This year’s Appalachian Global Leadership Awards were presented to students and faculty during the Global Leadership Awards luncheon which took place on Wednesday, November 15th as part of the annual Appalachian Global Symposium. The awards are designed to recognize students, faculty, and staff who have made extraordinary contributions to global learning by initiating, developing, and/or supporting opportunities for global learning at Appalachian and in the community.
The 2017 faculty award was presented to Dr. Beverly Moser for the myriad of global learning opportunities she has provided to Appalachian students and scholars as a result of her pursuit of externally funded grants and her leadership in globalization activities on campus and in the community. Most notably, Dr. Moser developed a service learning course that brought German language and culture to 88 4th graders in Watauga County and secured a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to bring foreign language studies to Burke County. Beginning in 1997 Dr. Moser has facilitated language immersion experiences for faculty and students in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. In 2007 and 2008 Dr. Moser secured federal funds for the Fulbright Pakistan Science Educator’s Program, and she has played a critical role in the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program for English as a second language teachers that has brought dozens of educators from around the world to Western North Carolina for training and cultural exchange since 2011.
The 2017 undergraduate student award was presented to Paige Anderholm. Anderholm is a senior from Summerfield, NC who is majoring in International Relations and Comparative Politics as well as in a self-designed second major in Global Community Engagement. During her time at Appalachian, Paige has researched issues of community engagement in Cuba and marine conservation in Mauritius. In addition to her research activities, Paige serves as the Vice President of the Association Internationale des étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales - International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences (AISEC), an international non-profit leadership program developed and run by students. Under her leadership the organization has sent 94 students abroad to volunteer or complete internships.
The 2017 graduate student recipient was Morgan Prince. Prince is from Hudson, NC and earned his BA in French and Music at Appalachian in 2016 and is currently a graduate student in the Masters in Romance Languages program. He manages the Language Acquisition Resource Center on campus and currently leads three one-hour conversation sections for French language students. Despite his responsibilities as a student and manager of the Language Acquisition Resource Center, Prince continues to find ways to make significant contributions to global learning at Appalachian through his commitment to language learning in and outside of the classroom.
The Appalachian Global Symposium is a day-long event that showcases the global activities of faculty, staff, and students at Appalachian by providing a professional platform for them to share their work, experiences and contributions e to global learning at Appalachian. This year’s symposium featured 32 presentations from more than 60 presenters and was attended by more than 270 students, faculty and staff. Dr. Suzi Mills, Professor and Director of Music Education in the Hayes School of Music and Mr. Richard Campbell, Associate Director of Outdoor Programs and Lecturer in the Department of Recreation Management and Physical Education, have successfully planned and organized the Global Symposium and Global Leadership Awards for the last five years. “Organizing this important event to celebrate and recognize the global activities and achievements of our colleagues here at Appalachian is a monumental undertaking. I am very grateful and appreciate of the time and energy that Rich and Suzi have given toward this endeavor over the last several years. Through their leadership and expertise both the Global Symposium and Global Leadership Awards have become institutionalized at Appalachian and play a prominent role in our global activities.” said Dr. Jesse Lutabingwa, Associate Vice Chancellor for International Education and Development at Appalachian.