About the Center for Global Education
Mission Statement
The mission of the Center for Global Education is to provide students with academically challenging off-campus study experiences that foster an in-depth understanding of another culture, with the aim of encouraging them to embrace the concept of global citizenship. Being a responsible, effective citizen of the world involves assuming an active role in one’s own community and in the larger world; it also requires an understanding of the relationship between actions made locally and globally and a commitment to the betterment of people’s lives everywhere. Through our extensive menu of program options, the Center for Global Education strives to provide students with a transformative learning experience that inspires them to lead lives of consequence.
Staff
Kristen Welsh
Dean for Global Education
E-mail: welsh@hws.edu
Kristen is the Dean of Global Education and Associate Professor of Russian Area Studies. She has taught at HWS since 2002. Her role at the Center for Global Education focuses on promoting the internationalization of the HWS community. Kristen works with faculty, members of the Committee on Global Education, and the CGE professional staff to develop off-campus programs and enhance curricular links between campus and our programs abroad. In addition, she works with the provost and members of senior staff to develop policy on international study and travel. She supervises the CGE professional staff and manages the Center’s budget. Kristen also collaborates with international-education counterparts in the New York 6 consortium.
Kristen graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature and Russian Language and Literature. Between college and graduate school, she worked at the Maryland Higher Education Commission as a staff specialist in the Division of Academic Affairs and Planning. She then earned M.A., M.Phil, and Ph.D. degrees in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University. As an undergraduate, Kristen studied at Jesus College Cambridge for one year, completing Part I of the Tripos in Modern and Medieval Languages (French and Russian). As part of her graduate training, she spent several months studying Russian at St. Petersburg (Russia) State University and later completed a seminar at the V.V. Nabokov Museum in St. Petersburg. Her research focuses on Russian-speaking American writers and she has presented her work at international and domestic conferences. Her forthcoming article, “Geocorporeality and the Unbeautiful Body in Contemporary Russian-American Fiction,” will appear in fall 2025. Kristen has also written on language pedagogy. Her article on blended learning in the Russian-language classroom, co-authored with Shannon (Spasova) Quinn of Michigan State University, appears in The Art of Teaching Russian (Georgetown Languages, 2020) and has been cited more than 20 times by other scholars.
As an HWS faculty member, Kristen has directed credit-bearing study-abroad programs in Galway, Ireland; Rome, Italy; Irkutsk and Lake Baikal, Russia; and the Altai Region of Russia. She has also led study tours in Russia to St. Petersburg and Moscow. Kristen is fluent in Russian and has studied Ukrainian, Italian, French, German, Latin, and Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic).
Amy Teel
Director
E-mail: teel@hws.edu
As the programs operations manager at the Center for Global Education, Amy Teel oversees the day-to-day operations of the Colleges’ many programs abroad. She advises students about which programs are the best fit for their particular majors, skills, and long-term objectives. Amy plays a key role in program recruitment, admissions, and pre-departure planning. She also administers the program for incoming international exchange students, assisting with visas, registration, orientation, and cultural adjustment. Amy has worked in higher education since 1984, following completion of a B.A. from Hamilton College and a master’s degree in anthropology and African studies from Northwestern University. A die-hard global nomad, Amy has lived and studied in Israel, London, England, and Khartoum, Sudan in addition to travelling widely on all continents (except Antarctica).
Colleen Kolb
Associate Director
E-mail: kolb@hws.edu
In her role as associate director, Colleen manages a portfolio of semester study abroad programs and all of the CGE’s short-term programs during the summer and J-term (December-January). She works closely with faculty and with partner institutions in designing short-term programs and oversees the student recruitment process. Colleen earned her B.A. in Psychology from Gettysburg College and her M.S.Ed. in Educational Leadership and International Education at Old Dominion University. Colleen believes there is transformative learning potential in every cross-cultural experience; her own passion for global education sprouted during the two years she spent studying and working in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was fortunate enough to live with a Danish family, and became an expert at navigating city bike lanes. Colleen loves discovering more about the world through learning languages and trying new foods. In her free time, Colleen can be found painting scenes of her adventures, hiking in search of the world’s best waterfalls, or sipping tea and reading a good book.
Hannah Mathews
Pre-departure and Re-entry Programming Coordinator
E-mail: hmathews@hws.edu
Hannah works closely with students both before and after they study abroad. She is responsible for developing a variety of innovative programs and activities designed to better prepare students to make the most of their international experiences. In addition, Hannah oversees a wide range of re-entry activities that encourage students returning from abroad to reflect on and remain engaged with the new places and perspectives they encountered and to share their experiences with our campus community. Hannah has a B.A. from Smith College in economics and Italian studies and an M.A. from Syracuse University in art history, focusing on early modern Italy and Venetian trade. Before joining the HWS team, she worked in residential life and spent over two years in Italy studying art and economics in Florence and Milan. In her free time, Hannah enjoys the peace and quiet of a good book and a lot of coffee, as well as indoor rock climbing, photography, and leaving space for unplanned adventures.
Nathan Gemignani
Academic Centers Administrator and Program Coordinator
E-mail: gemignani@hws.edu
Nathan is the Academic Centers Administrator and Programs Coordinator for the Center for Global Education, where he is the first point of contact for students, answering questions about the study abroad application process, completing and submitting required documents, and the general policies that apply to study abroad. He also assists the office with event and meeting logistics and processing application materials. In addition to the Center for Global Education, he works as the Administrative Coordinator at The Centennial Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Prior to HWS, he enjoyed a long career in academic publishing. After taking some time off to be a full-time father, he is thrilled to transition into a role at HWS that allows him to work with students and be part of campus life. Nathan graduated with a double major from the University of Iowa, earning Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Communications. Spending time with his daughters, swimming, hiking, being of service to his community, and playing Civilization II are usually how you will find him spending his free time. Nathan’s favorite trip abroad was to Malta, where he swam in the blue Mediterranean waters, saw the most beautiful floor in the world and Caravaggio’s masterpiece The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist at St. John's Co-Cathedral, and rode the 50s era Leyland buses around the island nation.
Committee on Global Education
The Committee on Global Education (COGE), a sub-committee of the Committee on Academic Affairs (COAA), is comprised of five faculty members appointed by COAA. The Associate Dean for Global Education and representatives of the Hobart and William Smith Deans’ Offices sit ex officio. The committee advises and assists the Center for Global Education on matters relating to academic oversight and program assessment, faculty development initiatives, and policies governing faculty and student participation in off-campus programs.