Faculty Member Receives Award for Outstanding Efforts in International Education
December 1, 2020
St. Philip’s College faculty member, Irene Young, was selected as the recipient of the Alamo Colleges District award for Outstanding Efforts on International Education in the faculty member category. The award is in recognition of Young’s outstanding work and dedicated efforts towards global learning engagements.
“I was surprised to be recognized by my esteemed colleagues. The award motivates me to move ahead with students and foster global mindedness,” she said.
Young is an instructor of psychology with over 20 years of higher education experience. In 2019, she and faculty member, Andrew Hill, became the first Texas members in the Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum Fellows Program at Stanford University in Stanford, California. The program bringing together a select number of faculty members to develop global and international studies.
"The goal is to stimulate global curiosities. I always look for opportunities to infuse global aspects of psychology into key areas of my courses, encouraging students to explore continents, countries and cultures,” said Young. “Together we learn to appreciate worldviews while making an international education difference in the world with openness, respect and global mindedness.”
Her past projects include exploring cross-cultural altruism with civic engagement and global aspects of mental health. During this year’s International Education Week, Young and San Antonio College faculty member, Rebecca Dietz, presented a virtual tour of the Vatican, focusing on St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. The tour highlighted how the Vatican, from social psychology and psychology of religion perspective, influences global interactions and activities. In her upcoming courses, she and students will focus on investigating the global effects of COVID-19 on mental health, interpersonal communication and cultural diversity and cross-cultural grief and coping.
Young previously served as an Air Force family life program specialist in Incirlik, Turkey and an adjunct professor of psychology for both the University of Maryland- European Division and Central Texas College-Mediterranean Division.
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