International faculty, diverse perspectives
On being an international faculty member
International faculty have expanded our understanding of the world. They bring expertise, diverse teaching methods, and global mindsets to our intellectual communities. Here, four international faculty members share how their lived experiences have shaped their research, teaching, and cultural perspectives.
Research with a global lens
Emmanuel Bonney’s journey to the United States was an organic process, he says. Originally from Ghana, Bonney met his mentor, Institute of Child Development (ICD) Professor Jed Elison through a mutual colleague while he was earning his doctorate degree at the University of Cape Town. “The first time I spoke with him, I knew he would probably be a good mentor,” Bonney says.
A subsequent U of M postdoctoral fellowship brought Bonney to ICD in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. “What was important to me in choosing ICD as my postdoc home was its enviable reputation and my mentor’s strong scientific credentials,” he says. “I was genuinely interest ed in the research that was going on in his lab and knew I would be supported to do work I’m passionate about, explore new ideas, build meaningful connections, and grow as a scientist.”
Now an assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology, Bonney’s international experiences and perspectives have shaped his research and teaching in many ways.
“One area of my research focuses on characterizing measurable cultural differences in autistic features,” he says. “I strongly believe that a better understanding of how culture influences developmental differences is essential for creating culturally sensitive assessments and interventions for the global community. The experiences I have acquired from the different countries I have lived and worked in help me to develop relevant and culturally responsive research questions.”
As a teacher, being able to share his international experiences helps Bonney bring life to concepts, he says. “When I teach motor development to our kinesiology major students, being able to share stories of firsthand experiences, and tell them about how different cultural practices shape developmental outcomes enrich their learning experiences and make them see more of a globally representative picture of motor development to the often simplistic one they read about in textbooks,” he says.
Bonney says the greatest benefit as an international faculty member is his unfettered access to a diverse and inclusive research environment as well as his opportunity to collaborate. “Engaging with different kinds of people on a daily basis has enriched my personal and professional experiences,” he says. “Most people in this community are exceptionally supportive and generous. Their little acts of kindness and camaraderie have been an invaluable source of strength.”
Engaging with different kinds of people on a daily basis has enriched my personal and professional experience
Reciprocating these supportive acts, Bonney serves as a member of the International Student Advisory Group. “The aim of our group is to support CEHD efforts to improve the culture of care and sense of belonging for international students,” he says. “I get to contribute my international experiences and perspectives to creating an atmosphere where our students can thrive holistically. Throughout my academic journey I have benefited immensely from the benevolence of others, and I see this group as a medium that allows me to also give back to CEHD’s international student community.”
Shared international experiences
Nana Kim’s field of research is psychometrics, an area of psychology focused on testing and measurement. As she was studying for her master’s degree in Korea, she realized that all of the state-of-the-art research was being done either in Europe or the U.S. “Most of the leading scholars and researchers were in the U.S. and I really wanted to work with them and learn from them,” she says. Kim earned her PhD in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In the fall of 2022, Kim joined CEHD, where she is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology.
“As an international faculty member, I’ve been in the shoes of the international students when I was studying for my PhD, so I think I know a lot of the difficulties they might have,” she says. “Because I have that experience, I try my best to understand their circumstances or difficulties and try to support them in their learning as much as I can. And because I’m an international person, I try to appreciate and respect all the diversity in the community and try to understand the differences in students’ backgrounds when I teach.”
Kim notes, however, that there have been some challenges with language and cultural differences. “It’s sometimes not easy for me to accurately deliver my thoughts or ideas to students while teaching,” she says. “The terminologies or examples that I use in class may not be comfortable for some of the students from different cultures than mine. So, I try to be more culturally sensitive to those differences. I get feedback from students throughout the semester, and I try to be very responsive and that has helped me learn the differences in cultures and languages. I think that has improved my teaching in those aspects.”
