Global Affairs Vice Provost and Dean Joanna Regulska to retire Nov. 1
Looking back on Regulska’s 11 years building global education opportunities
By LILY KENROW — campus@theaggie.org
Dr. Joanna Regulska, vice provost and dean of UC Davis Global Affairs, has announced that she will retire from her role at the university on Nov. 1. The announcement comes after 11 years of working at UC Davis, having joined the university in 2015.
As head of Global Affairs, Regulska has been responsible for welcoming international students, supporting global research and internship opportunities for students and faculty as well as addressing global inequalities at the university.
“My responsibility, being at the university, is to make global learning accessible, affordable, open and allow students to understand how important global relations, international relations are and will be in their life,” Regulska told The California Aggie in an interview.
During her time as dean, Regulska launched Global Education for All, developed UC Davis’ first Global Strategic Plan (which guides its global learning, research and partnership efforts), advocated for grants and scholarships and expanded collaborations with universities abroad.
Among these, Regulska considers the Global Education for All program among her proudest achievements. The program, started during her first year at UC Davis, works to provide all students with global learning opportunities.
“Now, thousands of students every year have access to all kinds of international global engagements,” Regulska said. “That is something for a large public university — to be able to stimulate faculty, staff, leadership, everybody to believe that we should provide global learning opportunities to students, is really important.”
Another project Regulska has worked on was the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda and United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, which includes 17 goals calling on all countries for global partnership in ending poverty, tackling climate change and improving health and education. She also wrote a book published in 2024 with co-author Jolynn Shoemaker called “Global Goals, Global Education” discussing how higher education institutions can contribute to the UN Agenda 2030. Shoemaker is the senior director of Global Engagements at the UC Davis Global Affairs office.
“Those are great things because I think they change our campus, and they make it very open and global and engaging for our students,” Regulska said.
Michael Lazzara, associate vice provost of Academic Programs and Partnerships in Global Affairs, will serve as interim vice provost and dean of Global Affairs starting Oct. 1. There will be a one month overlap between Regulska and Lazzara, in order to ensure a smooth transition.
Regulska is also a professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, and said her work in gender and women’s studies intersected with her international work starting in the 1990s with central Eastern European countries.
“I became very much interested in the local space,” Regulska said. “The local level is the most critical because this is where people live, work and engage their agency. You need to have that collective empowerment at the local level, in order to bring the change.”
Regulska became involved in building programs, raising funds and establishing foundations in the region. She also used her experience as a Polish immigrant to take an intersectional lens and work with other feminists in the surrounding countries, including Belarus, Ukraine and Hungary.
Regulska received her Ph.D. from University of Colorado Boulder in Geography. Before joining UC Davis, she worked at Rutgers University as a professor of women’s and gender studies and vice president of international and global affairs.
“We have a responsibility to engage our students in broader thinking,” Regulska said. “To engage our students in critical thinking and recognizing the value of different lived experiences.”
Written by: Lily Kenrow — campus@theaggie.org