Global Signature Grant

The CEHD Global Signature Grant supports program initiatives or projects that demonstrate the college’s commitment to global engagement, meaningful relationships, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Individual or group projects are considered, with priority given to projects that are interdisciplinary. CEHD Global Signature Grant projects are exemplars of institutionalized internationalization and global commitments in CEHD. They demonstrate our college’s strength through globally-focused, mission-driven activities.

CEHD International Initiatives is focused on deepening relationships locally and globally. This means listening and responding to the current needs of our global partners. We are committed to fostering meaningful relationships that intentionally work to decolonize international engagement.

The purpose of this grant program is to support and grow global engagement in CEHD. We seek to institutionalize our global focus, creating opportunities to integrate chosen activities into core functions and support projects that need extra funding to begin, continue, or grow their activities. Projects that demonstrate and advance a commitment to reciprocity, collaborative knowledge making, and reimaging researcher-participant relations are of particular interest.

Recipients of the 2023-2024 Global Signature Grant

Katie Johnston-Goodstar

Katie Johnston-Goodstar, Associate Professor at the School of Social Work

Katie Johnston-Goodstar will conduct participatory action research in collaboration with Indigenous youth workers and organizations from the Division of Indian Work (Native Youth Worker Circle), Mentor MN, and the University Y. The research will engage youth workers in culturally sustaining Indigenous youth work programs on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and gain a deeper understanding of culturally-sustaining youth work, including its goals, practices, and outcomes.


Tania Mitchell

Tania Mitchell, Associate Professor of Higher Education

Tania Mitchell will collaborate with the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES) to explore how shifting in sociopolitical contexts in Brazil, as a result of their recent Presidential election, informs the ways that higher education institutions support students’ leaders and community engagement projects. Throughout this study, she will also facilitate a six-week research workshop for UFES colleagues and students emphasizing critical qualitative research methods. Workshops will engage participants in data collection (primarily through interviews and document analysis) focused on community engagement and student leadership experiences in a post-Bolsonaro sociopolitical context.


Macdonald M Metzger

Macdonald M Metzger, Director of Outreach and Engagement Direct Course Quality Coordinator from the Institute on Community Integration

Macdonald M Metzger will facilitate training for Community-based Rehabilitation Facilitators and early career caregivers who provide support for adults and children with developmental disabilities in Kigali, Rwanda. This training of trainers’ project aims to improve participants’ ability to train others on facilitating person with disabilities, increase the availability of needed services and supports to persons with disabilities in rural communities and allows them to live in their own homes while receiving therapeutic, person-centered services and support.

Previous Global Signature Grant Recipients

2015-2016

  • Richard Bamattre, Ferdinand Chipindi, Heidi Eschenbacher, and Frances Vavrus
  • Treden Wagoner, Melissa Falldin, and Thomas Nechodomu
  • Brian Abery and Renáta Tichá
  • Susan Walker

2016-2017

  • Panayiota Kendeou
  • Kelly Nye-Lengerman, Amy Hewitt, Beth Fagan, Mikala Mukongolwa

2017-2018

  • Vichet Chhuon and Cathy Colheim
  • Christopher Johnstone and Tiago Bittencourt

2018-2019

  • Bhaskar Upadhyay
  • Roozbeh Shirazi
  • Macdonald Metzger

2019-2020

  • Rose Vukovic
  • Joseph Rios
  • Elizabeth Sumida Huaman and Frances Vavrus

Brazil Initiative

Michael Rodriguez, Tania Mitchell, Oliver Williams, Vichet Chhuon, Ken Bartlett, Elizabeth Weiling, Muhammad Khalifa, Nimo Abdi, Mary Hermes, and Na’im Madyun

2020-2021

  • Roozbeh Shirazi
  • Vichet Chhuon
  • Barbara Kleit, Amy Hewitt, and Jerry Smith

2021-2022

  • Nina Asher
  • Christopher Johnstone and Matthew Schuelka

2022-2023

  • Meixi
  • Bhaskar Upadhyay and Christopher Johnstone
  • Patricia Shannon

2023-2024

  • Katie Johnston-Goodstar
  • Tania Mitchell
  • Macdonald Metzger