Dr. Sam Heikinen is the Associate Vice President for Global Engagement at Slippery Rock University. Sam's years of working in global education began when he started as a faculty member teaching English at a small university in northeast China. What originally was a ten-month assignment quickly turned into five years, full of growth, discovery, travel, language-learning, and falling in love with another country and culture. Nearly 20 years later, the trajectory set through those experiences guides his passion for study abroad, faculty-led programming, language training programs, international enrollment management, and engaging international students with U.S. students in ways that promote diversity and inclusion at SRU.