UK International Center announces 2024 Global Impact Award winners

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 11, 2024) — The International Center at the University of Kentucky has announced the 2024 UK Global Impact Award winners.

Recipients comprise faculty, staff, alumni and community members who have significantly contributed to the university’s global engagement through education, research and service, as well those who have fostered a culturally diverse, welcoming environment.

“These individuals are making a wonderful and positive difference with their dedication to helping create a more global University of Kentucky,” said Sue Roberts, associate provost for internationalization. “We are excited to honor their contributions to global engagement at the University of Kentucky.”

This year, awardees are being recognized with Global Impact Awards in six different categories.

International Book Project

The University of Kentucky has awarded the 2024 Community Partner Global Impact Award to the International Book Project. A nonprofit organization based in Lexington, and with a global reach, International Book Project believes “books change lives.” 

The organization’s mission is to develop lasting partnerships with underserved communities to provide books, promote literacy and advance economic opportunity. They serve communities throughout Kentucky, across the country and around the globe. The books shipped by the International Book Project are individually curated to the requests of partners and range from a few dozen books to shipping containers of more than 30,000 books for libraries and schools. In Central Kentucky, International Book Project provides resources to Habitat for Humanity, Kentucky Refugee Ministries, God’s Pantry, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, Family Resource Centers, local prisons and many others. Since the organization’s founding in 1966, International Book Project has shipped nearly 8 million books to 168 countries.

Over the years, the International Book Project has partnered with the University of Kentucky to provide volunteer opportunities for both international and domestic students, and, notably, in 2019 the organization partnered with UK to ship several hundred textbooks in basic science and public health to the University of Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia.

Takako Komiyama

The 2024 Alumni Global Impact Award recognizes the outstanding career and achievements of Takako Komiyama, Pharm.D. Komiyama received her Bachelor of Science in pharmacy and Master of Science in clinical pharmacy at the Kitasato University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, then began her academic career as a research assistant of the Clinical Pharmacy Laboratory at the Kitasato University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1978. Komiyama was very keen to study in the U.S. to obtain advanced clinical pharmacy education when she was a full-time lecturer at Kitasato University. She was admitted to the post-BS Pharm.D. program at the UK College of Pharmacy and received her Doctor of Pharmacy in 1987. 

Komiyama has been a force in revolutionizing clinical pharmacy and teaching in Japan. Following in her footsteps, seven Kitasato University graduates have obtained pharmacy degrees from UK. One returned to Kitasato University as faculty, while others have accepted faculty positions in Japan and the United States. Subsequently, many of the innovative programs she and her students learned about during their long- and short-term training at UK have been incorporated into pharmacy practice at Kitasato University and throughout Japan. 

Michael McGlue

Michael McGlue, Ph.D., has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Global Impact Award for Distinguished Faculty Achievements in International Research and Scholarship. McGlue is Pioneer Natural Resources professor of stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental analysis in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. He holds a Bachelor of Science in geology from Washington and Lee University, a Master of Science in earth science from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in geosciences from the University of Arizona. Prior to joining UK, he worked as a Mendenhall Post-Doctoral Fellow at the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado.

McGlue’s work on questions relating to geological records of environmental change, lakes/wetlands and conservation has resulted in significant advances. Much research carried out by McGlue is conducted outside the U.S., such as at Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania and Zambia (Africa), the Pantanal wetlands (western Brazil) and the Lower Amazon River (northern Brazil). These activities are only possible through international cooperation with researchers and stakeholders and McGlue has maintained decades-long relationships with many international research groups. He gives regular workshops to local early-career students in Brazil and Africa that guide them in examining environmental change. His research network has grown since he was named a National Geographic Explorer in 2015. McGlue won two Geoscientists Without Borders grants totaling $181,000 to complete work in East Africa, first in Tanzania and more recently in Zambia. He also has won major research funding for his international collaborative research from the NSF, recently through its “Biodiversity on a Changing Planet” program. This international transdisciplinary effort addresses major challenges related to climate change. This five-year project was awarded nearly $2.5 million and will help build capacity for further work.

