro Vision Song Contest, which has been hosted since 1956. However, the event at �鶹��Ƶ is for languages across the globe, not only languages spoken in Europe.

�鶹��Ƶ’s performers were rated in the categories singing, language skills, and performance by Sandy Marshall (Global Neighborhood), Bethanny Sudibyo (World Languages and Cultures), Trudy Arling (Polygot LLC RA), and Joel Thomas (Campus Safety and Police).

There were three prize baskets for the winners filled with international candies, snacks and drinks. In addition to the sweet treats, the first-place winners also went home with a trophy!

Congratulations to this year’s winners:

• 1st place – Vee Brown performed in Italian
• 2nd place – Emma Arruda performed in French
• 3rd place – Tamar Kalisher performed in French/Latin

�鶹��Ƶ’s sixth Global Vision Song Contest is scheduled for Spring 2027.

The , a national organization that seeks to create a network where faculty and student affairs educators can learn, build and advance scholarship on the residential college experience, launched its awards program this year to recognize excellence in residential education.

A national model for living and learning

At �鶹��Ƶ, living and learning are intentionally intertwined. Faculty and staff work across divisions to connect students’ academic journeys with their residential communities through shared courses, embedded faculty roles, themed living-learning communities and opportunities for informal mentorship.

The university was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Institutional Excellence in Residential Education Award for its collaborative, relationship-rich approach, which RCS described as a deeply human model of education that centers belonging, well-being and intellectual engagement.

“At �鶹��Ƶ, Living and Learning isn’t just a program; it is the �鶹��Ƶ experience,” Nick Tippenhauer, RCS Executive Leadership Team member and assistant Dean for studies at Rockefeller College at Princeton University, said during the awards ceremony, referencing the nomination. “It is a defining commitment to engaged learning that weaves together every aspect of campus life.”

Accepting the award on behalf of the university were Eleanor Finger, assistant vice president for Student Life and dean of campus life, and Jennifer Stephens, director of Academic-Residential Partnerships, who also emphasized the uniqueness of �鶹��Ƶ’s integrated model.

“What makes �鶹��Ƶ’s model distinctive is that we are fully integrated,” Stephens said. “Rarely do you see an actual partnership between Academic Affairs and Student Life across the entire living and learning experience the way you do at �鶹��Ƶ.”

Community building at the heart of residential life

Much of �鶹��Ƶ’s national reputation in living and learning is rooted in the day-to-day work happening in its neighborhoods. Faculty-in-residence and community directors collaborate to foster spaces that help students grow personally, academically and socially.

One example of this approach is illustrated in the Global Neighborhood, led in part by Outstanding Faculty Member Award recipient Sandy Marshall, where traditions such as “Sundaes on Sundays” and “Mondays with the Marshalls,” as well as monthly film nights and neighborhood dialogue dinners, have become beloved opportunities for students and faculty to connect beyond the classroom.

“Our Global Neighborhood team works with our amazing campus partners to create and sustain meaningful opportunities for students to connect with one another as well as faculty, staff, and community mentors,” Marshall said. “I love connecting with the students and seeing them make their own connections at these events.”

During the awards ceremony, Tippenhauer emphasized that Marshall’s programs are more than social events. “They are acts of community-building that make a large campus feel personal and connected,” he said.

Mariann King, community director for the Global Neighborhood, noted that the impact of these programs becomes clear as students grow over the academic year.

“When you think about where students are that first weekend and then see where they are by the time we host our Global Gala in the spring, you really get to see your students shine,” she said. “Those moments show just how much they learn from living on campus.”

Deepening connection, belonging and student success

The awards from the RCS reaffirm �鶹��Ƶ’s long-standing commitment to exploring ways to deepen students’ connections and well-being.

“When faculty and staff invest in students as people, students feel like they have a place,” Finger said. “That sense of being cared for is what builds belonging.”

