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Transforming Conflict into Collaboration

The education abroad field has long acted as a catalyst to bridge cultural divides. Today's climate demands renewed conflict resolution strategies. Political and technological changes are deepening divisions, eroding trust in institutions, and making it harder to connect and agree on basic facts. When differences become seen as insurmountable, the essential work of educating students across cultures grows more challenging.

The Forum on Education Abroad’s new Beyond Polarization Residency will unite international educators to share frameworks and tools for productive engagement across differences. Participants will learn from both peers and experts from various fields, exploring ways to address polarization and build global understanding. By integrating insights from other domains, the program empowers mid-career professionals to senior international officers to lead conflict transformation in their institutions and communities.
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Organizations are encouraged to consider sending cross-functional teams.

Sponsors:

DIAMOND

PLATINUM

About the Course

Throughout the four-day Beyond Polarization Residency, participants will learn about neurobiology and emotion, new digital forms of persuasion, diplomacy and peace-building, and more from renowned experts outside the field of education abroad.

Additionally, participants will be mentored by a team of experienced educators to understand and discover new ways of engaging with difference and division. Participants will be able to bring this practice back to their own organizational contexts. 

Day 1: Self 
Participants will explore their own responses to conflict, guided by insights from neuroscience and biology. This day focuses on understanding personal reactions in stressful situations and developing self-awareness in navigating conflict.

Day 2: Interpersonal Relationships 
This day examines how digital media and artificial intelligence influence human interaction, including moral outrage and communication challenges. Participants will engage in activities that explore how conflicts arise in various contexts and how to engage with them productively.

Day 3: Case Studies on Diplomacy & Peace Building 
Participants will dive into real-world case studies, including conflict transformation in Northern Ireland and organizational approaches to peace building. This day highlights systems-level conflict transformation strategies.

Day 4: Applications 
The final day will focus on applying the tools and strategies learned throughout the residency. Participants will leave with practical takeaways to implement in their professional contexts and foster productive engagement with conflict's generative potential.

Once the Residency ends, The Forum will offer online spaces for participants to engage and connect for the following 12 months.

Why You Should Attend

Over four days, participants will have the opportunity to:

• Explore and apply models and frameworks to education abroad policies, programs, and practices.
• Learn strategies to effectively navigate and engage with difference across institutions, partners, and organizations.
• Explore approaches from multiple fields to help students apply transferable career strategies of negotiating across differences.
• Develop skills for navigating conflict within technology and social media in the global landscape and help your students build those skills, too. 
• Design an action plan for working across difference and building better global understanding in your own work, within your organizational context, and/or among your students.
• Create a trusting network of colleagues to share successes, challenges, and resources over the year following the event. 

Competencies You (and Your Team) Will Develop

Individual Participants will have the chance to:

• Navigate generative conflict and productive discomfort effectively at work and with students.
• Recognize, discern, prepare and respond to divisions or barriers that can arise on campuses in cross-cultural and international work and learning settings.
• Implement strategies to address conflicts in their workplace or among students.

Teams Who Attend as a Cohort will have the opportunity to:

• Design unit or institutional policies for how to respond when conflict arises involving students or their families.
• Develop a unit or organizational strategy to incorporate deliberative practices into collaboration and teamwork.
• Create a resource list that can be used across academic disciplines or administrative units.
• Form an ongoing committee/group to assess how well these strategies are working and what other resources or strategies may be needed.

Areas We Will Explore

Questions to be addressed intentionally expand and deepen participants’ knowledge of these fields, with the aim of enriching our practice as Education Abroad professionals:

• How does divisive conflict affect our body, brain, and emotions? How can we use this awareness to respond more effectively and reduce negative physical reactions or burnout?
• How do ‘technologies of persuasion’ like smart phones and social media fuel divisions between people and keep us in constant states of anxiety and uncertainty? How can we address these causal factors of division in our work with students and in our own professional lives?
• What can we learn from peace-keepers and diplomats who are skilled in reducing tensions in high-stakes situations?

Cost + What's Included

Program Cost:
Members: $2,995
Non-Members: $3,995
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Included in the program fee:

• ​Four days of interactive coursework with expert faculty.
• Three nights at the , part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection.
• Breakfast and lunch daily.
• Opening reception with faculty and staff.

​ to see if your institution is a member of The Forum.

Cancellation Policy

​Cancellation & Refund Policy
If you need to cancel your registration, refunds will be issued according to:

• On or before April 27 – 90% refund of the original purchase amount
• April 28 – June 27 – 50% refund of the original purchase amount
• After June 27 – No refund available

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Meet Our Residency Faculty

The residency faculty members will serve as both mentors and subject matter experts, providing guidance, context, and critical insights throughout the residency. They will facilitate discussions, lead workshops, and share strategies drawn from diverse fields to help participants deepen their understanding and apply concepts effectively.