Hartley Feld

The 2024 Global Impact Award for Distinguished Faculty Achievements in Education Abroad recognizes the outstanding efforts of Hartley Feld, Ph.D., associate professor in the UK College of Nursing. Feld received her doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky in 2018 as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar. Feld also received her master’s degree from UK in 2007 in community and public health nursing. She is ANCC board certified as a public health clinical nurse specialist and a fellow in the Center for Inter-Professional Education. Feld is currently a BIRCWH scholar (Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health) funded by the National Institutes of Health, a mentored award where her research is focused on reproductive and perinatal health equity and harm reduction for people with a substance use disorder. In addition to her BIRCWH funded research, she has expertise and interest in upstream determinants of Maternal and Child Health, global health, social and structural determinants of health, gender-based violence, recovery capital and health equity. She is also an active member of the Perinatal Research and Wellness Center team and serves on the Lexington-Fayette County Board of Health.

Feld is also co-chair of the College of Nursing’s Global Affairs Council focusing on student engagement in global health. She co-leads UK’s Inter-professional Global Health course every spring, enrolling students across the health colleges and from UK’s partner universities in Quito, Ecuador. Feld has been leading inter-professional service-learning experiences to Santo Domingo, Ecuador, as part of Shoulder to Shoulder Global since 2009. She also creates and promotes numerous global learning opportunities for nursing students through Education Abroad. 

Ellie Holliday

Ellie Holliday, Ph.D., lecturer in the College of Education, is recognized with the 2024 Global Impact Award for Distinguished Faculty Achievements in Internationalizing the Curriculum, for her ongoing efforts to develop global competence among the UK student population. 

Holliday joined the College of Education as a lecturer and coordinator of international initiatives in 2014. She currently serves as a lecturer and director of Undergraduate Global Learning Initiatives for the College of Education. Holliday earned her Bachelor of Arts in international studies from the University of Kentucky, her Master of Arts in diplomacy and international commerce from the Patterson School at UK, and her Ph.D. in educational leadership studies from UK’s College of Education. She is the director of the college’s Overseas Student Teaching program and directs the undergraduate certificate in Globally Competent Teaching, an initiative that Holliday was instrumental in developing. 

During Holliday’s time in the College of Education, she has taught and co-taught multiple undergraduate courses centered around global learning, education abroad and international teaching. Her courses prioritize curricular internationalization and student-centric instruction. As an active member of the university’s International Advisory Council last year, Holliday led a team that drafted a definition of global learning and a set of associated learning objectives.  

Tiffany Williams

Tiffany Williams of the College of Arts and Sciences received the 2024 Global Impact Award for Distinguished Staff Achievements in Campus Internationalization. Williams serves as both the assistant director at the Center for English as a Second Language and international undergraduate student coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina Asheville in Spanish language and literature.

Williams manages administration of the English language programs, while also recruiting and advising international students from partner universities throughout the world. In Williams’ role, she also promotes education abroad in the College of Arts and Sciences. Williams consults with faculty, directors of undergraduate study, Education Abroad staff, academic advisors and others to support and promote education abroad. In addition, she works with UK Philanthropy to identify ways to make education abroad more affordable for students.

Williams has been with the College of Arts and Sciences since 2018, beginning as an English language instructor, where she developed a New Student Orientation that continues to be used today. She has taught English at other universities, including the esteemed LADO International Institute, in Washington, D.C., where she was trained, and for multiple governmental contracts abroad. She has also worked as a Spanish/English interpreter in Spain, Costa Rica and Kentucky. Williams studied abroad in Cordoba, Argentina, in 2005, and she worked as an intern for the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, in Washington, D.C., in 2006. These experiences further instilled in her an international perspective that inspires her work today.

About the UK Global Impact Awards

The Global Impact Awards were established in 2020 to recognize, highlight and celebrate the wide range of global engagement activities undertaken by UK faculty, staff and alumni.

Nominees for the various award categories are reviewed by the International Advisory Committee and receive additional review from campus stakeholders, such as the Staff Senate.

The 2024 recipients will be recognized at an event on Oct. 2.

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Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Number 2224886. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K12DA035150. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.