As part of a longstanding, unique training program facilitated by the Office of International Programs (OIP) in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), the members of the 2024 ACES Global Academy immersed themselves in France where they made connections for future collaborations and found inspiration for lifetime engagement in the global arena.

Ten ACES representatives including OIP Acting Associate Dean Mary Arends-Kuenning and Assistant Director Lauren Karplus managed a robust itinerary of meetings with over 20 French institutions during the two-week experience in June.   

“I now have connections with multiple French researchers, and we have already exchanged some emails. I intend to update them about my research and hope to start some new projects with them in the future,” said participant Courtney Cuthbertson, faculty member in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences.

The itinerary included visits to Paris, Dijon, Montpellier, and Toulouse. 

“At L’Institut AgroDijon, we learned more about food-system policy changes in France and had many researcher-to-researcher meetings in their respective fields. Some of our faculty shared their survey methodologies with French counterparts, initiated discussions about graduate student exchanges, and even served as an invited seminar speaker,” Karplus said.

In addition to nurturing collaborations between ACES researchers and those from the destination country, the ACES Global Academy creates a team environment to build synergies across department lines.

“This group was fantastic at learning from each others’ expertise. I loved listening to them bounce ideas off of each other throughout the trip,” Karplus said.

The faculty members returned with new professional connections, new friends, and many ideas for future endeavors; most agreed it was a defining career experience.

“The unique value of this program is that it gives you time to talk with potential colleagues in a different country in an open-ended way about what you might do together, and you do this in the context of time with potentially new colleagues in your college. Global Academy can remind you of what is sometimes most fun about an academic career, talking with smart, capable people, about how you might work together to learn something new, and potentially solve an important problem,” said participant Matthew Stasiewicz, faculty member in FSHN.

The next Global Academy destination and application process will be announced later this summer.

The members of the 2023-24 Global Academy included:

Shadi Atallah - Agricultural and Consumer Economics

Courtney Cuthbertson - Human Development and Family Studies

Sarah Farley - Extension

Trent Ford - Prairie Research Institute

Aaron Hager - Crop Sciences

Angela Kent - Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

Josie Rudolphi - Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Matt Stasiewicz - Food Science and Human Nutrition 

Some of the French Institutions visited included: 

AgroParis Tech

INRAE Headquarters

Illinois in Paris Program

Zone Sensible Urban Farm

L’Institut Agro Dijon

L’Institut Agro Montpellier

University of Montpellier

School D'ingénieurs De Purpan

Hiphen

CGIAR Headquarters

The ACES Global Academy is made possible through a generous gift from Arlys Conrad. Learn more about the ACES Global Academy.