Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0009-3185-5072

Defense Date

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Education

First Advisor

Beth Bukoski

Second Advisor

Tomika Ferguson

Third Advisor

Carrie LeCrom

Fourth Advisor

Maike Philipsen

Abstract

Internationally minded practitioners and academics have posited for decades that global citizenship could be a tool the world can use to build a stronger and more sustainably minded global culture. Through global citizenship’s inclusion in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Target 4: Quality Education, educators from pre-primary to university have been put at the forefront of this movement. At the higher education level, study abroad is arguably the most important global learning tool used by American institutions today for building global citizenship. However, the vast majority of American students study abroad in Western Europe, leaving a glaring gap in our application of study abroad as a tool for building broad global citizenship. Given the truly global nature of the grand challenges that await us, it is imperative that American higher education faculty, administrators, and institutions have a deeper understanding of how study abroad in other parts of the world might impact students’ sense of global citizenship.

This study explored global citizenship and its role within the American higher education landscape through four students’ experiences of participation within a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) based study abroad program, specifically within the Kingdom of Morocco. It used a portraiture methodology to center student perspectives in an exploration of the following research questions: How does participation within study abroad programing to the MENA region influence American higher education students’ perceptions of themselves as global citizens? And, upon returning home, how has the study abroad experience influenced these students’ perceptions of their ability to take action relative to global challenges? Given the exploration of identity and meaning making through the learning experience, this study employed Mezirow’s transformational learning theory. The study was influenced by the researcher’s own critical and liberal lenses.

The findings of this study suggest a new framework for understanding global citizenship that incorporates three key components: awareness, empathy, and action, centering relationship and relationality. Additionally, the findings suggest that there may be a unique overlap between arts-based study abroad programming and global citizenship identity development. Program-based community building and exposure to raw and vast natural elements are also represented within the study findings as having an overlap with global citizenship development.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

5-7-2026

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