Stephens echoed this sentiment, stating, “The two biggest indicators of student success are student-to-faculty interaction and peer-to-peer interaction,” she said. “When those happen naturally in residential spaces, it strengthens both connection and well-being.”

Looking ahead, �鶹��Ƶ will continue to evolve its integrated model. Finger emphasized that ongoing refinement and growth will drive the next phase of this work.

“We are excited to engage more faculty in this transformative work, and to think dynamically about new living and learning communities that spark curiosity and interest in our students,” she said.

Even as the model evolves, its core purpose will remain the same: bringing faculty, staff and students together outside the classroom to build community.

DeMarco, a human service studies major, started her engagement at �鶹��Ƶ as a member of the Service Living and Learning Community. She continued to deepen her involvement as a Service Living and Learning Community coordinator and a leader of an alternative break experience to Asheville.

She has been involved in the Campus Kitchen program for several years now, initially as a farm shift coordinator, and now serves as director. DeMarco has been able to strengthen volunteer retention, along with an increased capability of harvesting more produce Loy Farm to help serve those experiencing food insecurity in Alamance County. She is also an advocate for service as the service chair for �鶹��Ƶ’s chapter of Alpha Chi Omega.

“Megan has an unbridled passion for service that is infectious to all those who participate with her,” said Abby Wiatrek, associate director of the Kernodle Center for Civic Life. “Her leadership style has a natural way of showing the humanity and humility needed when participating in service that makes others feel comfortable to ask questions to learn more about why the service that we are doing is important to our community.”

North Carolina Campus Engagement is a collaborative network of colleges and universities committed to educating students for civic and social responsibility, partnering with communities for positive change, and strengthening democracy. The organization fosters connections between campuses, shares best practice information and resources, recognizes outstanding work, and champions civic and community engagement in higher education.

Participants learned about the��EcoVillage LLC at Loy Farm��proposal process and how the LLC integrates with the existing farm and academic initiatives on site. Presenters also offered learning moments, bumps in the road, and reflections on the EcoVillage’s first two years as a community.��Participants also gained insights on how to potentially kickstart a conversation on tiny house partnerships at their institution.��

The EcoVillage will be available for sophomores through seniors to select during Housing Selection coming up in February for returning students for the 2026-27 academic year.

�鶹��Ƶ leaders dedicated the Toshio Sato Commons on Oct. 10, 2025, as part of Homecoming & Reunion Weekend in a ceremony that recognized the university’s first international student and first four-year graduate from outside the United States.

Members of Sato’s family from Japan were joined at the ceremony by dignitaries of the Japanese government as well as executives from The Japan-America Society, the NC Japan Center at North Carolina State University, and representatives from Honda and Toyota.

Descendants and distinguished guests gathered with �鶹��Ƶ faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and students in what had been known as Global Commons to celebrate Sato’s remarkable campus legacy.

The early afternoon ceremony featured remarks by President Connie Ledoux Book, who described Sato’s story as “a testament to the courage, imagination and aspirations of a young Japanese woman who came to our campus, formed powerful and lasting relationships and established an ethos of global friendship and partnership that has remained strong across generations.”

Sato arrived at �鶹��Ƶ in 1914 from the rural town of Wakuya, Japan, supported by church and community leaders who recognized her potential. She studied through the challenges of World War I and the global influenza pandemic, graduating as valedictorian in 1920. On campus she served as president of the Women’s Association for Self-Government, an early version of �鶹��Ƶ’s Student Government Association.

“When Toshio arrived at �鶹��Ƶ, she didn’t just survive – she soared,” Book said. “She became a beacon of leadership and intellectual curiosity on our campus.”

After returning to Japan, Sato lived through the destruction of World War II, losing her home and possessions but not her connection to the university she once called home.

“She rebuilt her life with the same quiet dignity and strength that had defined her all along,” Book said. “We live in a world that desperately needs more Toshios — more people who can reach across oceans and divides and appreciate the wonderful common humanity that unites us all.”

