Van Lew Helps Students Discover U of A as GSIE Recruitment Coordinator

Cassandra Thomas

Andrew Van Lew

Graduate and international education is all about discoveries — the discovery of knowledge, the discovery of research and creative scholarship that improves lives and the discovery of new countries, cultures and people. The Graduate School and International Education is celebrating our students, faculty and staff that make discoveries happen at the U of A.

Growing up in northern California, Andrew Van Lew was immersed in a melting pot of different cultures from east Asia and Latin America, among others. That experience, along with traveling with his family across the border to Mexico and elsewhere, sparked a desire to live in and discover new places.

That desire led him to teach middle and high schoolers in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as a Peace Corps volunteer, before becoming an ESL teacher and academic director of a foreign language institute in South Korea. Then it led him to another unlikely destination — Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he began as an international student adviser at the U of A before becoming the graduate and international recruitment coordinator in the Graduate School and International Education.

"I've always liked to travel, learn about other cultures and help people who wanted to improve their lives through education in other countries," he said. "I've always liked to live in different places, and Arkansas is about as different as you can get from California."

In his role, Van Lew leads GSIE's recruiting efforts of graduate and international students, supervising a graduate recruiter while focusing personally on international recruitment. Recently, he traveled to Vietnam for a recruiting trip and is planning trips to the Bahamas, Panama and Bolivia this school year, where he helps prospective students discover the many benefits of studying at the U of A.

"At the U of A, you're more than just a number," he said. "We have a strong international community supported by our International Students and Scholars Office. It's an incredibly safe campus and community as well. Our University Police Department is great with our international students — they have an annual Dodgeball and Donuts with UAPD officers. It's hard to be intimidated by a police officer when you've previously thrown rubber balls at them."

"And, you're studying at a Carnegie Research 1 university, which means you're not going to just learn about the past and present — you're going to help create the future," he continued, adding that he also talks to prospective students about the many job opportunities available in the Northwest Arkansas region after graduation.

It's a job perfectly suited for Van Lew, an extrovert by nature who enjoys the social interactions of the job.

"GSIE is a great place to work," he said. "Everyone here is so collaborative and supportive. My supervisors and bosses have also invested quite a bit in my professional development."

When he's not working, Van Lew is studying for his doctoral degree in higher education from the U of A, playing board games or reading a book - his favorite author is Anton Chekhov. He also loves to travel, citing South Korea as his favorite country to travel for food and Turkey and Russia as his favorite countries to travel to for culture.

"International education is important because it helps people learn how to think differently and handle themselves culturally," he said. "A lot of people think international education is just about having more diversity, but it has real-world implications for all of us."

"If you spent time in another country or been around people from another country, you recognize that they think differently and that their country isn't exactly like our country," he added.