Dear Alumni and members of the International Studies Program:

Welcome to a new academic year! I am honored and excited to start this new role as Director of the International Studies Program to keep improving the excellent work done by my predecessor, Dr. Kelly McMann. One of my main goals will be to build upon the foundation established by Dr. McMann and to grow the program to make it one of the most robust in the country. I come to this position with a long trajectory of international expertise (as you may see on my webpage), and I look forward to translating that background into a fruitful experience of which you are a central component.

We are writing to you now because you are the living proof of what our program can achieve, but also because with your help and feedback, we can reach our future goals. As we emerge from the nightmare of the COVID pandemic, our current students are eager to keep exploring the world and the global interactions first–hand. Given the convulse times that we are living, it is more important than ever to establish meaningful and more informed decisions about the future of our planet and humanity as a whole.

The International Studies program is fundamental to forming the next generations of leaders and decision-makers. With that in mind, we are putting together different events for this coming academic year. This letter wants to be an invitation for all of you to participate in them.

Also, as you may well know, one of the fundamental distinctive features of our program is the practicum that our students must complete before their senior year. Students currently rely on winning research and internship grants in CWRU competitions to fund their practicums. We hope to be able to financially support these requirements by raising funds devoted exclusively to this part of the program.

With more than 60 majors per year, and a family of over 350 alumni, our program has all the potential to become a national referent and an attractive option for future students. With the guidance, support, and mentoring of outstanding alumni like you, we can keep moving forward to prepare the leaders of a more interconnected, just, and responsible world.

Damaris Puñales-Alpízar, Ph.D.

Director of the International Studies Program

Case Western Reserve University