Global Initiatives leader says international education must keep evolving
Associate vice president led effort that has nearly tripled enrollment at Miami's Luxembourg campus
Global Initiatives leader says international education must keep evolving
Cheryl Young has held positions ranging from administrative assistant in Continuing Education to associate vice president for Global Initiatives during her 40-year career at Miami University.
She also holds three degrees from Miami — a bachelor’s in English Literature and Women’s Studies, an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Leadership, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership.
And although the Oxford native admits there was a time when she couldn’t wait to leave her small town, she is proud to still call it home.
Through Miami, Young discovered the world. Now, she helps Miami students do the same in her current role as the head of Global Initiatives, which she has led for 12 years and where she is the senior international officer.
She was awarded a Fulbright to Taiwan in 2020 but didn’t go until 2023 because it had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her office contains memorabilia from her business travels to China, India, and Europe. The Luxembourg flag is displayed on the wall behind her desk near a tie-dyed map of the world.
Young has been to Miami’s Luxembourg campus numerous times and led the team effort that has nearly tripled the number of students attending the John E. Dolibois European Center (MUDEC) per semester.
“That is what I am most proud of, the work I did to bring it back,” she said, noting enrollment had dropped to 62 students per semester in 2017. It rose to 159 students this past spring semester. This fall, 176 students have committed to studying at MUDEC.
Young said she has long enjoyed “working in the gray areas” to figure out how to make things better.
She made her first trip to India this year on a study with the U.S. Embassy in India. Young, Karla Guinigundo, director of Global Partnerships, and Vaishali Raval, professor of Global Health Studies and Psychology, are researching why 100,000 students from India study in the United States but fewer than 1,000 U.S. students study in that country in South Asia. Miami has had a successful partnership with Christ University in Bengaluru, India for several years.
“I like figuring things out — how we got there and how we can get to here. What happened here and here and here to make this happen,” she said. “I think that has helped a lot in risk management and crisis response for study abroad.”
Young has long been a proponent of embracing change. “My advice to others would be to be flexible, be adaptable, accept and manage change,” she said. “Transformation is good for yourself and the people around you. We all have to grow and change. Organizations have to grow and change.”
This has been a year full of changes for higher education, with some impacting study abroad. Young has stayed focused on supporting students.
“We have to assess and then rebuild to align with the reality of the world today,” she said. That means working with professional international and higher ed organizations, including NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the Forum on Education Abroad, the American Culture and English program, and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities to advocate for international education — both for study abroad and international student support.
Young said students share with her team that “they continue to know the value, continue to respect international education, and continue, as individuals, to value the education they receive here and the networks they have built.”
She continues to look to the future as international education evolves. That means recommitting to global engagement.
“We have to rebuild — much like we had to do at MUDEC — and align with redesigned global engagement strategies,” she said.
Established in 1809, Miami University is located in Oxford, Ohio, with regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, a learning center in West Chester, and a European study center in Luxembourg. Interested in learning more about Global Initiatives? Visit the website for more information.
