International Initiatives Events

As colorful lights are strung and seasonal music begins to play, attention turns to holiday happenings and frolicking in the snow. While our modern-day associations with Christmas include Santa Claus and his merry band of elves, the legends of previous eras were often more weird than wonderful, causing children (and their parents) to quiver in the silent nights of winter. In this installment of the Something Supernatural webinar series, Ingrid Johnson will highlight some of the more (in)famous European midwinter monsters from folklore, then transition to the Victorian fascination (or obsession) with ghosts and telling ghost stories during the darkest days of the year. Grab a cup of cocoa and some holly jolly treats, and get ready for a festively frightful conversation about the ghosts and ghoules of Christmas past!

Please join us for an information to learn more about a CLAHS cohort-based faculty workshop, Global Teaching Scholars Scandinavia: Making Global Connections for Student Learning, in Copenhagen, Denmark (May 31–June 6, 2026).

This event will provide important information about the U.S. Fulbright Student Program, scholarship eligibility requirements, award types, application process/timeline and more! Presenters will take audience questions as well.

The Jersey Devil ranks as the most popular legend in the folklore of the Garden State. Join Dr. Brian Regal, Professor for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine at Kean University, to hear more about this legend. In the dark forbidding Pine Barrens, a witch known as Mother Leeds gave birth to a ‘child’ with horse-like head, bat-like wings, clawed hands and hooved feet. It flew off into the woods to take up a career haunting and harassing travelers.

"Survivors Change Laws: the impact of Gisele Pelicot’s and V. Springora’s cases in France” by Dr. Sharon Johnson, Modern Classical Languages and Literature, Virginia Tech. "Gender and Patriarchal Counternarratives in Contemporary India” by Professor K. Suneetha Rani, Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Hyderabad, India

As part of the Gender Equity Lecture Series, the Center for European Union, Transatlantic, and Trans-European Space Studies will host a webinar on Violence Against Women in Europe.

Each year, the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers diverse opportunities for U.S. academics, administrators and professionals to teach, research, conduct professional projects, and attend seminars abroad in over 135 countries. Please join the CLAHS Fulbright Info Session if you are interested in learning more about the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.

Phillip M. Ayoub, Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at University College London, draws on his new book with Kristina Stöckl to investigate this complex landscape, drawing from over a decade of in-depth fieldwork with LGBTI activists, anti-LGBTI proponents, and various state and international organization actors. This event is part of the Gender Equity in EU Series, a collaboration between the Center for European & Transatlantic Studies (CEUTS) A Jean Monnet Center of Excellence and Global Initiatives and Engagement in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech.

Women are still underrepresented in most governments around the world, even in established democracies. One of the frequently heard explanations is that people won’t vote for women, and they view men as better political leaders than women; in sum, that women don’t fit the image of a leader. However, what people think a leader looks like can change, particularly as they see more women in government.

This photo exhibit brings to life the experiences of Virginia Tech students who have recently participated in faculty-led study abroad programs based in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. The exhibit illustrates lasting impacts to VT and our global community as well as how VT students engage with the world and the humanity of these experiences.

This webinar discusses a new edited collection by Devin K. Joshi and Christian Echle (2022, Routledge) that assesses the progress women have made in pursuing legislative office throughout Asia, but, more crucially, how women and men parliamentarians advance women’s well-being and gender equality. Panelists are authors of various chapters, including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and will also feature parliamentarians from Indonesia and Malaysia.

This installment of the Something Supernatural: Tales from Around the World Webinar Series explores the legend of Mothman. First emerging in the mid-1960s in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, the Mothman legend continues to intrigue. While a significant example of American folklore, sightings of similar creatures have increasingly been reported worldwide. Dr. Eleanor Hasken-Wagner, folklorist and Museum and Historic Sites Supervisor for the city of Frankfort, Kentucky, will discuss the origin of the Mothman as well as the legend’s migration across time and space. Throughout, she will share fascinating tales. 

Research on legislatures from a gender perspective has mainly been conducted from a representational perspective. This has implied that the focus primarily has been on the gender equality of political representation in numerical or substantive terms, while the gendered terms and conditions of the legislature’s inner workings have received significantly less attention in the literature. Drawing on their extensive research from the Swedish parliament, Profs. Erikson and Josefsson show how this perspective exposes remaining inequalities in this numerically gender equal context.