Senior Vice Provost for Global Engagement & Chief International Officer
University of Texas at Austin, USA
Sonia Feigenbaum
Comprehensive and Responsive Internationalization: Building Infrastructure to Support a Vision
The University of Texas at Austin was established in 1883 with eight professors and 221 students. Today, with internationalization at the core of the university’s mission and strategic plan.
UT Austin is a global university with more than half a million Longhorn alumni, 3000 faculty, and 52,000 students. This session explores the development and implementation of UT Austin’s global engagement strategic vision. We will discuss program creation, the impact of the pandemic, storytelling, and growth. From mapping and programmatic initiatives, to branding and communications strategies, Texas Global identified the gaps, synergies, and opportunities needed to advance the mission of the university.
Moving beyond the challenges, we will speak to the opportunities that arose, and the case for nimble, responsive, resilient, and future-forward thinking.
Dr. Sonia Feigenbaum is the inaugural senior vice provost for global engagement and chief international officer at The University of Texas at Austin. Since joining in 2019, she has envisioned and implemented the branding of the university’s internationalization efforts as Texas Global; broadened university engagement globally; launched the first UT Austin Global Gateway in Mexico City; and raised more than $16 million to implement on- and off-campus internationalization programs. Before joining UT Austin, she was associate vice chancellor for international engagement and global strategies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and associate provost for global engagement at Brown University. She has extensive background in policymaking pertinent to global initiatives spanning academia, and close to 15 years of service with the federal government where she administered and managed budgets in excess of $250M, as well as work in the nonprofit sector.