The UF International Center announces award winners within the EduGator community.
Innovations in education are often products of internationally collaborative efforts that have far-reaching impacts across the globe. The UF International Center (UFIC) supports the UF community in fostering international understanding and working to build a brighter future for the world. In celebration of International Education Week, the UFIC has announced several 2024 Global Awardees within the College of Education.
With research dedicated to advancing AI and stealth assessment in education, Seyedahmad Rahimi, Ph.D., aims to push the boundaries of knowledge and create practical solutions that can be implemented in educational institutions worldwide. The assistant professor of educational technology was honored with a 2024 International Educator Award after receiving support for his nomination from his program director, Alyson Adams, Ph.D., and his Ph.D. student, Salah Esmaeiligoujar. Rahimi highlights networking as paramount to fostering global educational excellence and collaboration.
Seyedahmad Rahimi, Ph.D.
“As a Ph.D. student, I started networking. I often tell my students that you don’t have to wait until your future career begins to start networking – you can start now, and you don’t have to limit yourself to the people within these walls,” Rahimi said. “It’s crucial for any academic to expand their network beyond the college, beyond the university, beyond the nation, and expand that reach globally. I’ve focused on building those relationships for several years, and being recognized for it is very special.”
In addition to Rahimi, several others from the college were celebrated as part of UFIC’s 2024 Global Awardees.
Larisa Olesova, Ph.D., and David Herman, Ph.D., were honored as Global Learning Institute Awardees in support of course internationalization efforts. The Global Learning Institute is a semester-long program where faculty learn about internationalization models, campus resources, and teaching methods to support global learning.
Olesova and Herman also received UFIC’s Intercultural Leadership Institute Awards along with Swapna Kumar, Ed.D. The Intercultural Leadership Institute is a semester-long professional development program that helps faculty and staff develop intercultural competence and learn how to design and facilitate intercultural learning.
An assistant professor in the educational technology program, Olesova credits both the Global Learning and the Intercultural Leadership Institutes with expanding her research outlook through their emphasis on aligning projects around global perspectives and goals – a strategy she sees as particularly valuable in rapidly advancing fields like AI and technology development.
“Prior to this experience, my focus was narrowed to a local context, but we live in a society where we are interacting in more and more multicultural and multilingual groups,” Olesova explained. “Exploring our work through different perspectives provides additional contexts for us to consider that ultimately bolster our global impact.”
Olesova is moving forward with putting these new perspectives into practice and was recognized as a member of UFIC’s 2025 Global Fellows. The Global Fellows Program Award helps early-career UF faculty kick-start an international research program. A series of workshops and training sessions, along with a seed grant of $5,000, provides fellows an opportunity to lay the groundwork for an international research project.
Among those recognized for UFIC’s Designing Virtual Exchange was Tiffany Aaron, Ph.D. This online program helps faculty design and incorporate virtual international content and communication activities into existing courses. Through virtual exchange, students can connect with peers abroad to collaborate on assignments, acquire global perspectives on a given discipline, and develop intercultural competence skills.
Students from the college were also recognized for distinguishing themselves by their exemplary academic achievements and a wide range of accomplishments and contributions to UF. Recipients of the 2024 International Student Achievement Awards were:
- Outstanding Post-Graduate: Ri Ayat Ainul Bashirah
- Outstanding Undergraduate: Edgar Martirosyan
With the help of these remarkable international award winners, the College of Education is actively enhancing education on a global scale. Rahimi agrees, asserting that an international focus is vital in elevating the innovative research being done at the university.
“Internationalization has tangible benefits like bringing students to our programs and forming collaborations with faculty around the world,” Rahimi said. “We have to be active in advocating for what we do, and bringing our work to a global audience ensures that we are leading the charge in our field worldwide.”
Internationally Known
The College of Education is proud to further its international focus by developing its own faculty-led study abroad program. Pioneered by Tara Mathien, Ed.D., this program partners with Universidad San Francisco de Quito to provide students with a transformative experience in Ecuador as they deepen their international understanding in Quito and the Galapagos. The first-of-its-kind program for the college was recently announced as a finalist for this year’s Award for Excellence in Education Abroad Curriculum Design from The Forum on Education Abroad.
“Being a finalist for this award really highlights the excellence that is evidenced through the quality embedded in all of the experiential and service learning found in this program,” Mathien said. “Participants will get to experience a program that is not only life-changing in personal ways but also rigorous and intentionally designed to enhance growth and capacity of cultural sustaining practices.”
The program is currently accepting applications from undergraduates interested in participating in the immersive six-week experience for Summer A 2025. Learn more about EduGators in Ecuador!
