As we enter the second month of winter quarter, I am reminded by the stories in this newsletter of just how globally engaged our faculty, lecturers, staff and students are. They are the reason why UCLA is a global university, illustrating why the betterment of global society is our university’s primary mission. Global society includes our own neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California and the United States. We have so much to celebrate about the multicultural fabric that makes up our communities, and much work to do to eradicate the exclusion, hate and violence that are increasingly visible around the world.

I believe strongly in the power of dialogue and interactions, of meeting and working with people from all over the world. As an educator, I would never discourage anyone from reading books, but the Chinese proverb “reading 10,000 books is not as good as walking a thousand miles” summarizes well the value of leaving one’s comfort zone and being engaged, both globally and locally. The International Institute is here to help if you are interested!