Maintaining watch as Hokies journey the world | Virginia Tech Information

If a protest erupts abroad, a border closes with out warning, or a traveler loses a passport 1000’s of miles from dwelling, somebody at Virginia Tech is already paying consideration.

That work occurs quietly, on daily basis, throughout dozens of nations the place Hokies are finding out, researching, instructing, and constructing partnerships. It’s supported by techniques that observe university-sponsored journey worldwide, assess rising dangers, and coordinate steering when circumstances shift — typically earlier than a scenario reaches the headlines.

On any given day, Virginia Tech has college students, college, and employees touring or dwelling overseas for research, analysis, conferences, and partnerships, typically in locations the place circumstances can change shortly.

At the middle of that effort is Elizabeth Morrison, who serves within the Global Education Office, a part of Outreach and International Affairs. Morrison is the college’s major level of contact for security and danger administration, serving to vacationers put together for worldwide work and offering real-time help when well being or safety issues come up. She carries the college’s emergency cellphone always, prepared to supply quick steering and assist coordinate subsequent steps.

Morrison additionally chairs the Global Travel Oversight Committee, a cross-university group that evaluates vacation spot dangers and helps decide when and the way university-supported journey can transfer ahead safely. Together, the committee and the Global Education Office assist be certain that world studying, analysis, and engagement stay attainable — even in an more and more advanced and unpredictable world.

With skilled expertise spanning seven international locations and years supporting U.S. residents by way of consular providers overseas, Morrison brings each world perspective and regular judgment to a task that usually issues most when plans go awry.

Whether making ready for a semester overseas or a brief analysis journey, Morrison hopes Hokie vacationers know they don’t must navigate world uncertainty alone.

What does your function contain, and what do you want each Hokie traveler understood about security and danger administration?

When folks hear “risk management,” I feel they assume we favor to say “no,” or that we wish to wrap folks in bubble wrap. In actuality, this function is about serving to vacationers perceive, acknowledge, and mitigate the particular dangers of their vacation spot.

As college, college students, and employees interact globally — by way of analysis, instructing, research, and partnerships — that work doesn’t occur solely in Virginia. Every vacation spot has a novel safety profile, with its personal alternatives and challenges. Strong security and safety planning is what makes high-impact experiences like research overseas and worldwide analysis possible.

Our aim is to help journey, not forestall it — and to verify vacationers are knowledgeable, ready, and by no means navigating a troublesome scenario alone.

You’ve lived in a number of completely different international locations and labored in lots of roles abroad. How did these experiences form your strategy to world security?

For so long as I can bear in mind, I’ve been drawn to different cultures, languages, and intercultural studying. I pursued a grasp’s diploma in worldwide and intercultural administration as a result of I consider deeply within the transformational energy of experiential schooling.

When my husband joined the Foreign Service, our household moved abroad, and my priorities shifted to studying new languages, assembly on a regular basis wants, and elevating three sons in a number of international locations. Along the way in which, I labored in consular sections in locations like Dublin, Amsterdam, and Accra, adjudicating visa and citizenship purposes and supporting American residents throughout crises.

Over the years, I’ve lived in Ecuador, Armenia, Syria, Honduras, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Ghana. Those experiences taught me how rewarding worldwide life may be — and the way important good safety planning is to make it sustainable. They additionally gave me a practical understanding of each the capabilities and limitations of U.S. embassies, which is vital when serving to vacationers plan responsibly.

This function seems like a return to the trail I began on — with a renewed deal with supporting others as they discover the world.

What has dwelling overseas taught you about adaptability — each culturally and through difficult moments?

Culturally, I realized in a short time that hospitality appears completely different in every single place. Being from Alabama, I assumed I understood hospitality — however Syrian hospitality, for instance, is on one other stage. You don’t actually imply “no” till you’ve declined meals or espresso not less than thrice. And you study to not praise a Syrian’s scarf or jewellery until you’re ready for them to supply it to you.

In phrases of navigating challenges, one expertise stands out. My household was delayed at a border crossing whereas attempting to fulfill my mom at an airport in Jordan. She didn’t communicate Arabic, didn’t have a cellphone, and there was no airport Wi-Fi. Through a community of relationships — a pal who occurred to be touring by way of Amman that day — she was met at baggage declare and cared for till we arrived.

That expertise strengthened the worth of relationships, asking for assist, and being ready — together with one thing so simple as maintaining your cellphone charged whereas in transit.

What recommendation would you supply to Hokies making ready to journey internationally?

Read, pay attention, and study as a lot as you possibly can in regards to the place you’re going. Say sure to invites. Try the native meals, music, and sports activities. Observe folks and day by day life. And get sufficient relaxation.

Never develop uninterested in the wonder and variety of the world — or of the insights you achieve from the folks you meet alongside the way in which.