Campus Directory

Pronouns he, him, his, his, himself

Division Division of Global Engagement

Department/College/Unit Global Engagement

Title Director of Global Initiatives

Affiliation Staff

Staff Type Administrator

Web Site

Primary Office Location Remote work location
Remote

Additional Location(s) Classroom Unit 1

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours M-F, 8am-4:30pm PST/PDT

Mail Stop Global Engagement

Biography, Education and Training

George joined the Division of Global Engagement at UC Santa Cruz in 2018 from the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa, where he led the international exchange office, managing student mobility and the university’s extensive portfolio of exchange partnerships with institutions across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. 

His interest in international education began in 2004 with a career in teaching English, first in Osaka, Japan where he spent two years as part of

the Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET). Later he would move to Hong Kong with a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, and spent another four years teaching English communication and media studies as a visiting lecturer at the City University of Hong Kong.

After returning to the U.S., George held several roles in the field of international education, including an international program manager and student recruiter at UC Davis, and an international admissions evaluator at Portland State University.

At UC Santa Cruz, George develops international MoUs and agreements and manages projects and initiatives with partner institutions around the world that aim to increase opportunities for student exchange, collaborative degree models, international external funding, as well as faculty research. George received his B.A. in English and Film Studies from Indiana University, Bloomington and his M.A. in Cinema & Media Studies from the University of Chicago. In his free time, George enjoys playing music, riding bicycles (he’s toured on three different continents - North America, Europe, and Asia), and studying (though not necessarily speaking well) languages, particularly French, Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin.