Bringing the Global Home

Growing up in Uzbekistan, Dilnoza Khasilova took classes in English and computer skills taught by Peace Corps volunteers. As a student working on her master’s degree at the University of Wyoming in 2014, she seized an opportunity to return the favor, starting free language lessons open to anyone in the Laramie community.

Today, the World Language and Culture Program (WLCP) at the University of Wyoming has student volunteers teaching 25 languages to Laramie residents—though classes are now available via Zoom, expanding the concept of the university’s “community” to anyone in the world.

“It’s become global, but it started by engaging our international students with the community here,” says Khasilova, now a permanent visiting scholar, director of the WLCP, and recipient of the 2024 Hugh M. Jenkins Award for Excellence in Community Programming from NAFSA.

Across the globe, colleges and universities are seeking ways to connect international students with their local communities—efforts that are often driven by students themselves. Sometimes the efforts are highly personal, as in Khasilova’s case, or when Ukrainian students at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK) held benefit concerts, performed at the Knoxville mayor’s house, and raised funds for relief efforts in their home country in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In its many forms, bridging the local and global can help international students, the communities that they live in, and their institutions, ultimately creating self-sustaining cycles of support and benefits.

Benefits for Students 

International students are often interested in learning about