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Globie Awards 09 Interview: Patricia Walters

I think Pat deserves to be recognized with this award because she's a very important person in the English Language Center. She's an important person to the students because they can come to her and talk to her about the problems that they're facing. She's also really important for the faculty and the staff. We kind of think of her as the go-to person; she's the person we go to when we have problems, when we have a question about cultural issues, or when we're wondering about what to do for a student who has a problem. Pat has done a lot to make MSU an internationally friendly campus. I know that she tirelessly works with other departments to build relationships to make sure that students understand the policies of other departments. One of the things that I think makes Pat so special is that she's very dedicated to the international students and to really listening to them. One of the things I think people notice first about her is the graciousness with which she deals with the students. Pat also volunteers for a lot of things on campus; she works with World Languages Day, Grandparent's University, the Global Festival, so she does a lot to make sure people are aware of the international students on campus and what other people can do to learn more about intercultural issues.

There's a kind of energy that comes from interacting with international students for me and it's almost embarrassing to say because really it's a selfish motivation I guess when it really comes down to it because there's an energy of give-and-take when you have interpersonal interactions and if you are not being fed energy, well, you don't continue to do that activity. Without a doubt, when I am working with people from other cultures, and I'm sort of the face of my own culture, I find a tremendous amount of energy coming back to me by just extending a little bit of energy to whomever it is that needs that support. Working in the international community, you often encounter students, who just need just a little bit of help, a little bit of support somewhere. No matter where I travel whether it's in my own culture or outside of my own culture, just generally, I find that I've always been met with kind people. I mean, amazing problems I've had and someone is always there to lend a hand. And I just feel like well if I can also be that kind of open-smile, supportive kind of person to help someone else, it is very gratifying.

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