Great leadership starts with good management, but being an effective manager requires more than professional experience or a leadership title. In an increasingly demanding education abroad landscape, how can we become more intentional in the way we lead, support, and develop our teams?

In this episode of Changing Lives Through Education Abroad, host Zac Macinnes sits down with Christine Trinidad, Senior Director of Programs and Advising at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to explore the importance of reflective management and its role in building stronger, more effective teams. Together, they discuss why management is a skill that must be intentionally developed, how to create meaningful opportunities for feedback and professional growth, and the challenges of balancing collaboration, accountability, and strategic priorities. As education abroad offices navigate growing expectations and limited resources, Christine shares insights on how managers can embrace reflection, adapt their approaches, and cultivate workplace environments where both employees and organizations can thrive.

Strategic planning can be more than setting goals for an education abroad office. When done intentionally, it can connect global experiences to the broader priorities of an institution, from student success and retention to career readiness, belonging, and long-term growth.

In this episode, host Zac Macinnes sits down with Rick Batchelor, Director of Learning Abroad at the University of Utah, to explore how his team has aligned its work with the university’s broader strategic vision. Rick shares lessons from Utah’s strategic planning process, including engaging stakeholders across campus, turning institutional priorities into actionable initiatives, building purposeful partnerships, and using strategy to expand programs and capacity. Together, they discuss how education abroad leaders can move beyond simply creating a plan and instead position global experiences as an integral part of their institution’s future.

When it comes to education abroad, is more choice always better? At the University of Arkansas, a portfolio of more than 900 program options presented an unexpected challenge: students were overwhelmed, staff resources were stretched, and it was increasingly difficult to intentionally guide students toward programs that reflected institutional priorities and student needs.

In this episode, Zac sits down with Aley Bedair, Director of Study Abroad and International Exchange at the University of Arkansas, to explore how her team reimagined its approach to portfolio management. Aley shares how student data, campus stakeholders, institutional values, and objective program evaluation helped Arkansas move toward a more focused portfolio of sponsored programs while preserving student choice. They discuss what makes a strong university-provider partnership, why portfolio refinement and curricular alignment shouldn't necessarily happen at the same time, and how education abroad offices of any size can begin by asking a deceptively simple question: What story does our portfolio tell?