From left to right: Judy Tung, Adam Jackson, Jin Yan, Iris Cao, Stephen Zhou
Please, let us introduce ourselves as the GLI Executive Board for 2014-2015 and show off some of our cool “swag” (aka GLI goodie bags)
VP of Public Relations: Judy Tung
VP of Marketing: Stephen Zhou
VP of Communications: Iris Cao
VP of Operations: Adam Jackson
VP of Finance: Jin Yan
Name: Judy Tung, VP of Public Relations
Year: Senior
Major: Human Resources Minor: Chinese
Hometown: Pickerington, OH
Interests/Hobbies/Any fun facts: I like to take long walks on the beach … no just kidding! I do enjoy long runs though, especially outside with nature! Traveling is also a hobby, whether that’s to one of the fifty in the U.S. or in another country!
Why is internationalization at Ohio State important to you?
It’s very important to me because I see myself learning and making amazing friends from all sorts of different cultures and want to share that with everyone. Many people look at differences only and ignore how much commonalities we actually have. I want to challenge others and learn how fascinating and big this world is. What better way to do that than right here on campus at Ohio State?
How does GLI prepare you to become a future leader in our global community?
GLI really seeks to take leadership skills students already have, mix the global aspect into it, and have them share that with others. The ultimate goal? To have more people eventually become global leaders themselves.
How would other students benefit from programs like GLI?
This is a great program for any leaders seeking to learn and start off or continue their journey on integrating global aspects in whatever they do. If you are asking questions such as, Why is there this disconnect on campus between international and domestic students? or How do I make friends with other students from all over the world and establish lasting relationships to make an impact in this world? we encourage you to come out to our potluck dinner at the end of the semester and apply for the GLI cohort in 2015-2016 🙂
What are you most looking forward to about your upcoming year with GLI?
I’m so excited and energized by the thought of all these passionate students wanting to make a change, go out of their comfort zones, and challenge people to see the beauty of a global community. The curiosity each leader brings in gets me fueled for the things we will accomplish this upcoming year in GLI ~ stay tuned for more!
Name: Stephen (JingAn) Zhou, VP of Marketing
Year: Senior
Major: Marketing Minor: Design
Hometown: Yantai, China
Fun facts: I am a twin!
Why is internationalization at Ohio State important to you?
From the business perspective, there are so many international business opportunities out there that need to be discovered and executed. Often time what hold us back might not be the geography location or language barrier, but how we perceive each other and understand each other’s culture. An internationalized campus will definitely help us build this global mindset so that we will be well prepared to tackle on opportunities and issues that globalization has brought.
How does GLI prepare you to become a future leader in our global community?
What I appreciate about my experience with GLI last year was that it put me into the situation where I have to get out of my comfort zone to meet this diverse group of students and university leaders from whom I learned a great deal. It was a little bit bitter at the beginning, but getting sweet eventually.
How would other students benefit from programs like GLI?
I think what makes GLI unique is that it creates this platform for both international students and domestic students not only to build long-term friendship, but more importantly, to gain skills and knowledge that they could use in their future career development.
What are you most looking forward to about your upcoming year with GLI?
As one of the executive board members, I really look forward to seeing our current cohort at the final banquet sharing their stories of their GLI experience and accomplishments.
Name: Iris (Mengya) Cao, VP of Communications
Year: Junior
Majors: Marketing and Logistics Management Minor: Organizational Communication
Hometown: Xuzhou, China
Interests/Hobbies/Any fun facts:
I really enjoy collecting thoughts and inspirations in life. Traveling, aerobics and learning through books and practices also spark my interest.
Why is internationalization at Ohio State important to you?
The world is getting more connected. Being able to interact with people of different background in college means stepping closer everyday to better understand the world around us.
How does GLI prepare you to become a future leader in our global community?
GLI aims to provide a comprehensive experience for members to improve leadership abilities within a cultural context. It is crucial for me personally to keep the knowledge and skills in use to inspire and empower more people.
How would other students benefit from programs like GLI?
The great thing about GLI is that by having an experience with a diverse cohort, members will be able to develop professional leadership skills and intercultural awareness and most importantly grow to become better communicators to the world who are capable of understanding cultural differences and adapting to different environments.
What are you most looking forward to about your upcoming year with GLI?
I am more than excited to grow along with the cohort this year. I definitely want our members to get the most out of our program by achieving their goals envisioned, and making GLI one of their most valuable and memorable experiences in college.
Name: Adam Jackson, VP of Operations
Year: Junior
Major: Marketing Minor: Public Health
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Interests/Hobbies/Any fun facts: photography, travel, philosophy, basketball, soccer, meditation. Fun fact: I’m half Filipino, half Caucasian.
Why is internationalization at Ohio State important to you?
Internationalization at Ohio State is important to me because I believe a crucial part of the college experience should focus on opening students minds to new ideas and cultures. What better way to foster that experience than by promoting global citizenship on campus. With current students coming from all around the world and alumni making an impact globally, internationalization is more important today than ever before.
How does GLI prepare you to become a future leader in our global community?
With GLI being comprised of half international and half domestic students, it provides a unique cross-cultural atmosphere for learning and collaboration. As a cohort, we are forced to break down cultural barriers to achieve a greater goal. It’s this type of collaboration that really differentiates a leader from a global leader.
How would other students benefit from programs like GLI?
From the start, students would benefit from building close friendships with other students from around the globe. Additionally, students get the opportunity to develop their leadership, communication, and networking skills; lastly, students will have the chance to use those skills to achieve a greater goal as a team.
What are you most looking forward to about your upcoming year with GLI?
I’m looking forward to applying the leadership skills we developed as a cohort to initiate change on campus.
Name: Jin Yan, VP of Finance
Year: Junior
Major: Accounting Minor: Economics
Hometown: Shanghai, China
Interests: Jogging; Traveling; Music; Photography
Why is internationalization at Ohio State important to you?
Each year, there are over 1,600 international students and scholars come to the Ohio State. As I see, “Internationalization” is already an essential part of the university. Our international students make our campus and the community more diverse. Both of our domestics students and international students have a lot of opportunities to work together through class projects, student organizations, social events, etc., and they can learn from people with different culture background without leaving Columbus! Besides school, having a global/international mindset is also very important to our future career. More and more companies are going global, so there will be a great chance for us to work with people from different backgrounds. If we already have such experience in college, we will do a better job when we start our career.
How does GLI prepare you to become a future leader in our global community?
GLI is designed to prepare OSU undergraduate student to “foster global citizenship awareness, enhance their strengths in various cultural contexts in order to become successful leaders in the global community”. Through our weekly meetings and monthly dinners , I have a lot of opportunities to meet people having global working experience, and I get to know their personal and professional experience. Moreover, GLI also has group cultural presentations in the second half program which not only help me learn various topics under different culture background, such as “family and relationships”, “Food and dinning etiquette”, etc, but also practice team work and public speaking skills.
How would other students benefit from programs like GLI?
GLI members will have a lot of opportunities to network with people having global experience, and really get to foster a global mindset. During the whole program, members will build life-long friendship with others through different events and meetings.
What are you most looking forward to about your upcoming year with GLI?
I want to put every effort on making GLI a better program–a program that really benefits all of our members and makes them aware of the importance of having a global mindset. I also want to get to each of our GLI new members and build lifelong friendship with them!