Current/Past Research Projects

“I Am Not Your Dictionary, But In Some Ways, I Am:” Middle Eastern International Students’ Experiences with Identity, Diplomacy, and Internationalization at UCLA

In order to meet the demands of globalization, universities across the United States (US) have established internationalization initiatives aimed at improving the global competencies (e.g. international understanding and cultural awareness) of their students. As a central component of these efforts, universities have turned to admitting a growing number of international students in the hopes that their presence on campus will facilitate greater global competencies among all students. In doing so, universities have placed an expectation on international students to be citizen diplomats: individuals tasked with improving global competencies and relations through their interactions with others. However, this diplomatic expectation is rarely communicated directly to international students. Indeed, such an oversight underscores the problematic belief that the benefits of international students are a result of their physical presence on campus, with little attention paid to the individuality and agency of these students. In fact, the academic literature has little to say about citizen diplomacy through the perspectives of international students. This dissertation seeks to fill this gap by centralizing the voices of Middle Eastern international students at UCLA to understand how they perceive and make meaning of their diplomatic identity and role on campus. In examining this topic, I demonstrate how Middle Eastern international students come to understand their identity in the US, which often revolves around been seen as a representative of the Middle East. Aware of this representative identity, these students both passively and actively engage in forms of citizen diplomacy that they see as improving understanding and awareness of the Middle East. However, their participation in these forms of diplomacy is often hindered by both cultural and political burdens as well as university structures. Ultimately, I argue that to realize the full diplomatic potential of international students, universities must invest in empowering and facilitating all students, both domestic and international, to engage in cross-cultural understanding and interaction. Only then, might the potential of international students to contribute to citizen diplomacy be fulfilled.

Publication: Geibel, W. (2020). “I Am Not Your Dictionary, But In Some Ways, I Am:” Middle Eastern International Students’ Experiences with Identity, Diplomacy, and Internationalization at UCLA. UCLA. ProQuest ID: Geibel_ucla_0031D_18927. Merritt ID: ark:/13030/m5d55w1x. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6q89814n

Diplomacy in Higher Education: Middle Eastern Students' Perceptions on Internationalization

In order to meet the demands of an increasingly globalized world, universities have established internationalization initiatives aimed at improving the global competencies (GCs) of their students, including cultural and global understanding, awareness, and appreciation. As a central component of their internationalization efforts, universities have turned to admitting a growing number of international students in the hopes that their presence on campus will facilitate greater GCs among all students. As a result, universities have placed an expectation on these students to play the role of citizen diplomats; individuals tasked with improving global relations through their interactions with others. However, universities have done little to communicate this expectation to international students and we collectively know very little about how international students understand their diplomatic role and presence on US campuses. Focusing specifically on Middle Eastern students, a group whose presence in the US is greatly intensified by current US-Middle East relations, this dissertation utilizes focus groups, content analysis, and in-depth interviews to examine how these international students perceive and make sense of their diplomatic role while on US universities. Ultimately, I argue that in order to realize the full potential of international programs aimed at facilitating GCs, international student perspectives must be included in the design of internationalization initiatives. In so doing, I advocate for an approach to international student programs that appreciates international students as active, rather than passive, contributors to internationalization.

Publication: Geibel, W. (2019). From Cultural Resources to Public Diplomats. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 10(Winter), 39-45. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v10iWinter.688

A Pedagogy of Student Mobility: Facilitating humanistic outcomes in internationalization and student mobility

Student mobility is often hailed for its contributions to certain student outcomes such as improved international understanding and awareness (i.e. humanistic outcomes). Yet despite the heavy reliance placed upon student mobility to produce these humanistic outcomes, little academic effort has been devoted to how these outcomes are attained and what the role of the university should be in facilitating such outcomes. Far too often, universities rely on a type of magical thinking that assumes humanistic outcomes simply by bringing international students onto their campuses. As a result, shortcomings in student mobility programs persist including social and physical separation of international and domestic students, a lack of interaction between these two groups and even, at times, negative interactions that undermine the goals of these programs. Therefore, in place of magical thinking, this paper presents a pedagogy of student mobility to guide how universities approach international student programs. By conceptualizing student mobility as an educational activity in which the university must play the role of facilitator, the pedagogy borrows from a range of educational theories and tools to put forth four tenets that can assist universities in overcoming current shortcomings and fulfill the potential of student mobility programs.

Publication: Geibel, W. (2020). A Pedagogy of Student Mobility. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 12(Spring), 67-77. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v12iSpring.1271

Understanding How students gain cultural knowledge in Foreign Language Courses

As globalization continues to connect cultures and peoples of the world at faster rates than ever before in human history, there is increased importance in educating students to be aware and understanding global citizens. In response, study abroad programs are exceedingly being seen as the answer: an effective way for students to enhance their cultural understanding. However, less than 10% of all students study abroad during their college careers, leaving a large void that needs to be addressed. One way to begin filling this void is through foreign language courses, which research has shown, can and do play a positive role in shaping students’ understanding of the countries/people of the studied (targeted) language. However, little is known about how participants understand and perceive cultural information in the context of a language classroom. This study investigates how students understand culture in the classroom, what outcomes they see as a result of their cultural exposure ,and how these differ or concur with the intentions of the instructor. Ultimately, this study provides valuable insight into how students are perceiving culture in the classroom and how administrators and educators may begin align instructor intentions and lessons with student perceptions of culture.

Publication: Geibel, W. M., (2021). Cultural learning in a turkish language course: An initial investigation into how college students make meaning of cultural information in the classroom. Journal of Education and Social Sciences Research, 2(1), 13-25.