She also finds support from her CEHD colleagues. “I have many outstanding faculty around me who motivate me to grow and develop,” she says. “This summer, we are hosting an international conference which is one of the biggest in our field and I have the privilege to be a member of the hosting committee. It’s because I’m in this University with great colleagues around me. I look forward to making more contributions to our international faculty in the future.”
Being a role model
Ka I Ip is the first in his family who had the chance to study abroad. Coming from Macau to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, he focused on psychology. “I really just wanted to have a better education, and I was thinking about being a psychologist,” he says.
But being an international student changed his outlook. “Coming here really broadened my perspective, especially coming from a country that has very different cultural values, practices, and traditions. It opened up how I perceive the world and how it might differ from people who are not from my cultural background,” he says.
Ip found himself pivoting from only being a clinical psychologist to becoming more interested in research. Now an assistant professor in the Institute of Child Development since 2023, he studies how culture influences emotion regulation and behaviors. He is also the director of the DANCE (Developmental Affective Neuroscience, Culture, and Environment) Lab.
“I’m really lucky to have research opportunities that involve culture,” he says, noting that his interest in that topic is what drew him into a PhD.
“I’m more mindful of cultural sensitivity,” he explains. “I was a majority in my country and here I’m an ethnic and racial minority. That changed how I think about identities, about race and racism. And that translates into all the things that I do now, including research and teaching.”
Besides the obvious challenges such as language and cultural barriers, Ip also found that a lack of role models was another difficulty to overcome. “I don’t have a role model I can base on. Nobody in my home country had ever done something like this, especially in my field and in my department,” he says.
Ip is one of the first faculty members from Asia in ICD. “Not having a role model is hard,” he says. “How can you be successful? How can you advance professionally?
Because of that, I’m passionate to be the role model for students who might have similar backgrounds as me so they can better navigate their academic journey.”
Last year, Ip was part of a faculty delegation that visited Cambodia to meet with community members, faculty, and educators. “I was grateful that I was selected,” he says. “This type of international trip really helped me to be more connected to the community and, again, broadened up my perspective on my research.”
There was another profound aspect of the visit for Ip. “I am actually Cambodian, and I’ve never been to Cambodia,” he says. “This experience got me thinking about how I’m able to tie my own cultural heritage back to where I’m from.”
An inclusive mindset
Ronald Asiimwe says his impetus to come to study couple and family therapy,” he explains. “My main goal really was to be able to have the research and clinical skills to transform family and relationship dynamics back on the continent of Africa, starting with my home country, Uganda.”
After receiving his PhD in human development and family studies, with a specialization in couple and family therapy from Michigan State University, he joined the faculty of the Department of Family Social Science in CEHD as an assistant professor.
“Being an international faculty member has profoundly influenced how I teach and conduct research,” he says.
Asiimwe’s research focuses on understanding the mental and relational well-being of African families wherever they are.
“Here in Minnesota, I work with the African immigrant population and then over on the continent of Africa, in countries like Kenya and Uganda,” he says. “Most of these communities have endured generations of trauma stemming from various sources—war, organized violence, and poverty. My work really takes a multicultural perspective to explore how we can design culturally responsive solutions to help these families heal from trauma. Being an international faculty has helped me to see that culture shapes our perceptions of health and well-being.”
Asiimwe brings this multicultural, inclusive mindset into the classroom. “I constantly challenge my students to think about cultural perspectives outside the U.S. because sometimes it’s very easy for us to think that what we see or what we observe within our context is what it is,” he says. “But then you get out of the U.S. and it’s different. I’ve been able to bring my international multicultural perspective on global mental health to help my students think about the disparities that exist in our mental health systems, and how different communities and countries across the globe have been affected by the legacies of different oppressive systems.”
Asiimwe says he appreciates the college’s emphasis on internationalizing research.
“I think we learn a lot from each other with our differences rather than letting the differences separate us and discriminate against us," he says. "I’m deeply grateful for the support that I have in the college and the department. I look forward to contributing my expertise to the University’s mission of advancing education for our students and for the global community.”
—KEVIN MOE