Hobart and William Smith Colleges

1 October 2024 • Faculty Global Education: Past, Present and Future By Andrew Wickenden '09

At the latest President’s Forum, HWS celebrated 50 years of study abroad programming and announced a new fund in honor of retiring Dean of Global Education Tom D’Agostino.

Hobart and William Smith celebrated half a century of global education during a recent President’s Forum, which traced the growth and impact of study abroad programming over the past 50 years and reflected on the future of the HWS Center for Global Education.

“Milestones like this are important because they give us a chance to in some way speak to pride points,” President Mark D. Gearan said, noting that global education has become “a defining part of our students’ experience…and our culture on campus,” with more 60 percent of students studying abroad.

Dean of Global Education Tom D’Agostino, who has led study abroad programming since 2000 and will retire at the end of the fall semester, joined Gearan on stage for a conversation about the ways study abroad at HWS has developed into a national model.

“One of the great things we have as a small institution is the dexterity and flexibility to try new things. We have so many faculty members who have great, innovative ideas for courses and programs they’d like to develop and we’re able to work with them to make them happen,” D’Agostino said. “It’s really a campus-wide effort. We’re successful to the extent that we build good relationships with offices and faculty across campus, and I think maintaining and building on that will be key going forward.”

The event also included a virtual check-in with faculty and students studying abroad in Australia and Ireland, and a conversation with students and alumni who have studied abroad.

Joining Gearan on stage were Jane Erickson ’07, Kisean Jones ’25, Oliver Meeker ’09, Annabel Ramsay ’25 and Alberto García de la Puente Stanley ’25. Each of the panelists reflected on the ways international education has impacted their academic interests and perspectives on the world. A common theme was the transformative relationships that develop while studying abroad — between individuals, between cultures, between history and the future, between classroom learning and skills that translate into the wider world.

As Erickson noted, studying abroad instills “a sense of reverence for place and…building authentic relationships with other people to help make that place better.”

D’Agostino also emphasized students’ deep engagement in the places where they study and the experiences that they “bring back to Geneva…and share with the campus community.” He noted that the Center for Global Education’s support systems — defined as “pre-departure and reentry programming that we focused a lot on and we’ve received various accolades for” — yield “much deeper and more profound experiences.”

Looking toward the future of global education, D’Agostino said, HWS is “on a great trajectory” and “well positioned to evolve our program menu and our programming as our curriculum changes.”

In honor of D’Agostino’s leadership, the Thomas J. D’Agostino Annual Global Education Fund was announced during the President’s Forum event. The fund will support grants to cover students’ airfare, housing, research and other out-of-pocket expenses associated with studying abroad. The fundraising efforts were organized by the HWS Annual Fund and championed by Professors of International Relations Kevin Dunn and Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Dean Lisa Kaenzig and Associate Professor of Russian Studies Kristen Welsh.

“Thanks to the generosity of many, this fund will allow for important support to students,” Gearan said, underscoring the campus’ “collective gratitude” for D’Agostino’s work and the intent to continue his legacy in part through this fund.

The event marked the release of a special issue of the Center for Global Education’s journal, The Aleph: a journal of global perspectives, celebrating D’Agostino’s career at HWS, which included more than 100 pages of reflections about D’Agostino from alumni, faculty and staff, both at HWS and elsewhere around the world. The “D’Agostino,” as the special issue is called, was compiled and designed by Dunn; Doug Reilly, who served as the Pre-departure and Re-entry Programming Coordinator at the Center for Global Education from 2001 to 2016; and D’Agostino’s daughter, Andie D’Agostino ’15, who works in the global education office at Swarthmore College.

The evening also featured a special video exploring the origins of global education programming at HWS, which began in the spring of 1975, when Professor Emerita of Art History Elena Ciletti and 29 students spent 10 weeks exploring the art of Venice, Florence and Rome. In the video, Ciletti and Neil Sjoblom ’75, who participated in that initial abroad program, joined Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology Ervin Kosta and Natalie Sandoval ’25, who were part of last semester’s program in Rome. The video includes images from the dozens of locations where students study and reflections from D’Agostino about the wide-ranging impacts of the programs on students’ academics, career opportunities and perspectives on the world. Watch the video below.

For two consecutive years, in 2017 and 2018, the Princeton Review ranked HWS as having the top study abroad program in the entire country. In 2010, HWS won the Simon Award for Campus Internationalization by the National Association of Foreign Student Affairs. HWS has been recognized as a “Top Producer” for both the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship program and the U.S. Fulbright Program. Between 2005 and 2024, 49 HWS students were awarded Fulbright Scholarships — all of them having participated in a study abroad program. More than 90 HWS students have won the national Gilman scholarship over the past 20 years.

Learn more about the Center for Global Education and HWS’ legacy of outstanding study abroad experiences.

Established in 2000 by President Gearan, the President's Forum brings a variety of speakers to campus to share their knowledge and ideas with students, faculty and staff, as well as with interested community members.

Pictured above, Oliver Meeker ’09, Jane Erickson ’07, Alberto García de la Puente Stanley ’25, Kisean Jones ’25, and Annabel Ramsay ’25 discuss their Study Abroad experiences during the President’s Forum celebrating 50 years of international education at HWS.