APLU honors Virginia Tech for advancing global teaching and learning
Virginia Tech’s innovative approach to embedding global and intercultural learning into every layer of teaching and curriculum has earned international recognition from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
The university received APLU’s 2025 International Impact Award for its initiative to help faculty universitywide bring global perspectives into their teaching, open new pathways for international and virtual collaborations, and prepare students to become globally engaged citizens in an interconnected world.
The award recognizes institutions that demonstrate widespread global engagement, strong leadership commitment, and clear methods for assessing participation and impact — areas in which Virginia Tech has excelled by empowering students, faculty, and staff and building structures that reach across the university.
Virginia Tech President Tim Sands emphasized the shared effort behind the achievement.
“Thank you to APLU for honoring us with this award and advancing global engagement,” he said. “I deeply appreciate the faculty, staff, and students across our university who are collaborating with their peers and partners around the world to take on global challenges that impact us all.”
That collaborative spirit is evident in the global network supporting the university’s efforts. Units such as the Global Education Office (GEO) and the Steger Center for International Scholarship — both part of Outreach and International Affairs — partner closely with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS), and academic colleges such as the Pamplin College of Business.
In announcing the award, APLU cited the university’s leadership in broadening global learning opportunities and integrating them across disciplines. A central example is the Global Teaching Scholars initiative, hosted at the Steger Center in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland. This place-based faculty development program helps instructors design high-impact international courses, integrate local contexts into global challenges, and connect study abroad opportunities with on-campus teaching. More than 65 faculty members have participated to date, collaborating with peers in Switzerland, Ecuador, and beyond.
“These efforts illustrate how Virginia Tech is reimagining what global education looks like for a land-grant university,” said Sara Steinert Borella, executive director of the Steger Center. “We’re building a culture where global engagement emerges as a shared responsibility — one that begins in our classrooms and extends across communities and continents.”
The Global Teaching Scholars program has also sparked a wave of new initiatives, including Collaborative Online International Learning modules, co-taught international courses, and expanded faculty-led study abroad programs. To open more opportunities for STEM students, who often face scheduling hurdles that make study abroad difficult, the Steger Center launched a monthlong summer program called Pathways to the Steger Center. The program enables students to complete general-education requirements while engaging in immersive, place-based learning without delaying graduation.
Pamplin offers another model for universitywide global engagement. Its Global Business Perspectives program, also based at the Steger Center, removes financial barriers by covering all student costs — including passports — for participants. Students meet with business leaders and government officials in Switzerland and Italy while developing projects that explore global markets, culture, and sustainability. Back in Blacksburg, Pamplin’s Global Mentor Program pairs international and domestic students to foster belonging and cross-cultural understanding.
“Collaboration across units, together with deep commitment to our goal of engaging our students with the world, has been key to our success,” said Theresa Johansson, director of the Global Education Office. “By connecting the extraordinary individual expertise found in GEO, CETL, TLOS, and our academic partners, we’ve created an ecosystem that supports faculty innovation and helps students see themselves as part of a global community.”
