Caitlin Kelley: Director, Center for Advanced Global Leadership and Engagement
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Media Contact: Terry Tush | Director, Marketing and Communications | 405-744-2703 | terry.tush@okstate.edu
Caitlin Kelley has spent her entire life preparing to lead the Center for Advanced Global Leadership and Engagement (CAGLE).
Her first international experience was at the age of 14, when she traveled to Germany to stay with a host family for a month in a suburb of Hamburg. She spent a year as an exchange student studying in Vienna, Austria, while in college, and returned to spend two more years as a teaching assistant through the Austrian-American Fulbright Commission. She has since traveled to more than 50 countries.
A lifelong learner, she earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master’s in international education from the School for International Training in Vermont, a master’s in communication with a focus on intercultural communication from the University of Alabama and is working on a doctorate in higher education from OSU (with a completion date of Spring 2023).
Kelley worked in a variety of roles with international students at the University of Arkansas, Kansas State University, Alabama, Georgia Tech and most recently as a graduate research associate at OSU.
What is the CAGLE?
CAGLE is the Center for Advanced Global Leadership and Engagement, and it is named after OSU alum Roger Cagle and his wife, Cindy. They are strong proponents of international engagement and wanted to ensure that Spears students had access to global experiences. Through their donation and vision, the CAGLE Center is the hub of global initiatives for the Spears School of Business. Over the past several years, hundreds of Spears Business students have had the opportunity to study abroad while also earning business-specific credits.
Why did you accept this role in leading the center?
My acceptance of this role was two-fold: the first was the position, and the second was what I could bring to it. The CAGLE Center has traditionally focused its efforts around outbound study abroad experiences for the students of Spears Business. However, the description for the position made it clear that the administration is ready to expand the focus to include additional types of international initiatives such as university partnerships, faculty engagement and global programming. I was really drawn to this idea of taking the center to the next level of engagement and I knew that my background working with various internationalization efforts would allow me to think about the future of the center from multiple lenses.
What are your vision and goals for the center?
My vision is that the CAGLE Center will provide access to global experiences for all of the stakeholders of Spears Business including students, faculty and staff. My goal is to expand the scope of available international experiences beyond travel abroad programs to include a more extensive array of initiatives including robust partnerships with international institutions, faculty exchanges, lectures as well as events focused on global business topics and international student recruitment and engagement. Through engagement of these activities, an additional goal is to raise the levels of global awareness, understanding and competency among Spears students so that they feel prepared for a global marketplace.
Why should an OSU business student be interested in the center and its goals?
Business is global. As our students graduate, many of the opportunities that they seek will include a global component, such as working with clients in other countries, having co-workers from abroad or working in multinational companies with branches across the globe. No matter the scope, having a better understanding of the world, the people in it and diverse business practices will give students a better foundation for going into the global workforce.
In 10 years, what do you hope the center has accomplished?
By 2032, I hope that the CAGLE Center will have established several strategic, sustainable, active partnerships with worldwide institutions across continents and cultures. Through these partnerships I hope to see expanded and impactful global engagement options for students and faculty that contribute to a culture of global thinking within Spears Business. I hope that global concepts and examples will be infused within the curriculum, the programs, the events and the extracurricular activities of the college. I hope that each student and faculty member feels like they have had a global experience within Spears even if they did not have a chance to travel off campus.
Story By: Terry Tush | Engage@Spears Magazine