Dear colleagues,

On behalf of Global Affairs, I would like to congratulate and welcome Nancy Erbstein, associate professor in residence in the School of Education, as our new Associate Vice Provost of Global Education for All in Global Affairs, effective June 1, 2019.

Over the past two years, Nancy has launched and directed our campus Global Education for All initiative, building a momentum that has gained national and international recognition. Nancy’s new role as an associate vice provost is instrumental as we are set to launch a Global Learning Hub this fall and continue working towards this UC Davis Big Idea to provide 100 percent of our students—undergraduate, graduate and professional—with meaningful international or intercultural learning experiences before graduation.

Nancy’s emphasis on ensuring equitable student opportunities and fostering student, faculty, staff and community engagement is truly innovative. A recent example of this is Nancy being awarded a capacity building grant by the U.S.Department of State to implement a Seminar Abroad in Nepal, which brings together UC Davis and Nepalese university students for both virtual and hands-on projects defined with Nepalese community leaders. Aligning with Global Education for All, Nancy and her collaborators intentionally designed the program to create more opportunities for transfer students, low-income students, and students with work, family, or extra-curricular commitments.

In addition to her innovative approach to student success and her administrative leadership experience in higher education, Nancy maintains a community-engaged, transdisciplinary research agenda focused on the geographies of youth inequality, equitable educational reform and transformative pedagogies of youth civic engagement. Her local and global work, first as a founder and co-director of an NGO and then as a community-engaged scholar, has led to numerous grants, publications, articles, presentations, and awards, including the Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Community and Diversity in 2010. 

Above all, Nancy is known for her dedication to students. She built the Student Advisory Committee for Global Education for All from the ground up, engaging a diverse team of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in this major initiative at its outset. This past year, she mentored this fantastic group of students as our first-ever UC Davis Millennium Fellows. She then continued supporting them in creating more awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals on campus, and ultimately, building the groundwork for our inaugural Campus Global Theme.

I hope you will join us in welcoming Associate Professor Nancy Erbstein to her new role in Global Affairs. Her background and leadership skills will be invaluable as we deepen and strengthen the work of Global Education for All, and I look forward to continuing to work with you all towards this campus goal!

Sincerely,

Joanna Regulska

Vice Provost and Associate Chancellor of Global Affairs
Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
University of California, Davis