Shenandoah University Professor Earns Global Challenges Teaching Award

Shenandoah University Professor Staci Strobl, Ph.D., joined exclusive company last month when she was chosen as a recipient of the 2022-23 Global Challenges Teaching Award from the US-UK Fulbright Commission in collaboration with the American Council on Education (ACE).

Dr. Strobl, a professor of criminology and criminal justice, was among six total recipients of the inaugural award and one of just three award winners from the United States. The selection process was highly competitive, with about 75 applicants each from the U.S. and the United Kingdom, Strobl said, and included a virtual panel interview during which applicants were required to work together to complete a task in front of anonymous Fulbright panelists.

As part of the Global Challenges Teaching Award, faculty members from higher education institutions in the U.S. and the United Kingdom pair up to co-deliver a virtual exchange/collaborative online international learning (VE/COIL) course for their undergraduate students.

Each recipient is awarded an honorarium of $5,000, and an additional technical support fee of $2,500 is given to each award winner’s institution. The US-UK Fulbright Commission also covers travel costs up to $5,600 for a visit to the partner institution for each awardee.

Strobl, who received the award in the Climate Change category, is paired with Samantha Buzzard, Ph.D., a glaciologist and lecturer in climate science from Cardiff University in Wales.

We are thrilled to learn that Dr. Staci Strobl has received this award from the US-UK Fulbright Commission, which will enable her to continue her important work at the intersection of climate change and criminology. Her project is an ideal example of Shenandoah University’s commitment to global education and also to addressing real-world challenges.”

Jeff Coker, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Global Challenges Teaching Awards were also awarded in the categories of Racial Justice and Pandemics. Other American awardees include faculty from the University of Alabama and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Awardees and their selected institutional team members are now undergoing approximately six weeks of training in a VE/COIL Transformation Lab run by ACE, after which lead faculty from each institution will begin joint development of their shared VE/COIL course or module through the summer. Award recipients will begin their exchange visits to learn more about their partner institution this summer. 

Strobl, whose research specializes in the lack of criminalization of human industrial behavior that drives climate change, and Dr. Buzzard will introduce their joint module to their students during the Fall 2022 semester. Strobl said she will implement the module with members of her environmental and wildlife crime class in the fall, while Buzzard will do so with members of her global climate change class.

“I was thrilled to learn I’d been partnered with professor Staci Strobl and Shenandoah University for this award,” Buzzard said. “We have a real opportunity to carry out some exciting interdisciplinary teaching and learning, and hope that we can build on Shenandoah’s existing expertise in COIL to make this a really fruitful partnership.”

Joining Strobl as part of her Shenandoah University team for the project is Younus Mirza, Ph.D., director of Global Virtual Learning at SU, and Karrin Lukacs, Ph.D., director of Transformative Teaching and Learning. 

It’s an honor to be a part of this project. The fact that you have a glaciologist and an expert in pollution crime teaming up together across more than 3,500 miles is an amazing example of how the work Shenandoah University is doing is truly transformative for our learners, as well as for our faculty and staff.”

Karrin Lukacs, Ph.D., director of Transformative Teaching and Learning

ACE specifically asked that Dr. Mirza be included as part of the SU team for the Fulbright project, said Strobl, who already has experience with COIL projects.

Mirza has pioneered Shenandoah University’s own COIL initiatives and worked with Lukacs to guide Strobl and other SU faculty members through training workshops last fall to prepare for the implementation of a series of virtual exchange projects covering a variety of topics. 

In her internal COIL project at Shenandoah, which was implemented in the classroom last month, Strobl is paired with Anas Al Qudah, Ph.D., of Yarmouk University in Jordan. As part of the project, students in Dr. Al Qudah’s entrepreneurship course are tasked with developing a business plan for a new product or service involving the U.S. and Jordan. Students in Strobl’s comparative criminal justice course will then use that business plan to anticipate the legal requirements for the relevant industry in both countries.

I am excited for Staci, who was one of our star COIL fellows from our fall training. Her selection demonstrates that Shenandoah is increasingly being recognized as a leader in Global Virtual Learning.”

Younus Mirza, Ph.D., director of Global Virtual Learning

To learn more about the Global Teaching Challenges award and its grantees, visit fulbright.org.uk.