We live in a world that desperately needs more Toshios — more people who can reach across oceans and divides and appreciate the wonderful common humanity that unites us all.

– �鶹��Ƶ President Connie Ledoux Book

Book presented a gift from �鶹��Ƶ to each of Sato’s descendants during the dedication: A metal plate with an image of Toshio Sato Commons to display in their homes.

Among those family members in attendance was Sato’s grandson, Yusuke Kato, a physics professor at the University of Tokyo.

“Toshio never thought it would be for her to come back again to North Carolina,” Kato said in remarks delivered on behalf of the family. “Nor would she have imagined that her descendants would be participating in Homecoming week, more than 100 years after her graduation.”

Kato described his family’s visit as a reminder of the enduring ties between �鶹��Ƶ and Japan. “We are attracted so much by �鶹��Ƶ and would like to contribute in some way,” he said. “We thank again all the people in �鶹��Ƶ for remembering Toshio’s pioneering role and leadership in her college days over 100 years ago.”

Chika Kusakawa ’09, an �鶹��Ƶ alumna who helped the university reconnect with Sato’s descendants, recalled in the ceremony’s welcoming remarks how she first learned as a student about Sato’s historical significance at the university.

“Reading about her success at the time gave me a quiet confidence — if she could thrive then, I could thrive now,” Kusakawa said. “Knowing someone like me had been on this journey had a profound impact. It underscores that representation matters. Leaders like her paved the way for people like me.”

Nick Gozik, dean of global education, said Sato’s courage continues to influence �鶹��Ƶ’s approach to international learning. “What we call the present is given shape by an accumulation of the past,” he said, quoting novelist Haruki Murakami. “May Sato Commons continue to remind us that courage, curiosity and human connection are at the heart of education — here at �鶹��Ƶ, and in the world beyond.”

Sato’s name is now displayed on a building that is home to the Isabella Cannon Global Education Center and the �鶹��Ƶ Core Curriculum. The commons also includes classrooms, meeting spaces and gathering areas for students.

Performers can either do karaoke, sing an original song, or lip sync — the one stipulation is that it must be in a language other than English. This year, there were 13 performances with songs in five different languages: French, Arabic, Spanish, German and Korean.��

GlobalVision was inspired by the EuroVision song competition. However, the event at �鶹��Ƶ is for languages across the globe, not only languages spoken in Europe.

The first GlobalVision happened in the spring of 2022 in Global Commons. Since then, the event has grown and is now an annual event in Irazú. This event has seen a lot of change in just three years, and will continue to evolve in the years to come.

There were three prize baskets for the winners filled with international candies, snacks and drinks. All winners also got a bouquet of fresh flowers. In addition to the other two prizes. The first place winners also went home with a trophy.

The first place winners, sophomores Ali and Andi Dalton ’27, sang an original song with guitar in French. First-year student Andrew Juhasz ’28 was the second-place winner and sang a song in German. In third place was a trio who sang karaoke to “Cómo la flor” by Selena. Their charisma had the audience involved and excited about the performance.

Although not all 13 groups that performed went home with prizes, they all went home with a fun and memorable experience.

Residence Life also recognized members of the Residence Life student staff council and one graduating Neighborhood Manager: Wise Halverson.

The evening included opening remarks from President Connie Book and Vice President of Student Life Jon Dooley.

Student Staff Member of the Year (by neighborhood)

Student Staff Member of the Year is awarded to at least one staff member from each residential neighborhood who has demonstrated excellent teamwork, dedication, and positivity in their role.

Recipients

Colonnades: Mackenzie Perry

Danieley: Jason Adama-Tettey

East: Asia Green

Global: Keali Chang

Historic: Kiera Wenzel

Loy: Catarina Gandara Da Silva

Oaks: Morgan Seate

Station at Mill Point: Annabelle Stephens

Living-Learning Community (LLC) End of Year Awards

Almost 80 nominations were submitted for the Living-Learning Community End of Year awards, including nominations by participating students, staff and faculty advisors. �鶹��Ƶ’s nationally ranked LLCs support over 600 residents in 24 different living-learning communities led by 33 faculty and staff LLC advisors.

