Amidst Looming Uncertainty, Sustaining Inspiration at the Global Ties U.S. 2025 National Meeting, by Dr. Sherry Mueller
First, special thanks to PDCA members Barb Keller, Karen Walker, PhD, and Quentin Lide, PDCA’s Treasurer, who joined me at the PDCA Table at the Global Resource Fair. We had opportunities to spread the word about the benefits of PDCA membership to many colleagues from beyond the Beltway who approached our table. I’m also grateful to Gabby Stall, our PDCA Hans “Tom” Tuch Graduate Fellow, who assembled supplies, including this recruitment flyer. I encourage all readers to share this document when they encounter a potential member.
One of the luncheon plenaries featuring alumni of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) was particularly heartening. Alumna Bianka Siwinska, PhD, from Poland won the Social Innovation and Change Award. She participated in a 2015 Multiregional Project that focused on Woman in STEM. She described her experience as “really transformative and empowering for me.” She invited a NASA rep she met on the trip to come to Poland and started a series of annual conferences on Women in STEM in 2018. Approximately 2500 people attend her first conference. More than 12,000 attended the 2024 conference she organized. She expects even more participants at the June 4–5 Career Fairs for Women in Tech in Europe later this year in Warsaw.
IVLP alumnus 2016, Christian Achalehe, from Cameroon, was another award winner. Inspired by NGO leaders he met in Los Angeles, his visit to Home Boys Industries evolved into establishing an NGO in his home country that focuses on reducing violence and rehabilitating prisoners. Both emphasized that “the IVLP works.” Christian articulated what was the underlying takeaway of the Global Ties U.S. National Meeting when he asserted: “We need to keep up our efforts to make the world a better place.”Another colleague commented that participating in the National Meeting “restored my faith in the human connection.” Yet another remarked that, “it was a joy to meet people who really care about each other and the work that they do.”
The Global Ties U.S. (GTUS) network, including eight program agencies and 80 community-based member organizations throughout the United States, serves as the private sector partner to the U.S. Department of State for the administration of the IVLP. It is also a partner organization to PDCA. Hats off to Amy Storrow, Director of the Office of International Visitors in ECA, and GTUS President Katherine Brown, PhD, and their staff members who worked so diligently to make this annual meeting particularly productive.
Dr. Mueller is former Co-President of PDCA and serves on the Global Ties Advisory Council.