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2025 GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

Bamford Fellowship in Global Engagement presentation by recipient Whitney Lopez

[L-R] Chancellor Dr. Sheila Edwards Lange with AVC Dr. Divya McMillin and Keynote speaker Dr. Ciara O'Connell

Lunch poster session

2025 Graduates and Presenters of the Global Honors Program with VIP Speakers and IIGE Staff

Lunch poster session

Program Coordinator Maria Babko with GID Lab Interns [L-R] Jack Cheung and Káren Bedoya Álvarez

Lunch
We thank all who made the conference a great success!
UW Tacoma Campus Leadership, Keynote Speakers, Student Presenters and Faculty Advisers, Student Volunteers, Panel Moderators, Conference Respondents, Media Services, Office of Advancement Marketing and Communications, Office of Events and Conferences, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, UW Tacoma Copy Center, Office of Global Affairs, Global Honors Faculty and Capstone Faculty Advisers, IIGE Faculty Council and Executive Committees, IIGE Community Advisory Board & Innovation Action Network, Integrated Facilities Management, Campus Safety, ALL who attended, and last but not least, the IIGE team!
The 6th Annual Global Engagement Conference on May 21 was a tremendous success with over 200 attendees, including over 50 undergraduates from four area colleges and universities presenting research and projects connected to the theme: "INNOVATION ACROSS BORDERS."
Keynote Address
Dr. Ciara O'Connell (Principal Officer, Criminal Policy, Ireland Department of Justice | Global Honors ‘09) delivered the conference keynote, "Global Rights, Local Lives: Prioritizing People for Meaningful Change."
Dr. O'Connell's far-reaching work in prison reform, using human-centered design to understand prisoner experience of online court trials, for example, brought important lessons for the rapt audience: question when innovation engenders harm through technology, understand when silence and listening can bring about change, and keep building relationships to open doors.
Dr. O'Connell is an expert in international human rights law, with degrees from the University of Sussex (PhD, 2017), the Irish Centre for Human Rights (LLM, 2010), and University of Washington Tacoma (IAS and Global Honors, 2009).She is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. She has published widely on various human rights-related areas such as deprivation of liberty, gender, and human rights, and has conducted field research in countries across Latin America, Africa, and Europe.
Opening Remarks
Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange commended the Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement in her opening remarks, calling it "a bedrock of our University’s commitment to interdisciplinary teaching and learning."
She noted: “We live in an age of heightened mistrust and conflict across the globe... Climate change, public health, human rights, and income inequality hold no regard for arbitrary lines between countries, communities, or academic disciplines. I am deeply inspired by today’s program, which features themes selected by UW Tacoma students and faculty who embody the collaborative spirit of this event.”
Student Presentations
Student presentations on Health and Human Rights, Climate Change and Globalization, Innovation and Design, and Care and Community were top-notch, with community members and faculty serving as Respondents and Moderators.
The Global Engagement Conference is UW Tacoma's regional showcase of student research and experiential learning in global topics.
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