Monday, 21 September 2020 – 10:51am
Interview with Shannon Hutcheson – Journey into International Higher Education. [Part 1]
Hello, my name is Chris Dietzel and I serve as the Coordinator for External Relations on the CGDSD Directorate Board. Through this role, I liaise with international organizations who, like ACPA, work in the field of higher education and student affairs.
As I am based out of Montreal, Quebec, my focus is on collaborating with Canadian groups and individuals, though I have also worked with colleagues from around the world.
One colleague who I have had the pleasure of working with over the past few years is Shannon Hutcheson. Shannon is a PhD candidate at McGill University where she researches issues that international students experience while at university. For this blog post, I interviewed Shannon about her work and how it relates to international student affairs in higher education.
Chris: Hello Shannon. Thank you for doing this interview.
Shannon: It’s a pleasure. I’m happy to chat.
Chris: Great. To begin, can you please tell us about yourself?
Shannon: My friends would probably call me a well-socialized nerd, and I take that as a compliment. I grew up in Toledo, Ohio, moved to Minneapolis for graduate studies in educational psychology, spent some time in France working in education (Study abroad advising, ESL instruction, and consultation), and now I’ve found myself in Montreal on a new adventure for a PhD (McGill University) with a focus in international education. Research is important to me, but I try to keep a balanced life (even more important now that we are spending more time at home and for many of us, or relaxation space, has become our work place). Maybe it sounds trite but studying abroad in France was probably one of the most transformative experiences I’ve had. It led me to learning another language, working in another country, and ultimately pursuing a PhD in another francophone country. It was one of the biggest factors that ultimately pushed me towards wanting to pursue a career in international education.
Chris: That’s very interesting. It’s wonderful to hear about how you became interested in international education. Can you talk a bit about what your current role is? And what do you like about your job?
Shannon: First and foremost, my job is a PhD candidate, but I get to be part of a lot of other great initiatives. I am a student representative in the Education Graduate Student Society and the Graduate Program Committee. In these groups, the focus is on programming (social and academic) and student advocacy. Last year I had the opportunity to be part of McGill’s Advisory Committee on International Students offering counsel on issues most impacting international students at McGill. I am also involved in the U7 Alliance of World Universities as a student delegate.
Within my department, my colleagues (including you!) and I organize orientations for international students as well as social events like Global Social Hour. With nearly 1/3 students from abroad in our department, we felt a need to really make sure we are serving this population. My colleague and I noticed that despite having large international numbers, a lot of us still felt anonymous and didn’t have the opportunity to meet each other, so we created these social events and international student focus groups to make a space for all of us and also ensure our voices are heard.
In addition to these positions, I am a Research Assistant with iMPACTS, an interdisciplinary intra-university project that looks at sexual violence in university contexts. In this project, I review how sexual violence impacts international students, and barriers they may encounter in terms of accessing supports or navigating foreign justice systems.
Research is important but it’s absolutely imperative to see what things look like in the real world. I love having a chance to meet incoming international students and having one foot in research and another in directly serving students has been really great!
Friday, 9 October 2020 – 10:50am
[Part 2] Interview with Shannon Hutcheson – Journey into International Higher Education.
Chris: Wow, you do a lot! That’s incredible that you have opportunities to research issues impacting international students and outlets to improve the international student experience. I’d love to hear more about your research and how you became interested in this topic as it relates to global education.
Shannon: Initially I thought international education was limited to study abroad, but I found out it was so much broader and more complex than that—I became more curious about the human aspect, and international student experience.
Being an international student myself, and having served students studying abroad, I’m aware of the ups and downs of studying in a foreign country. As an international student I’ve felt lost and stressed but also empowered and excited.
Informed by some of my own experiences as an international student and as a service provider for other international students, I signaled policy as a major agent influencing the lives of international students. Within the policy, areas of inequity for international students arise (access to funding and healthcare, precarity around immigration issues, systematic discrimination). These inequities have become all the more apparent with the COVID-19 pandemic. None of us expected or were prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s impact on international education was quick and profound. At this time many international students are in a period of uncertainty—wondering when and if they can cross borders for their studies, and facing last minute university decisions (e.g. having to vacate dorms with short notice). Additionally, as some nations like Canada offer financial supports to Canadian students, as non-citizens, international students have significantly less access to these benefits.
In my research, I also review how the monetization of international education informs the experience of international students. For example, the international student as “cash cow” rhetoric , and the need for injecting more humanity into international education to counter this rhetoric. With COVID-19 having a significant impact on international higher education, I will be tracing how Global, National, and university responses shape student experiences.
Chris: Thank you, Shannon. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this interview and talk about your work. If people want to learn more, where can they go?
Shannon: You’re welcome to check out my LinkedIn page at linkedin.com/in/shannon-hutcheson-705738a7/. You can also visit the iMPACTS Project website at mcgill.ca/definetheline/impacts.
Chris: Wonderful. Thank you again so much!
Shannon: My pleasure!
Writer’s Bio:
Chris is a doctoral candidate at McGill University, researching sexual consent and sexual violence. He has researched the safety, risk, and wellbeing of dating app users and is a research assistant on the IMPACTS Project, which aims to address sexual violence at universities in Canada and internationally. Chris has worked in student affairs at the University of Michigan (USA), Singapore University of Technology & Design (Singapore), and McGill University (Canada). Chris’ current role is to oversee the training and education of undergraduate students involved in Orientation and Frosh.
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