Troy Gordon, Ph.D.
Director of Global Teaching & Learning
​Syracuse University Abroad

Troy's bio

Based in London, Dr. Troy Gordon is the Director of Global Teaching & Learning for Syracuse University Abroad. He served as the onsite director of the Syracuse University London Center for 10 years, overseeing all operations, academics and student support. Troy has held full-time teaching appointments at UCLA and at Hult International Business School, where he also served as department chair and undergraduate associate dean. Across his teaching, academic leadership and onsite experience abroad, Troy integrates big-picture perspectives of the changing field of education abroad with applied knowledge about how to make all elements of a program work effectively. Currently, his research and public speaking try to make sense of the dramatic historical changes we are experiencing - populism, political extremes, social divisions, climate disasters, the dominance of Big Tech -  and how all of us in education abroad can leverage our field's unique strengths to respond to these tumultuous times.

Angelina Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice Provost for Global Learning; Teaching Associate Professor
​Lehigh University

Angelina's bio

Angelina Rodríguez is the Assistant Vice Provost for Global Learning at Lehigh University where she also holds an appointment as Teaching Associate Professor. She has held leadership positions in global education in the UAE, Mexico, Venezuela, and the US. Her PhD is in Cultural Studies, and her research and creative interests revolve around how we make sense of our constant contact with difference. A practicing integral coach, she also teaches, coaches and consults around the intersections between personal and social transformation. She is the author of four books, the latest of which is about coaching and global education pedagogy, due out in summer 2025.

Martha Johnson, Ph.D.
Chief Academic Officer and Provost
​CEA CAPA​

Martha's Bio

Martha Johnson, PhD, has worked in education abroad since 1991, including onsite at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and as the Study Abroad Coordinator at Leeds Metropolitan University in Leeds, England. She managed institutional relations for several U.S.-based educational organizations and consortia including Regent’s College in London and AustraLearn previous to going to the University of Minnesota in 2001.

From 2009-2022, Martha served the Assistant Dean for Learning Abroad at the University of Minnesota and oversaw one of the largest education abroad offices in the U.S., sending over 4000 students abroad annually. She played a key leadership role in the highly successful and internationally recognized Curriculum Integration initiative, as well as developing the Career Integration project and subsequent conferences.
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Martha holds a PhD in American Studies with an emphasis in drama and the performance of gender, race, and cultural identity from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Martha has presented and chaired numerous sessions and workshops at national and international conferences, served on a variety of education abroad program boards, and authored articles and chapters for publications including Frontiers and NAFSA guides and resources. She previously served in leadership roles and chaired multiple committees in NAFSA, the Forum on Education Abroad, Diversity Abroad, the Global Leadership League, and the Fund for Education Abroad. She is currently serving a term as Secretary on the Board of Directors for the Forum.

David Wick, Ed.D.
Associate Professor; Program Chair, International Education Management
Middlebury Institute of International Studies​ at Monterey

David's bio

David Wick has worked in international education since 1988. His experience includes leading study abroad efforts at a youth exchange organization, Arkansas State University, San Francisco State University, and Santa Clara University. Additionally, Wick brings private sector experience from a decade as a project manager and account executive in advertising and design.

Wick’s international experience includes study in Mexico, France, Germany, Austria, and the UK. He has also taught in Hungary and France, where he participated in the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) from 1991-92 at Lycée Yves-Kernanec in Marcq en Baroeul. Wick has given lectures or workshops in Azerbaijan, Hong Kong, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey. He is also a Fulbright Scholar who participated in the 2011 International Education Administrators’ Program in India. 

Volunteer service is central to Wick’s professional engagement. Wick has held appointed and elected leadership roles for NAFSA: Association of International Educators with the Academy, Trainer Corps, Annual Conference Executive Committee, Region III and Region XII teams, and the Education Abroad Knowledge Community. He has supported Diversity Abroad’s work since inception as a conference planner, workshop designer and facilitator, and content developer. Wick currently serves as president of Macalester College’s Alumni Board, as a Quality Improvement Program peer reviewer for the Forum on Education Abroad, and on the Institute for Study Abroad’s Inclusive Excellence Advisory Group. He has received multiple awards from NASFA in recognition of his international education policy leadership.

Residency Advisor
Marissa Lombardi, Ed.D.
Vice President and Chief Learning Officer
The Forum on Education Abroad

Marissa's Bio

Dr. Marissa Lombardi serves as the Vice President and Chief Learning Officer, implementing an impressive array of programs, resources and materials related to the Standards of Good Practice, equity, diversity and inclusion, health and safety, and other topics that promote and facilitate the highest quality education abroad programs.

Prior to joining The Forum’s team, Marissa was with EF Education First, where she served as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Partnerships.Previously, Marissa was an Assistant Teaching Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Global Studies and International Relations program at Northeastern University, where she developed a concentration and certificate in Global Student Mobility. She also served as a faculty scholar and lead scholar at the university’s Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning through Research.

​She served as dean of students at Lorenzo de’Medici Italian International Institute in Florence, Italy, where she was part of a senior leadership team responsible for the oversight of campuses in Florence, Rome, Venice, and Tuscania. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Bennington College, a Master’s of Arts in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University and a Doctorate of Education, with a specialization in International Education, from Northeastern University.

This residency is made possible through the contributions of Mary F. Price, Ph.D., Director of Teaching and Learning at The Forum on Education Abroad, the thought leadership of the Conflict Transformation Collaborative, and the generous support of Residency Faculty and their subject matter expertise. Special thanks to their institutions:

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Hosted by:

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Sponsorship Opportunities

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of this event, . A member of our team will be in touch with you!​