David Cook-Martín Named Assistant Vice President for Global Education

David Cook-Martín, professor of sociology, has accepted the position of assistant vice president for Global Education and senior international officer. In this role, he will lead Grinnell's new Institute for Global Engagement and take on the responsibility to promote strategic planning for international education and external partnerships across the College. He will also join President Raynard Kington's senior staff.

This step flows from one of the foremost recommendations of the Global Grinnell Task Force: to create a stronger, more integrative structure to lead the College's international initiatives. Grinnell's high rates of participation in study abroad, large and diverse international student population, and outstanding curricular offerings are compelling strengths. Further collaboration across academic areas, engagement with the Center for Careers, Life, and Service, and the offices of Development and Alumni Relations, Admission, Student Affairs, and Off-Campus Study now promise to give Grinnell a distinctive position of leadership in global education as referenced in the Global Grinnell Task Force Report.

This initiative was also made possible by the great generosity of Carolyn "Kay" Bucksbaum '51, former board chair and now Life Trustee of the College. Her recent $5 million gift created two endowments, one to fund the creation of the senior international officer position and another to create a Global Distinctiveness Fund to support students and faculty through scholarships for global courses and language study, research initiatives, internships abroad, and international projects exploring global problems and challenges. 

David brings outstanding qualifications to his new role. An expert in the sociology, history, and politics of human migration, his teaching and research deeply engage with the transnational forces shaping the contemporary world. Most recently, he co-authored Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas (Harvard University Press, 2014), a book that won major national awards from both the American Sociological Association and the American Political Science Association. He is also the author of The Scramble for Citizens: Dual Nationality and State Competition for Immigrants (Stanford University Press, 2013)—another award-winning book—and numerous scholarly articles and public commentaries. David's engagement with the American Council on Education, his role as director of Grinnell's Center for International Studies over the last three years, and his service as chair of the sociology department have given him valuable administrative experience as well.

The Institute for Global Engagement will provide Grinnell with a vital point for ongoing collaboration among departments and programs and across the divisions of the College. As the new institute takes up the responsibilities formerly held by the Center for International Studies, I am confident that under David's leadership it will make the most of the opportunities provided by Kay's generous gift, as well as the new Global Learning Program courses, which are a direct result of a $4 million gift provided by Trustee Susie McCurry '71 and the Roland and Ruby Holden Family Foundation. The new Humanities and Social Studies Complex will provide an ideal home for the institute alongside Off-Campus Study, the Office of International Student Affairs, and a new Language Resource Center.

In the coming weeks, David and Michael Latham, Vice President for Academic Affairs, will plan for a new faculty and staff steering committee to provide direction for the institute. They will also work with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations to engage trustees, alumni, and friends of the College in its continuing work.