When Stacy Kosko arrived to UMD’s campus in 2012, a new program that would set the tone for her career was taking shape behind the scenes. Back then, the idea of a virtual, international exchange was a foreign concept.
Launched in 2014, Global Classrooms celebrates its tenth year on campus, boasting over 70 courses taught and over a thousand students as alumni. Now recognized by the university as an essential program, the initiative provides students with the opportunity to work alongside peers from partner universities on real-world projects that directly address pressing global issues. They chose Stacy to run the first course.
From drafting inclusive reproductive legislation in Brazil, to war memorial site proposals in Ukraine, finding new approaches to national security with Afghanistan and more—students have countless opportunities to make a positive impact while gaining valuable professional experience.
“You get to work and learn alongside students who are different from you. That's a really valuable experience that can only help you in an integrated global learning environment and an integrated global working environment,” said Kosko. “What a global classrooms course does is it allows the students to come out and say, ‘You know what? I'm ready for the international workforce.’”
Kosko's course, 'International Development and Conflict Management,' has successfully run 27 times in partnership with various institutions in the Netherlands, Israel, and Ireland. This course serves as a gateway to the International Development and Conflict Management minor while also equipping students with transferable project management skills applicable to a wide range of fields, including politics, non-profit work, and even the arts.
“One year I had a guest speaker come in to talk about how you design the production for a broadway show. He and I worked through the design cycle, nobody would connect Broadway and development, but the process is exactly the same,” said Kosko, and continued, “So often students will come back to me and say, ‘Your class is what got me my job’, because they could hit the ground running on a results-based framework.”
Reflecting on the program’s impact, Global Learning Initiatives Director Raluca Nahorniac noted, “Global classrooms has gotten people used to the idea that global learning can be achieved even if students stay in their own homes. When I say ‘people’, I mean students, faculty, staff, academic leadership even—it’s a great way to support internationalization at home,”
This hard-won credibility now given to virtual exchange is driven by veteran faculty like Kosko, who was most recently awarded the inaugural Outstanding Global Classrooms Award in 2024, recognizing her long-term commitment to the program.
“Stacy, we confer this award on you, not only because of your role in starting the success of GCI, but because of your dedication to students and generosity as a peer…you are a guiding star of Global Classrooms,” noted Associate Vice President for International Affairs Ross D. Lewin in his announcement.
As Global Classrooms continues to evolve, Kosko looks forward to finding new approaches to foster collaboration between students and partners around the world, and opportunities for improvement along the way.