We Are the World

Intending to foster camaraderie and understanding, and to impart the importance of global connections, UC Santa Barbara will celebrate International Education Week (IEW), Nov. 14-18, with a healthy slate of performances, programs and gatherings on campus.

As a joint initiative of the U.S. Departments of State and Education to highlight international exchange and education, IEW is commemorated at educational institutions nationwide. The events at UC Santa Barbara are a collective endeavor of the Office of International Students and Scholars, the UCSB Education Abroad Program, and Global Engagement at UCSB.

“At a time when global connections are central to everyday life, International Education Week shines a spotlight on our university’s relationships around the world with cross-campus and community collaborations to share stories and discussions about our planet and beyond,” said Kum-Kum Bhavnani, associate vice chancellor of global engagement. “It’s really to bring people together. We’re living in a world that is very interconnected, so this is an opportunity to say, ‘Let’s come together to share ideas and arguments about our world and the nature of our world.’”

Kicking off with a window into the early universe, Matthew Greenhouse, a project scientist at NASA, will share and discuss images from the James Webb Telescope (JWT). The largest space telescope ever constructed, JWT is extending humanity’s view of the universe into the infrared spectrum, revealing how our galaxies and structure have evolved over cosmic time. Co-sponsored by Global Engagement, UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the multimedia presentation is at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, in Campbell Hall. It is free and open to all.

At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, Elisabeth Ayuk-Etang, the 2022-2023 Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) Fellow at UC Santa Barbara, gives the inaugural Scholar Rescue Fund Lecture. A visiting professor, Ayuk-Etang and her family were brought to Santa Barbara — with support from the deans of the College of Letters and Science, as well as SRF — to escape violent conflict in their home country of Cameroon, where she is an associate professor of African literature and chair of the English department at the University of Buea. In her presentation, “Stories from Cameroon’s Civil War: Women Exposing Environmental Impacts,” Ayuk-Etang argues that each phase of Cameroonian history impacts women–nature relations in its own unique way.

Additional highlights of International Education Week at UCSB include “This is Me/Us,” an open mic event at Storke Plaza; a fashion show, “Showcase of Cultures,” at The Hub; faculty research talks at the Student Resource Building; and a Peace Corps information session at San Clemente.

Global Engagement and A&L also will co-present Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company at the Granada Theatre (Nov. 15 at 8 p.m.), soul and Americana musician Allison Russell at Campbell Hall (Nov. 16 at 8 p.m.) and jazz composer/prodigy Matthew Whitaker at Campbell Hall (Nov. 17 at 8 p.m.).

“We are a vibrant community at UCSB,” said Bhavnani. “UCSB is interdisciplinary, alive. We develop these connections to re-confirm how important engaging with the world is, particularly these days. Global connections underpin the future of the planet.”