Weaving worlds through community engagement: Telling stories of self for meaning-making in Thailand

Authors

  • Dane Emmerling University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Alice Ammerman University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0974-4888
  • William Pryor University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3990-9318
  • Gina Difino University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Callum Mackenzie Yunus Thailand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v2iForumEATLT2.1207

Keywords:

Critical reflection, community engagement, short-term education abroad, social entrepreneurship, transformative learning

Abstract

“Public Health, Entrepreneurship, and Food Systems in Thailand” exemplifies an innovative, ethically grounded, and academically rigorous approach to short-term education abroad. Students engage in interdisciplinary, community-based projects in partnership with Yunus Thailand, addressing public health and food system challenges while integrating experiential learning with critical reflection. The curriculum emphasizes inclusive and participatory design: students co-created engagement rubrics, scholarships removed barriers, and classroom practices honored diverse ways of knowing. Ethical engagement and reciprocity are foregrounded through the signature “Story of Self” assignment, which combines arts-based expression, spoken narrative, and collective witnessing to foster critical self-reflection, mutual vulnerability, and awareness of community impact. Continuous improvement is supported by iterative feedback from faculty, students, and community partners, informing both experiential and instructional components. By combining immersive engagement, structured reflection, and transdisciplinary learning, the program demonstrates how short-term education abroad can achieve transformative, inclusive, and ethically responsible educational outcomes.

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Author Biographies

Dane Emmerling, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dane Emmerling is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health focused on program evaluation, teaching, and participatory research. Dane’s pedagogy is centered on the process of sociopolitical development through which individuals increase their analytic skills and capacity to build a healthier and more just world. He researches and evaluates critical consciousness raising interventions, or experiences and programs that shift individuals’ and institutions’ attitudes and behaviors about their participation in systems. Before UNC, Dane worked in global health evaluation and in service-learning offices supporting universities linkages with community organizations.

Alice Ammerman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Alice Ammerman is interested in design, testing, implementation and dissemination of innovative clinical and community-based nutrition and physical activity interventions for chronic disease risk reduction in low-income populations. She is Director of the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP), part of a national network of 26 CDC prevention research centers (PRCs) that work with community partners to identify public health problems to develop and evaluate prevention-focused public health interventions for wide dissemination. Her research addresses the role of sustainable food systems in health, the environment, and economic well-being, emphasizing the social determinants of health, particularly food access and food insecurity. She has a developing interest in Culinary Medicine to improve medical training programs and uses social entrepreneurship as a sustainable approach to addressing public health concerns.

William Pryor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

William Pryor IV, M.Ed. is a doctoral student, educator, and researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill. His work centers on community-engaged experiential learning and the design of educational experiences that connect students with local and global communities. He is interested in creating reciprocal partnerships that benefit both learners and community stakeholders. Prior to his doctoral studies, he spent four years teaching in K–12 schools, where he developed a passion for learning that extends beyond the classroom. 

Gina Difino, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Gina Difino, MA, is an international educator with Honors Carolina at UNC-Chapel Hill. She seeks to connect faculty and students to partners and opportunities abroad that facilitate mutual understanding in facing the world’s great problems thoughtfully. She has worked in education from kindergarten through executives and is passionate about intercultural and experiential learning. She holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Grinnell College and a master’s degree in international education from SIT Graduate Institute.

Callum Mackenzie, Yunus Thailand

Callum Mackenzie is a social business leader who has pioneered innovations across multiple sectors, implemented projects across +10 countries, and worked with social impact organizations, governments, international organizations, and corporations. He is experienced in building and leading purpose-driven, multicultural and entrepreneurial teams, while he teaches social entrepreneurship and leadership at universities around the world.

References

Boler, M. (1999). Feeling Power: Emotions and Education (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203009499

Ganz, M., Lee Cunningham, J., Ben Ezer, I., & Segura, A. (2023). Crafting public narrative to enable collective action: A pedagogy for leadership development. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 22(2), 169–190. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2020.0224

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Published

2026-06-16

How to Cite

Emmerling, D., Ammerman, A., Pryor, W., Difino, G., & Mackenzie, C. (2026). Weaving worlds through community engagement: Telling stories of self for meaning-making in Thailand. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 2(ForumEATLT2), 18–24. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v2iForumEATLT2.1207

Issue

2026: Education Abroad Teaching & Learning Toolbox, powered by The Forum on Education Abroad

Section

EA Teaching & Learning Toolbox - Program Models

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Dane Emmerling, Alice Ammerman, William Pryor, Gina Difino, Callum Mackenzie

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.