Teams Selected For 2021-2022 President’s Award for Global Learning
- Mar 22, 2022
- Alex Briseño
Three innovative teams composed of students and faculty from the University of Texas at Austin, with partners in India, Sweden, Ecuador and the United Kingdom, were selected from a competitive field to receive the 2021-2022 President’s Award for Global Learning (PAGL).
A signature initiative of the university’s International Board of Advisors, this annual award advances UT Austin’s mission of global engagement and equips students with cross-cultural knowledge during robust hands-on work and research endeavors. In addition to forging young leaders, faculty members share unique experiences abroad with their students while building upon their own global networks.
After identifying problems to be confronted in various corners of the world, the selected teams then search for solutions on a global scale by engaging in project-based collaborations alongside their international partners.
The interdisciplinary teams comprise members whose fields of study span architecture to neuroscience, sociology to business, engineering to international relations and beyond. Each member leverages their specific area of expertise, ensuring that each country and topic is viewed through the unique, multi-focused academic lens of its respective team.
After competing against dozens of teams to reach the finals, three winning proposals were selected by a review committee of university leaders and faculty from colleges and schools across campus.
The complex issues to be addressed by this PAGL cohort include protecting the fragile ecosystem of the Galápagos Islands; exploring and addressing racism within academia in the United Kingdom and United States; and discovering how fashion companies strive to achieve ecological sustainability and social justice across production nodes in Sweden and India.
Selected faculty receive $5,000 per team to support student projects and class activities, in addition to a $9,000 honorarium for each faculty member. Travel is also fully funded for both faculty and students as part of the award.
Please join us in congratulating the recipients of the 2021-2022 President’s Award for Global Learning on their excellent proposals:
Ecuador
Do-No-Harm, Do-More-Good: Building for Sustainability in the Galápagos
To protect the delicate ecosystem of the Galápagos Islands, this program strives to research innovative and implementable solutions for the design of sustainable human habitats that do not harm—but instead help—surrounding ecologies.
Faculty team members: David Heymann, Gregory Brooks, Fernanda Leite
Student team members: Sarah Bryant, Juan David Ledesma, Claudia Katrina Fierro, Olivia Parker, Lynna Benhamou, Mariana Mercado, Eduardo Terrazas, Justin Zhang, Bianca Busogi, Katherine Ospina, Carmen Whitten, Sarah Wildenstein
International partners: University of San Francisco-Quito, Quito, Ecuador; Buro Happold, Bath, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
This program aims to bring together perspectives of faculty, staff and students from five diverse higher education environments—four in the United Kingdom and one in the United States—to validate the viewpoints, communities and experiences of people of color navigating academic spaces.
Faculty team members: Richard Reddick, Peniel Joseph
Student team members: Jayelon Evans, Hailey Leal, Ayotoluwafunmi Osunsade, Pritika Paramasivam, Sruthi Ramaswamy, Eddie Bankston, William Cotton Hearne, Joshua Russell, Sai Annem, Breigh Plat, Zia Kinzy
International partners: Dr. Mike Mimirinis, University of West London, United Kingdom; Dr. Peter Claus, Pembroke College, Oxford University, United Kingdom; Dr. Kehinde Andrews, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom; Dr. Ali Meghji, Magdalene College, Cambridge University, United Kingdom
India and Sweden
Cotton Threads: Fabricating Ethical Production and Consumption in the Garment Industry
With hopes of discovering the means for production and consumption of ethical fashion, this program focuses on coursework, field visits and independent research in Texas, Sweden and India to address such issues as ecological sustainability and instilling social justice across production nodes.
Faculty team members: Shiv Ganesh, Sharmila Rudrappa
Student team members: Neha Donthineni, Yves Mendoza, Elyssa Sefiane, Abigail Walker, Patrick Davis, Ria Goyal, Janani Gopal, Nivedha Loganathan
International partners: Nudie Jeans, Gothenburg, Sweden; International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, Bangalore, India
