On December 5, 2025, the Center for Global Engagement (CGE) held the Global Citizenship Certificate (GCC) Graduation Ceremony honoring the 11 students, including 3 graduates with honors, who completed this distinguished academic program.
The event featured congratulatory remarks from COSSPP Dean Dr. Timothy Chapin and Director of International Affairs Dr. Na’ama Nagar; both emphasizing the importance of programs like the GCC in fostering intercultural competence and global awareness.
Despite ongoing visa delays and travel restrictions, Florida State University welcomed more than 100 new international students from 27 countries during CGE’s international orientation on January 5. These students include new international undergraduate and graduate students, as well as 14 incoming Global Exchange students from eight of FSU’s international exchange partner universities from South Korea, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, Japan and Australia.
Lovinta Atrinawati has spent the past three years at Florida State University pursuing a doctorate in the School of Information through the Fulbright Doctoral Program. Originally from Indonesia, she expected her time at FSU to be focused primarily on academic work. Along the way, however, she also discovered an unexpected source of community, global connection and personal growth through the College of Music’s Balinese Gamelan Ensemble.
For over 15 years, the Globe Kitchen has been a cornerstone of cultural exchange at FSU—a place where food becomes a bridge, and campus community members come together. The Globe Kitchen was a dedicated feature requested by the CGE team during the building’s planning phase prior to its opening in 2009. The addition of a commercial kitchen was designed to support the growth of programs and events centered around international cuisine.
A pre-departure meeting was held last week for the forty FSU students preparing to embark on an immersive international experience in 15 different countries next spring semester. FSU Global Exchanges, which has 45+ partner universities in 20 countries, received the highest number ever of spring applications this year. There was much interest in new partners such as IE University in Madrid, MICEFA in Paris, and Meiji University in Tokyo.
Participating in a Global Exchange was ‘the best decision I made in my life,” said Ava De Gaetano (Undergraduate, Management Information Systems). She studied at Mahidol University in Thailand during the Spring 2025 semester. When deciding to go on an exchange to Thailand, she said she wanted an independent experience, wanted to travel, and believed a Global Exchange would bring about personal growth – plus she always had an interest in Thailand. “It could be daunting, but there is a network of support with the FSU exchange advisors and the people at your exchange university.
International Coffee Hour: Graduate Lounge, a new initiative co-sponsored by CGE and COGS, was a big success for the first event held Friday, September 26th, from 5-6:30 p.m. This event was planned in response to feedback from the Graduate Student Life Taskforce, in which many FSU graduate students from different colleges across campus reported that there was a lack of networking and social opportunities provided to graduate students.
International Coffee Hour has not only served the FSU community in providing a welcoming environment for students to make new friends --- but it also was the place where FSU alum Savannah Wendt met her future husband, FSU alum Travis James, in 2012.
The Center for Global Engagement’s (CGE) International Coffee Hour (ICH) is one of longest running and most successful weekly events held at FSU. In the last 25 years, ICH has grown from a small gathering of a few international students into an extremely popular social and cultural program with an average of 400 students, staff and faculty in attendance weekly. Approximately 65% of the attendees are US students, 30% are international students and about 5% are faculty and staff.
The new students bring inspiring stories, academic ambitions, and a shared excitement to be part of the FSU community.
Florence Antwi, a doctoral student from Ghana, spoke about how she previously studied in Wyoming but wanted the experience of a larger university. Her academic advisor helped guide her to FSU’s Geography program, where she looks forward to taking advantage of everything the university has to offer.
