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Dr. Matt Witenstein is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Administration at University of Dayton. He also serves as an Action Research and Rights Faculty Fellow at the Human Rights Center and as a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University. His US work focuses on immigrants in U.S. higher education and their international educational experiences while his international/comparative education research focuses on higher education quality, organization and governance issues. He has been an invited speaker at higher education institutions, ministry and government agencies throughout the US and South Asia. We sat down with Matt to talk about the importance of engaging in global spaces. 

Tell us about how you engage in global learning.

Global learning is a core component to my work which is centered in comparative/international education (CIE). I have had the good fortune of building a cadre of friends and colleagues in academic, non-governmental organization (NGO), policy and practitioner spaces across the globe that enrich my learning perspectives, knowledges and experiences! Several individuals consistently serve as meaningful influences, mentors and educators for me and often, they introduce me to learning opportunities that end in new collaborations, too. A prime example is close friend and collaborator Radhika Iyengar of the Earth Institute at the Climate School, Columbia University. A couple years ago she asked me to take on a new project related to global citizenship education (GCE) in the field of higher education. I began attending events through the Sustainable Development Solutions Network USA to learn more about the connections between higher education and GCE (and of course sustainability). This learning experience has helped foster new friendships and collaborations that have supported a new direction for some of my higher education-focused research. Most importantly, the continuous practice of reading new literature on the field and engaging with my scholar and practitioner colleagues, elevates my global learning on a regular basis. 

What drew you to the field of educational administration and how is it connected to intercultural learning?

Educational Administration is quite a broad and encompassing field within education, and what makes my department (Educational Administration and Educational Leadership) quite compelling is that we have faculty that span across the PreK through higher ed landscape, informal and non-formal education, mostly with a domestic focus, yet a few of us which also engage with international education. I am drawn to the field of educational administration for a number of reasons, one of them being that I often utilize organizational theory to better understand how higher education organizations operate (or could adapt the ways in which they operate), often from the bottom up. I have been particularly working on this line of research in India for nearly  15 years as I am compelled to better understand the ways in which front-line workers with professional training (in this case professors) cope and adapt to their work and develop/enact policy. 

Who or what inspired you to work towards being a globally-minded citizen?

The perspectives framing my life and work are human-centered, dignity-centered and socially conscious. Theories like the critical theory of love and funds of knowledge center a lot of this work and inspire my global citizenship education-centered work. As a person focused on relationality I have always been interested in understanding and learning about the local and global contexts and how life impacts the diverse communities I exist in. My guess is that being raised in a Jewish family that valued global-mindedness, people’s knowledges from all communities, and the concept of ‘tikkun olam’ or repairing the world, had a lot to do with how I became a globally-minded citizen.

When you think of home, what comes to mind?

I have always found myself existing in third spaces, those in-between spaces, the liminal spaces on the border of different worlds, ideas, cultures, and identities. In a concrete manner, California is home. I have held residence there for 17 years, having lived in both Los Angeles and Palm Springs during that time. It is by far the longest I have ever resided in one place. Nevertheless, with my work and much of my life in Dayton and also much of my work and life abroad (particularly in South Asia), I often reside in multiple places all at once, hence the interstitial existence that often confounds many of my family members and friends. Somehow, it works for me as I enjoy how the many worlds I live in exist in an amazing, somehow nearly seamless patchwork and I am often able to connect many people from across my worlds. The classroom space is one in which I have been able to actualize this at UD as I often bring together a variety of friends and colleagues from my different worlds together to engage with our students- it makes for an enriching and exciting experience! So, in a concrete way, places like Southern California, Dayton and South Asia are home, and the magic that happens between and across these spaces have become a constantly nimble, adapting home in my psyche and in my every-day activity. Finally, my partner Brett and our dog Jackie Bea are the most meaningful and important dimensions of home for me.

What is the best part of working at UD for you?

Recently I visited Ohio State with my international colleague/friend Malish from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, because he wanted to see the full “big American university” phenomenon. And I thought at the time, you know, if I worked at a huge place like this, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities to connect with colleagues in the ways that I have here at UD. I’ve had the chance to work with colleagues across units, on interdisciplinary projects, to bring a social science lens to engineering work, for example. This is important to me: we talk about UD being a community, and I have definitely found that. It’s part of the Marianist charism–it frames how we engage with each other, and how we form connections. I’m so grateful for that.