Dear Friends of GIS,

I am delighted to offer you a new edition of the Global Gazette. As we were going to press, no small thanks to our talented Senior Administrative Assistant Andra Cain who lined up everything perfectly, I was thinking of our beginnings and where we’re headed. If you were in Garey Hall when we began, you would remember one of the institute’s artworks, the serene image of St. Augustine of Hippo. We embraced the spirit of the axiom attributed to him: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” We remain the one program that has Study Abroad as a requirement for the major because global literacy and intercultural competency are key learning objectives in GIS.

Though another source has been found for those words credited to St. Augustine, we do know that he was keenly interested in engaging the world as it is. In chapter nine of Letter 43, referring to all the debates about the sacred page, he writes, “If, after all that you have read, you are still in doubt, be convinced by what you see. By all means let us give up arguing from ancient manuscripts, public archives, or the acts of courts, civil or ecclesiastical. We have a greater book—the world itself.” It’s a call for an intellectual engagement with our world, to see the world as the ultimate testing ground for the value of our endeavors. 

It is in the spirit of flipping a new page of the “greater book” that I share with you news of our new Summer in Shanghai Study Abroad (SiSSA) program which will kick off in summer 2025. Our students will get to learn about work culture in the world’s largest city, take a team-taught class offered by a GIS faculty member and a faculty member at Tongji University, one of China’s top public universities, participate in externships and learn Chinese at any proficiency level. We don’t shy away from contesting texts and contexts, but we strive to open more windows to the world.

Peace,

Chiji Akọma, PhD

Chair, Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies

Writing in Tongues



Writing in Tongues is a journal published by the Global Interdisciplinary Studies Department that aims to display linguistic diversity among our students, staff and faculty at Villanova University. All members of our Villanova community are welcome to submit their literary works in their native language to the editor, Nathan Badenoch, PhD, by Monday, Feb. 17 to be included in the next publication. 

Writing in Tongues Event

Join authors of the most recent edition of Writing in Tongues as they read from their pieces and share their stories! The event will take place in the Cyber Lounge of the Connelly Center on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m.

Anusha Hariharan, PhD 

"As an anthropologist and as someone who has migrated to the US from a different part of the world, I am excited to join Global Interdisciplinary Studies and live in a diverse, multicultural city like Philly. I hope to bring my interests and expertise on feminist activism, solidarity and friendship, care practices and ethics to all that I do at Villanova, within the classroom and well beyond. As a city, Philly is made up of diverse communities and neighborhoods, and so allows for embodied and experiential learning of what culture, migration and solidarity is (and can be) in 'real time.' I am enthusiastic to enable possibilities for students to interact with these different communities and understand the ways in which communities come together to thrive."

Faculty Recognition

Kudos to our Africana Studies Program Director, Olukunle Owolabi, PhD, for garnering a string of prestigious awards for his book, Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects: The Divergent Legacies of Forced Settlement and Colonial Occupation in the Global South (Oxford University Press, 2023). The awards include:

• 2023 Distinguished Book Award by the Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration Studies section of the International Studies Association
• Co-winner of the 2024 Best Book Award in Citizenship and Migration Studies by the American Political Science Association (APSA)
• 2024 Merze Tate-Elinor Ostrom Outstanding Book Award by the APSA
• 2024 Peter Katzenstein Award for Best (First) Book in International Affairs by Cornell University’s department of Government
• 2024 W.E.B. Du Bois Distinguished Book Award by the National Conference of Black Political Scientists
• Honorable mention for the 2024 Luebbert Best Book Award in Comparative Politics by APSA

We are immensely proud of his accomplishments. Learn more about Dr. Owolabi’s awards.

Student Spotlights

Noteworthy Achievements

Congratulations to the following students on their outstanding accomplishments!

Gilman Scholarship Awardees

• Grace Owusu '25 CLAS – South Korea
• Becca Wang '25 CLAS – Taiwan

Public Policy and International Affairs Program 

• Lezlie Hilario '25 CLAS – Princeton 

Senior Thesis Proposals and Presentations

Our senior GIS students—Peace and Justice Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies majors included—have the opportunity to showcase their research in the GIS Capstone course. Pictured left to right, last year's student research presentations included:

• Lauryn Hayes '24 CLAS: "The Black Maternal Healthcare Experience: Rooted in Racism and Injustice"
• Jameson Ford '24 CLAS: "Spirituality as a Resistance Tactic to Secure Autonomous Land in Quilombo Quigoma?"
• Alana Hodge '24 CLAS: "Beyond Bars: Advocating for a Future without Prisons"

Alumni Spotlight

Fulbright Recipients

Congratulations to the following alumni on winning competitive Fulbright U.S. Student Grants!

• Bobbie Alicea '23 CLAS – English Teaching Assistantship in Taiwan
• Mitch Colonna '24 VSB – English Teaching Assistantship in Taiwan
• Natalie Schirmacher '24 CLAS – Study Grant in Finland and named an inaugural Fulbright-John Lewis Civil Rights Fellow

Learn more about the Fulbright recipients for 2024-25.

STAY CONNECTED

Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences