Expatriate work in higher education

Having experienced it, I am an enthusiastic advocate for international work in higher education. It was transformative for me. Bruce Taylor, an academic who worked abroad for almost 40 years recounts many of the things I valued about expatriate work. He also offers advice on the conditions or circumstances that can improve success in both short or long term work outside one's passport country. Taylor closes his essay with the warning that returning to one's passport country can be daunting, a dynamic I've observed among colleagues and felt myself.

Flipping the expatriate conversation to faculty from other countries that come to the U.S.A., the associate dean of faculty affairs at Sacramento State University described the difficulties that engineering faculty have in adjusting to the culture and expectations they face. Especially when it comes to students' casual approach to classroom encounters with their professors and encountering diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, faculty from other countries may lack the contextual understanding of why the expectations are so different. Providing faculty development in "equity literacy, coupled with pedagogical training on effective and empathetic teach methods" would be a good place to start in helping expatriate faculty in U.S.A. settings.