An Ode to These American Institutions...
And How They Shaped Me
March 29, 2025
It feels like the very foundation of American diplomacy, knowledge, and excellence has faced a perfect storm in recent weeks. I have felt helpless reading the headlines and LinkedIn posts of colleagues who have lost their jobs, many of them highly-trained experts whose talent and knowledge cannot be easily replaced—it takes years to build these sorts of talent pipelines—and nor can it be readily deployed elsewhere.
Helpless though I feel, I am not voiceless and so in this issue I am sharing with you how three U.S. federal agencies in the news have shaped who I am today. While this is one individual’s limited experience, I share it with the hope of illustrating the critical work and contributions of these agencies.
I began to learn about the notion of international development only after arriving in the U.S. in the early nineties. I was studying psychology, but my interests soon veered towards broader ideas of global inequities. Coming from a country like India, with its stark gap between the rich and the poor, I was perhaps already primed to explore these issues. Along with reading luminaries like Amartya Sen, I began to hear about entities like USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) and UNDP (the United Nations Development Programme). USAID was central to not only developing an understanding of the concepts of international development, but it also enabled the practice and work of the field.
My advisor, who was instrumental in helping me develop these interests, had projects that were funded by both agencies and which, in turn, enabled his graduate students to pursue research in these areas. My focus quickly became women and education, particularly in Asia, and how educating women and girls should be central to the developmental and progress goals of any society.
My work today is not centered in international development, but those early years created in me an awareness and sensitivity to global issues that also guides my work in international education today. Many years later, while at the Institute of International Education (IIE), I would work on a USAID-supported project that enabled a deeper understanding of educational mobility within the Asia Pacific region as a form of bilateral cooperation.
After obtaining my doctoral degree, my research work shifted to more domestic educational issues in the U.S. That is when I first got to know the U.S. Department of Education, and in particular the National Center for Education Statistics which has now been shut down. I began to work with the Center’s longitudinal, flagship surveys to generate research and an understanding of critical issues such as why some American high schools excel while others don’t; why it is important for parents to be involved in their children’s education; and studying the long-term impacts of various educational interventions. There was the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the “nation’s report card” and the Condition of Education, both of which have helped us understand how we are doing as a country at every level of education.
Generations of education researchers and policy experts have relied on these surveys, using them to advance research and policies in the American national interest.
Many years later, while at IIE, one of my last projects there was a grant from the Department’s Office of International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) to launch the Graduate Learning Overseas (GLO) survey, the first-ever attempt to fully document the study abroad participation and global engagement of U.S. graduate students.
And then there is the National Science Foundation. As my research on global student mobility began to expand to understanding the role of international students and global talent within the U.S. STEM ecosystem, I always turned to the NSF’s Science and Engineering Indicators, a periodic compendium on any and every data point and indicator relating to science and engineering in the U.S.
These are the statistics that have helped us understand as a society that women still lag behind men in obtaining advanced degrees in the STEM fields, or how the U.S. fares as compared with other countries when it comes to STEM education and the workforce.
Over time, I would also become involved in NSF efforts to internationalize graduate STEM education in the U.S., and initiatives such as the Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE), serve on technical review panels, and contribute to the Science and Engineering Indicators’ chapters that focused international higher education.
Over the past two decades, I have used these and other sources of the U.S. government’s public data to make the evidence-based case for the importance of international education, and the importance of keeping our doors open to global talent.
To not have this type of research and data is to attempt to steer and advance education—the bedrock of any advanced society—without a compass.
Such information-gathering and knowledge is the envy of other countries, and no one comes close to the U.S. in generating this type of evidence and leveraging it to shape progress.
READ!
Here are some more reflections from these past few weeks:
Hechinger Report: Read higher education reporter Jill Barshay’s excellent analysis of the impacts of the cuts at the Institute of Education Statistics and NCES.
Michelle Cooper, Vice President and Executive Director at the Lumina Foundation, writes about the overall impact of the diminishing of the U.S. Department of Education.
Atul Gawande—surgeon, author, New Yorker columnist, and former senior leader at USAID—talks about the potential scale of the impact of the USAID cuts. You can listen here or read here.
LISTEN!
March has been Women’s History Month in the U.S. Check out this episode of the World Wise Podcast that focuses on three women leaders in international education who share their advice on careers and leadership.
How to be a leader: Advice from three women leaders in international education
➡️ Peggy Blumenthal has a 40+ year career spanning international education and U.S.-China relations and previously served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Senior Counselor to the President at the Institute of International Education (IIE).
➡️ Ronit Avni is a tech and media entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Localized, an organization and tech platform that helps connect highly accomplished immigrants in the diaspora with young and emerging talent and graduates in their home countries.
➡️ Esther T. Benjamin is the Executive Director and CEO of World Education Services and reflects on challenges as an emerging woman leader of color while sharing advice for those of us who have intersectional identities.
➡️ The episode also includes a historical look at some of the earliest women international students who came to the U.S. in the 1800s, including Anandibai Joshee from India and three young women from Japan.
On the Road…Events & Talks
Earlier this month, I was in Austin, Texas, for SXSW EDU where I had the pleasure of joining Dr. Andrea Golato, Dean of the Graduate College at Texas State University, for a discussion about the value of international higher education and international students in particular. It was also a thrill to see my book at the SXSW bookstore. Check out our recorded conversation here (the audio quality is excellent)!
We usually go to conferences for their professional value and the work-related networking, but it is always the "side" meetings that fulfill me and inspire me in so many different ways. Savneet Bedi Bains—an international doctoral student and instructor at UT, Austin—and I first connected in 2021, quite by happenstance, when she won a giveaway for my book. We finally met in person this month and had a chance to discuss our journeys as international students from India (albeit separated by a few decades), as South Asian women in the field of international higher education, as parents, and yes, we did hatch some plans for future collaboration!
While in Austin, I also met up with Anjum Malik, founder and Executive Director of the Global Impact Institute, and an international education leader and tireless advocate for improving access to education for all, especially vulnerable and at-risk communities.
CLIENT SPOTLIGHT:
NEW REPORT ALERT!
Do international students want what you’re offering? Assessing your institution’s program portfolio
We are pleased to have partnered once again with the Oxford Education International Group to develop a report on how academic preferences, labor market trends, and national policies are shaping international student choices. Based on secondary data sources and expert opinion, the report focuses on how U.S. institutions need to ensure that their program offerings align with student demand in order to attract international students.
Stay tuned for a webinar at which I will join a panel of institution leaders to discuss the implications of the report. In the meantime, don’t forget to get your copy of the report.
Thank You!
In the of the newsletter, I candidly discussed the challenge of how to share one’s ideas and thoughts during these difficult times. I paused several times before hitting the “send” button. My deep gratitude to all of you who wrote to me in response, and to everyone who stopped me in the hallways of the AIEA conference in Houston to say that you appreciated the issue and the message resonated with you. Your words of support mean a lot to me. A huge thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and engaging. And if you like what you read, please consider sharing this newsletter with at least one other colleague or friend and encouraging them to read and subscribe.
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