Upcoming events
We do not currently have any alumni events scheduled, but if you are an alumnus interested in coming to speak with our GIST students, please contact us.
Featured alumni and events
October 2020
Alumni Achievement and Pillar Award Winner Daniel Hadley, US Foreign Service
Daniel S. Hadley is a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State, currently serving at U.S. Embassy Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan as a Political Officer. Previously, he served at U.S. Consulate Guangzhou, China, and the U.S. Mission to the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Hadley served as a Presidential Management Fellow in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, focusing on China. Mr. Hadley received a M.A. in International Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in 2012, and a B.A. in Global and International Studies (GIST) from Western Michigan University in 2010. While studying at WMU, he completed a year abroad at the Beijing Language and Culture University in China. Mr. Hadley is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran as well as a native of Newaygo, MI.
October 2019
Alumni Achievement Awardee Kathleen Fish, Immigration Law
Katie Fish, a Global and International Studies alumna with the class of 2011, double majored in Spanish with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies while at WMU. Shortly after graduating from Western, Katie attended Thomas M. Cooley Law School (now Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She graduated and was sworn in to practice law in Michigan in May 2015 and Ohio in May 2016. Much of her legal work has focused on deportation defense and family-based immigration. She was selected by Super Lawyers for a "Rising Star" award in 2019. In 2019, she accepted a position at Ellis Porter LLC immigration attorneys in Detroit, Michigan.
October 2018
Alumni Achievement Awardee Diana Bergwin, US Congress
Diana Bergwin is the Subcommittee Staff Director of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency. Currently, she oversees all committee operations, manages committee staff, serves as the primary advisor to the Subcommittee Chair and Subcommittee Members on issues relating to homeland security, authors legislation and manages passage process, organizes all committee hearings, briefings, mark-ups, and site visits, and conducts oversight over the Department of Homeland Security.
Alumni Achievement Awardee (World Languages and Literatures) Sarah Murray, Higher Education
Sarah Murray double-majored in French and Global and International Studies at Western Michigan University. She is currently a project manager at the Eppley Institute, a company that focuses on environmental stewardship. She possesses a Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan. She served as the Associate Director of Indiana University’s Office of International Development.
October 2017
Alumni Achievement Awardee Clifford Pulley III
Global and international studies alumnus Clifford Pulley III was awarded with the CAS Alumni Achievement Award in 2017. Pulley is a Direct Procurement Sourcing Specialist at Whirlpool Corporation in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He spent about 3 years working for the corporation's branch in China.
February 2016
Global and international studies alumnus Matt Pruitt (below, right) was invited by the GIST program to come speak about his transition from GIST graduate to international development worker in Kyrgyzstan with the Peace Corps. Pictured here with GIST Research Assistant, Chikezie Kenneth Okoli (below, left), who interviewed Pruitt for a feature in the GIST newsletter.
GIST graduate Matt Pruitt (right) with GIST doctoral assistant Chikezie Okoli.
October 2016
WMU alumnus Michael Riedel (below, center), Area Director for the Western Hemisphere, United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service, was awarded this year's 2016 Alumni Achievement Award on behalf of the global and international studies program and the College of Arts and Sciences. Riedel graduated from Western Michigan University in 1994 with a degree in international and comparative politics in Political Sciences and received his M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University's Elliot School in Washington, D.C. He is pictured here with former GIST director Laura Hastings (below, right) and GIST instructor Thomas Kostrzewa (below, left).
Let us know!
How are you doing? Where are you now? How has your degree in global and international studies at Western Michigan University helped you? Complete our alumni profile form or contact us at (269) 387-5653.
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