A Message from a Vice Provost: Week of 12.15.25

December 18 | 2025

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

Greetings from WyoGlobal, UW’s hub for all things international. I am excited to reflect on the amazing global engagement that has taken place across UW this semester.

 

To support our growth, we are working to improve our standing in the QS World University Rankings. Partnering with the Office of Institutional Analysis, department heads, and deans, we are soliciting feedback from international collaborators. If you work with international partners, or do work with a global footprint, we’d love to consult with you about potential survey respondents. Please contact Warren Crawford for more information.

 

Strategic partnerships are a key avenue for our global efforts, and UW faculty are our global champions in creating high-impact partnerships. We’re thrilled to highlight the recent approval of Theatre and Dance faculty Matthew Greenberg’s Erasmus+ application with a partner in Slovenia. You can get involved internationally by applying for Cardiff Strategic Partnership Seed Grant Funding (due January 26). Please also mark you calendars for February 26, when we will showcase faculty engagement, courses, and collaborations emerging from our efforts to complement the National Guard’s Tunisia-Wyoming State Partnership Program. 

 

UW faculty have also shined through leading global alumni study tours. In partnership with the Alumni Association, our faculty are expertly guiding alumni and friends of UW around the world, with recent tours to Iceland and Poland. Faculty are invited to submit proposals for future tours in 2027 and 2028.

 

Student-facing, we are looking forward to an incredible J-term, with 180 students planning to study abroad. We’re also recruiting faculty to lead semester programs in London and Rome in 2027. Contact Shelley Jewell to get involved. And we want to congratulate the five UW students who recently received Gilman scholarships and 74 students who received scholarships from Education Abroad and the Center for Global Studies.

 

On campus, our community is enriched by students and scholars from around the world. This fall, UW was home to 626 international students from nearly 80 countries, in addition to two visiting Tunisian Fulbright awardees, three academic fellows from Uzbekistan, and two professionals from Southeast Asia. International Education Week in November reflected the strong international presence on campus, and I’d like to extend a big “Thank You” to everyone involved.

 

To support our international community, we continually hold information sessions regarding evolving federal immigration regulations and policies, including providing consistent responses on travel ban advisories for citizens from certain countries. Up-to-date information is on our website, and we encourage you to contact us with questions.

 

To rope in future Cowboys, we are refining international student recruitment in coordination with campus partners. Our Assistant Director, Margaret McElligott, is eager to talk with faculty about how departments can participate, so shoot her an email. In concert with our own efforts, Shorelight remains a part of UW’s international student recruitment strategy. This semester, the partnership brought in students from Southeast Asia, as well as recruitment professionals from Vietnam. We hope to bolster engagement through Shorelight in the coming semesters.

 

As always, if you have ideas for how we can support your international goals, I’d love to hear them, so please reach out.

 

To learn more about how UW has gone global this semester, visit our current WyoGlobal Insights newsletter. Wishing everyone some welcome relaxation over the winter closure.

 

Sincerely,

 

Isa Helfgott

Vice Provost for Global Engagement