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Centering Student, Faculty & Staff Well-Being ​

Florence, Italy  
Friday, May 10, 2024
9:00 a.m. - 5:15 p.m. CET

For on-site international educators, faculty, and staff, it’s important to learn about and apply best practices, strategies, and skills to support students during their education abroad experience. 

​At The Forum’s Regional Seminar: Centering Student, Faculty & Staff Well-Being, we will explore topics centered around well-being—both student and staff—to create successful engagement for all.   

Hosted in collaboration with Syracuse University and The Forum on Education Abroad, this one-day event will cover two topics related to student and staff overall wellness:  
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• Tools and techniques for managing mental health issues of students and staff. 
• How European-based educators can help students manage their intersecting identities in a different cultural context.  ​​

​​Expand your professional network while upskilling from Italian experts and leaders in the field!   ​

Who Should Attend 

This event is for international education professionals in and around Italy who are interested in enhancing the on-site experiences of learners and fostering collaboration among colleagues across Europe.

Schedule

All times below are CET (Central European Time) UTC/GMT +1. 
9:00 - 9:15 a.m.   Welcome
9:15 - 9:30 a.m.   AACUPI remarks
9:30 - 12:00 p.m. Mental Health As An Onion: How to Keep from Crying 
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Lunch (provided)
1:30 - 5:00 p.m.  The Other Climate Crisis: U.S. Identity Politics and Education Abroad​
5:00 - 5:15 p.m.   Wrap Up

Mental Health As An Onion: How to Keep from Crying

Supporting student mental health has become a complicated business: issues sometimes present directly--as students needing professional mental health support--but more often present masked as complaints about housing, roommates, instructors, etc. How do you decide whether to address the underlying issue from a student development or customer service perspective? Join us for a discussion for when these approaches are at odds, and when it’s necessary to pivot.

 The Other Climate Crisis: U.S. Identity Politics and Education Abroad​

In the U.S., the storms around DEI in higher education are becoming alarmingly severe. It has been the subject of dramatic news stories. DEI offices and courses banned. Elite university presidents resign. Affirmative action in admissions deemed illegal. Numerous institutions under federal investigation for alleged discrimination. Campus protests proliferate. A ‘free-speech crisis’ has been declared in U.S. higher education, leading many to re-examine the meaning of academic freedom, the role of government oversight, and even the purposes of higher education itself.

​And abroad? Because so much of the current climate is about speech and language, it represents a major opportunity for educators abroad. At the same time, students’ belief in ‘identity’ can be so fixed that it blocks intercultural learning, their ability to recognize diversity or difference. Many students have a sensitive awareness of discomfort, anxiety, vulnerability, and the importance of social justice. Sometimes they want to police the language of others – peers, staff, faculty, locals. Fear of saying ‘the wrong thing’ (something unintentionally hurtful) leads some to self-censor; saying it can lead to a heated, emotional situation, a febrile climate. Staff and faculty abroad are being called on more and more to cool temperatures by responding effectively to students’ often intense, confusing, identity-based experiences in a different cultural context.

How can we do this most effectively? This Forum European Institute session addresses the following questions, urgent for all who work in U.S. programs abroad:

1. What’s happening in the U.S. with identity politics, and how does it compare with what’s happening in Europe with the far right in particular?
2. What is the so-called ‘free-speech crisis’ on U.S. university campuses really about?
3. How are these issues manifesting abroad with students?
4. How can staff and faculty respond effectively as intercultural educators? 

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Through this session, participants will be able to (1) articulate greater understanding of the U.S. conception of ‘identity’ that drives current national and higher education politics; (2) compare and contrast U.S. identity politics with those in several European countries; (3) use the education abroad space to discuss controversial, sensitive topics with less fear about ‘saying the wrong thing’; and (4) develop ways of using local/regional language and culture intentionally to unsettle and expand students’ assumptions about human diversity and how identity gets shaped and defined.

Instead of thinking of identity as explaining everything, students abroad can discover that identity is the thing that needs explaining – but only if staff and faculty are prepared and willing mentors.

Presenters

Gian Franco Borio
Attorney at Law in Florence, Italy
Legal Counsel to AACUPI and EUASA

Nicole Collins
Director of Strategic Partnerships and Outreach Syracuse University

Laura Dupont-Jarrett, PhD
Assistant Director for Education Abroad Mental Health University of Minnesota Global Programs and Strategy Alliance

Troy Gordon, PhD
Director of Global Teaching & Learning
​Syracuse University Abroad

Vanessa Nichol-Peters, PhD
Director of Marist College Italy

Sasha Perugini, PhD
Director of Syracuse University Abroad Florence

Fabrizio Ricciardelli, PhD
President Association of American College and University Programs in Italy (AACUPI) and Director of Kent State University Florence

Registration 

Rates	Member	Non-Member	Open	Close
Early Bird	$289	$339	1-Feb	1-Mar
Regular	$339	$389	2-Mar	12-Apr
Late	$389	$439	13-Apr	10-May

Register now

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