Living-Learning Community Student of the Year: Odalys Zelaya Figueroa, First Phoenix LLC, Colonnades Neighborhood

Living-Learning Community Ambassador of the Year: Violette Valadez, First Phoenix LLC, Colonnades Neighborhood

Living-Learning Community Program of the Year: �鶹��Ƶ College Fellows Murder Mystery Night, East Neighborhood

Living-Learning Community Advisors of the Year: Paula DiBiaso and Kenneth Brown, First Phoenix LLC, Colonnades Neighborhood

Living-Learning Community Resident Assistant of the Year: Grace Smith, Sustainable Living LLC, Colonnades Neighborhood

Living-Learning Community of the Year: Performing Arts LLC, Global Neighborhood

NRHH Rising Diamond Award
Tessa Mattison, senior resident assistant, Historic Neighborhood��

This award recognizes a Residence Life staff member who shows that leadership inside and outside the department is crucial to continued growth in the �鶹��Ƶ experience. The recipient of this award has demonstrated that their skill set learned at �鶹��Ƶ has positively impacted their community and will continue to impact whatever community joined after positively. The official symbol of NRHH is a diamond –the world’s most precious gem- to signify the value and beauty one finds in their experiences.

Student Leadership and Community Development Award
Maximus Garganta, senior resident assistant, Colonnades Neighborhood��

This award highlights a student staff member who demonstrated extraordinary leadership in their role and promoted community development by challenging and caring for residents through their �鶹��Ƶ experiences.

Student Employee Excellence Award
Eva Miller, office assistant, Global Neighborhood��

This award highlights an hourly student employee who has displayed extraordinary dedication, leadership and service to their neighborhood and/or the Office of Residence Life. They consistently positively impact their neighborhood/office staff and community by going above and beyond what is asked in completing their work responsibilities.

Julie Justice Faculty Engagement Award
Claudine Moreau, faculty director, Historic Neighborhood

In honor of Julie Justice’s depth of service and engagement with her residents during her time as a faculty-in-residence in the Oaks neighborhood, this award honors a faculty member who has contributed to enhancing the residential campus initiative by engaging with students within the residential community, and broadly developing connections within the neighborhood to enhance the student residential experience.

Program of the Year

Neighborhood: East
Program Name:��East Gets on the Bus to Twin Lakes
This award highlights a neighborhood program, event, or series that promotes active engagement of residents with faculty and staff over a topic that promotes the intellectual theme of the neighborhood.

Firestarter Award
Sydney Michel, resident assistant, Historic Neighborhood��

This award recognizes a new student staff member who has shown exceptional promise in their role through creative and engaging floor programming, sound decision-making, and a consistently positive attitude. Their dedication to building community and enhancing the living and learning experience at �鶹��Ƶ sets a strong foundation for continued impact and growth.

Trailblazing Guide Award
Nicholas Rugbart, senior resident assistant, Global Neighborhood����

This award honors a seasoned student staff member who consistently goes above and beyond – not only excelling in their own role, but also serving as a reliable source of support and mentorship for their peers. Their approachable nature and commitment to fostering a strong living and learning environment truly embody the spirit of campus community.

Tracy Pace Program Assistant of the Year
Sandra Bays, program assistant, East Neighborhood

This award honors a program assistant in Residence Life who utilizes exceptional organization, interpersonal, and customer service skills.

Professional Staff Member of the Year
Mariann King, community director, Global Neighborhood

This award recognizes a professional staff member of the Residence Life team who has demonstrated mentorship, community building and professionalism throughout the 2024-25 academic year.

Community Partnership Award
Grace Smith, resident assistant, Colonnades Neighborhood

The Community Partnership Award is presented to an individual who has continuously partnered and supported throughout the school year with Campus Safety and Police.