At Penn State, we appreciate our faculty and staff. They bring in their distinguish strengths and make Penn State a unique place. The People at Penn State column features our faculty and staff who have contributed tremendously to the internationalization of Penn State. In this article, we interviewed Mark Mattson, Head of Global Engagement Initiatives and International Partnerships Librarian from University Libraries.
Mark Mattson has received one of the two 2021 Michael P. Malone International Leadership Awards from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The award annually recognizes individuals who advance international education at public universities in the United State. We interviewed Mark to get an insight of his role in the University.
Congratulations for the award and thank you for spending time with us today. First, could you please share about the focus of your office and what makes you to choose this job?
Mattson: Thank you! The office of Global Engagement Initiatives is invented by Dr. Barbara Dewey, the former Dean for Library, and my supervisor, Chris Avery, who oversees special projects in the University Libraries. The establishment of this is really tied to the University’s focus in the strategic plan on global engagement and internationalization work. I am the lucky person who got the role and I have been very fortunate to have the support of all the Penn State Libraries employees and developing that into a reality.
The reason I applied to this position is that many parts of this work really spoke to me. I did major in international and global work. And that is not always apparently in librarianship. So, when I started the position, it was really focused on international engagement/global engagement. The position was very appealing. My wife also teaches ESL here at Penn State and we have been here for many years. I have been very involved and active in the international community here. In addition, I was very interested in having a new way of serving our international population on campus as well.
Can you share global events that you initiated or supported?
Mattson: There are a couple of initiatives that I would love to share, because those events are created for international students to get involved. I will list two of them and other things we have done. The first one was created during the pandemic, and we are going to continue doing it. It is called International Student Personal Librarian Program, where international student can sign up in Canvas to have their own personal librarian that they can get in touch with and receive help from. Most students already have a librarian. They have a subject librarian as well. But this is another point of contact that is specifically for international students to get helps and services from the library. So, if you have questions about services, resources, or spaces, the personal librarian would be able to help you work through that.
Another project we started and got little bit derailed by the pandemic is we are starting an International Student Oral History project in Penn State’s Special Collections and Archive. The idea behind the project is to make sure that we are getting the international student experiences and international student voices into Penn State’s official record and making sure those voices are heard. We hope more students can participate in both of them. And for the Oral History project, we are actually starting to look at bringing past students or alumni who may share their experiences as international students on campus.
We have created a lot of global engagement events in the libraries. Most of what we did are in collaborations with other groups on campus. For example, we did a film series with a student organization. We have invited speakers and offered exhibits. A couple of years ago, we presented an exhibit called academic libraries around the world, featuring how academic libraries function and work in international contexts. And we worked with IECP (Intensive English Communication Program) here as well as EPPIC (English for Professional Purposes and Intercultural Center). We also created Intercultural Dialog events to be part of International Education Week. We have done a lot of things and we are always open to partnering with folks who may have other ideas of projects or programs they like.
How do you appreciate the opportunity to engage international student and faculty?
Mattson: This is the part of my job that I really enjoy. The University has such a rich resource in our international community. I really love that a lot of our campuses, which are not in big cities, but you can still walk down the street and in one block you can hear Mandarin, Russian etc. all in the same place. I think that really is such a valuable thing that Penn State is lucky to have for the international community here.
I really see my role is looking for new ways that the University Libraries can support that population and in collaboration with them. Meanwhile, we need the support from international community to tell us the challenges that they are facing and how our libraries work to solve those challenges. It is not like that the libraries know all the challenges and present new services to meet those challenges. We discover new services from conversations with international groups. I value our international students, faculty and visiting scholars, and all the richness that they bring to the University. I want to be able to support them and thank those folks for being here and being part of the University.
How did those programs increase the global connection of Penn State?
Mattson: I think what we were trying to do with our programing and events is to build bridge. Penn State is such a large institution and sometimes it is easy to stay in a small part of the campus, or remain in one group of your colleagues and friends. Sometimes, we get stuck in our own areas. We say the library is the heart of the university. I really see the library as a common space where engineering students may meet with philosophy students, because they may not run into each other at the places where they take courses. We want to use our programs to let student experience something different and get to know their neighbors, both in the community and in the university. Also, students across campuses and faculty across campuses can learn about each other in those projects. All libraries across Penn State are under one management. We want to use this advantage to increase the connections between people.
How would you like to continue your professional journey in Global Engagement?
Mattson: I am really excited about where we are going. Penn State Global has a new strategic plan that I think is really exciting and truly ambitious. What I am looking forward to now is aligning the library global engagement work with that plan. So, we are contributing to those goals and success of the University. Now with the new eyes of the strategic plan, we will see where we will fit in. I think there are many new opportunities for us to contribute.
What are your fun memories with Penn State Global?
Mattson: All of the events are fun in different ways. Obviously, the food often accompany with those events are good. I got to taste many fantastic international dishes. I really enjoy seeing the interactions. There are some photos that were taken at the Intercultural Dialog events in which our former dean was talking to student presenters. It was very rewarding and fun to see the interaction among people. In addition, I saw student who did not register for the event were stopping by to see what was going on and joined the conversation.
In your mind, what should a library be like?
Mattson: In my mind, a library should meet the needs of its population. I do not think there should be one type of library. Libraries should not be the same, because there are different needs for community. A perfect library to me is a library that is providing the resources, the services and the functions that the community needs. So, for an academic library like Penn State, I see it to be an open, welcoming place where people feel they belong, and they can find the help or resources that they need in their academic life and personal life. Here at Penn State libraries, there are tons of people who are looking at that and try to make that a reality.
