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Global Currents Blog

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  • Illini Engaged: Envisioning Education at CIES 2025

    The Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) met in Chicago, Illinois, for its 69th annual conference. Held at the historic Palmer Hotel, the conference brought together educators and practitioners who focus on educational issues worldwide to explore the theme of Envisioning Education in a Digital Society. The conference had strong representation from the College of Education at Illinois, broaching topics such as the relationship between education and cultural processes, democratization, globalization, economic development, and political conflict. This blog post highlights a few key aspects of the excellent scholarship presented by Illinois students, staff, faculty, and affiliates.

  • Academia Meets Policy: Partnering with Think Tanks to Improve Student Experiences

    This past February, I had the privilege and pleasure of being invited to Spain to attend the School For Thinktankers 2025, sponsored by the organization On Think Tanks (OTT) at Fundació Bofill in Barcelona. The weeklong training seminar started with an inspiring welcome session, setting the stage for an exciting week of learning, collaboration, and growth. As the Center for Global Studies (CGS) is launching a new Master of Science in Global Studies (MSGS) with 3 tracks including Global Governance, Global Security, and Gender and Public Policy, partnering with think tanks to collaborate, create student internships, and develop opportunities for students to present work and publish is a strategic focus of the center. Through the new master’s degree, CGS can offer avenues for networking, increased exposure to, and engagement with think tanks across the world.

  • CGS Faculty Affiliates Recognized in LAS Faculty Awards Announcement

    We are proud to celebrate the achievements of two Center for Global Studies (CGS) faculty affiliates who have recently been honored through the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) faculty awards and announcements.

  • Arts and Education without Borders: The 9th Annual Globalizing the Community College Curricula Conference 2025

    The 9th Annual Globalizing the Community College Curricula Conference 2025: Arts and Education without Borders conference was an immensely successful conference that will positively impact the Global Studies Program at Heartland Community College (HCC) in Normal, Illinois. The conference featured “innovative strategies and best practices for integrating global perspectives into community college curricula through the arts” and followed through with a diverse speaker lineup that provided multiple subject examples ranging from philosophy, art, composition, anthropology, and political science.  

  • Students Reimagine the Future in Global Sustainability Competition

    On December 7, 2024, 14 teams from across the globe gathered via Zoom for the 4th annual Reimagine Our Future sustainability competition award ceremony. The competition brought together 249 students from 11 institutions in the USA, UK, Ukraine, South Africa, China, Austria, Colombia, and Italy, who spent eight weeks crafting innovative solutions for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and showcasing contributions of diverse disciplines such as engineering, health sciences, agriculture, and architecture to sustainability through factsheets. 

  • Investigating Intersections of the Local and Global: Exploring Migration Trends in Kraków, Poland

  • Congratulations to “The Chancellor’s Call to Action Research Projects for 2024-25” Awards Recipients

    The Center for Global Studies (CGS) congratulates CGS Faculty Affiliates Faranak MiraftabKen Salo, Scott AlthausAnita ChanYannick KluchTeresa Ann BarnesJames KilgoreIan Brooks and former CGS Graduate Assistant Atyeh Ashtari for receiving the 2024-2025 Chancellor Jones Call to Action Research Program awards. The Chancellor’s Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Justice Research Program 2024-2025 awarded 12 research programs focused on systemic racial inequalities and injustice in our communities and higher education. 

  • CGS Congratulates its Faculty Recipients of the College of LAS Teaching and Advising Awards

  • Global Studies Consortium at Aarhus University in Denmark, September 21-23, 2023

    From September 21 - 23, 2023, the Center for Global Studies participated in several days of conversation and discussion with fellow members of the Global Studies Consortium at Aarhus University in Denmark. 

  • CGS Congratulates its Affiliates and Recipients of LAS Dean’s Awards and Faculty Honors