Spotlight on international education at UW-Eau Claire

The Center for International Education at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has been sponsoring many events celebrating curiosity, openness and the transformative power of international education. The week includes food and cultural programming in collaboration with the Activities Involvement and Leadership office, Blugold Dining, languages department, Multicultural Student Services and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Find the International Education Week schedule.

In recognition of International Education Week, we are shining a spotlight on a Blugold student whose language study and multiple international experiences in Japan clearly demonstrate the transformative force of global learning.

Meet Willa Rogers from New Richmond 

Graphic communications major with minors in Japanese and international business

For Willa Rogers, selecting a college came down to a couple important opportunities she was seeking from her undergraduate studies.

“I had strong interests in study abroad and undergraduate research, and UW-Eau Claire quickly stood out to me as the best place for both,” Rogers says.

Rogers also was becoming interested in learning Japanese language and was glad to discover that she could take up to six courses in Japanese as a Blugold. Before she was even officially enrolled, she connected with the main instructor for the language.

“Willa reached out to me before she even started at UW-Eau Claire,” says Dr. Tomomi Kakegawa, professor of Japanese in the languages department.

“As an incoming first-year student, she told me she had been self-teaching Japanese for a year and wanted advice on the placement test and additional learning resources,” Kakegawa says. “That proactive approach has defined Willa’s entire time as a student here.”

In the proactive approach Kakegawa observed, immediately upon arriving in fall 2021, Rogers applied for a job in the Center for International Education (CIE) and is enjoying her fifth year working as a student assistant. Her main duties include creating marketing materials for study abroad programs and assisting students coming to the office with questions or appointments.

Learning more about the study abroad programs through her job helped Rogers narrow down her options for her own international experiences. Rogers has been to Japan three times so far and just finalized plans for another research-based experience in Japan during this year’s spring break. Rogers’ travels to Japan include:

• A full semester abroad in spring 2023 at the University of Kansai Gaidai, Hirakata, Japan.
• A January 2025 international research fellowship program in the cities of Okinawa, Fukuoka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Tokyo, Japan, with Kakegawa and Dr. David Jones, professor of English. The study examined American brands adapting their business model in Japanese culture.
• A summer 2025 marketing and graphic communications internship for a startup company in the tourism industry, located in Saitama, Japan.
• Upcoming March 2026 research fellowship in Tokyo, Japan, with Jones. This study will examine the origins of jazz and blues music in post-World War II Japan and South Korea.

After graduating next spring, Rogers says she hopes to live and work in Japan or potentially attend a Japanese university for graduate school.

“I’m interested in working with U.S. brands that want to expand into Japanese markets,” Rogers says. “There are many elements of Western brands that would require significant changes in order to be considered culturally appropriate in Japan. My design and marketing knowledge combined with my growing understanding of the culture will help them do that successfully.”

When asked what she thinks are the greatest benefits from her many international experiences, Rogers says that for her, it’s always about personal and professional growth.

“Travel just opens our hearts and minds so much,” Rogers says. “I have found that better understanding ourselves comes from better understanding others first. We grow the most when we push past the uncomfortable feeling of learning new things in new places.”

That growth in Rogers has not gone unnoticed, as CIE director Colleen Marchwick points out.

“Willa has grown both personally and professionally through her international experiences,” Marchwick says. “When she was hired as a student assistant in the CIE, she struck me as shy and perhaps a little unsure, not unusual for a first-year student. However, each international experience brought her more confidence, independence and greater problem-solving skills. We see these skills in her work every day in the work she does in our center."