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Wilhelm Treks to Taiwan

UNCW’s Wilhelm Treks to Taiwan Through Fulbright International Seminar

As UNCW’s Associate Provost for Global Partnerships and International Education since 2015, Dr. Michael Wilhelm has helped make many students’ dreams of traveling to another country a reality. 

This year, it was his turn. In March, he traveled to Taiwan as part of a Fulbright for an International Education Administrators Seminar. The grant was initially awarded in 2020-21, but he couldn’t travel until this year because of Covid restrictions. 

Having heard so many others in the field of international education describe the experience, Dr. Wilhelm hoped to one day participate. It was UNCW Chancellor Aswani Volety’s encouragement after his experience in the same program in France several years ago that pushed Wilhelm to apply. 

“Dr. Wilhelm’s passion and incredible talent advocating for global education and partnerships has led to uniquely impactful opportunities for our students, faculty and staff. I am thrilled he had the opportunity to share his wealth of experience with peers from around the world,” said Provost James J. Winebrake.

Wilhelm spent 10 days in Taipei and a week in the central and southern part of the island visiting universities, government ministries and high schools. He gave a workshop session to Taiwanese Fulbright language teaching assistants preparing to teach Mandarin Chinese at American universities. He also took part in pre-departure workshops for Taiwanese Fulbright scholars heading to the U.S. 

They engaged in conversations around post-pandemic inbound and outbound student mobility and debated best practices in international education in the local context. Dr. Wilhelm said his interactions with the rest of the IEA cohort from U.S. universities was as important as with his Taiwanese counterparts. 

“I found tremendous interest from scholars, students and staff in coming to UNCW,” he said. “I am eager to discuss opportunities for engagement moving forward. I strongly encourage everyone at UNCW to pursue these opportunities.” 

Dr. Jennifer Fernandez-Villa, who also works in the Office of Global Partnerships and International Education as director of international student and scholar services, has been awarded the same grant to travel to Japan this summer. 


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