Longtime Partnership with York St. John University Spurs Campus-Wide Global Engagement

“Everyone’s idea of paradise is different, but I sure found mine. I have never had better teachers who were able to get the best work out of me in classes that are the definition of excellent. All this whilst making some of the best friends of my life. In the words of the American icon Woody Guthrie, ‘This is just as close to heaven as my traveling feet have been.’”  

Those were the impressions of Max Atterby, a York St. John student who spend the fall 2018 semester at Pacific University in Forest Grove.

Max’s words strike to the core of the study abroad experience, reminding us that the opportunity to immerse oneself in a university setting and a different culture many miles from home is, for our students, one of the most culturally and academically enriching experiences of their lives. Their return to campus to share that experience, and their newfound impetus to expand their intercultural experiences and global connections,  are the essence of meaningful campus-wide global engagement. 

Vibrant institutional partnerships can be key drivers of this engagement, and none have fulfilled that promise more in recent years than Pacific’s relationship with York St. John University (YSJ) in the United Kingdom. When the initial agreement began in 2007, the goal was a broad, multidimensional partnership was central, given similarities in the academic programs offered by both institutions.

“The ability to nurture and sustain this longstanding collaboration with YSJ has been incredibly important as we strive to fulfill our mission to inspire students to think, care, create, and pursue justice in the world," said Pacific President Jenny Coyle, who has seen firsthand the positive impact of participation in the York exchange on her daughter Katri. "When I visited in 2017, I was so impressed with their commitment to supporting and engaging international students and their desire to embrace the partnership with Pacific University in every way possible.” 

Since 2007, Pacific has sent more than 100 undergraduate students to York for a semester, and received close to 80. In 2024-2025 the exchange is as vibrant as ever, with eight York students on campus in Forest Grove during the fall semester.

The reports from Pacific students returning from a semester in York have been almost uniformly positive.

• Erin Stuhldreher ’18 was an exercise science (now kinesiology) major who said her time in York “did wonders for my confidence navigating within the world, and gave me an entirely new perspective on life. I made friends at YSJ that I still keep in contact with all these years later.”
• Darcy Christoffersen ’18, an English literature major, noted the excitement and positive impact of “meeting such a diverse and interesting group of people. York St. John did an amazing job welcoming all the international students and integrating us with each other and into the YSJ culture.” 
• Katri Herranen ’19, a biology major, said, “I was able to reflect upon who I was as a person and was given the freedom to grow. I came out of my study abroad experience with not only a new perspective of how people in another culture live, but with a new perspective of myself, which made me more confident, resilient, and flexible; all of which positively influenced the rest of my schooling, my relationships, my critical thinking skills, and my sense of self."

Since its inception, the Pacific-York St. John partnership has expanded far beyond the boundaries of traditional study abroad. Several faculty members participated in a formal faculty exchange program from 2010 to 2013, and others have built connections in teh time before and after that exchange, directly expanding learning opportunities for their students. For example: 

ENGL 220, US.-British Cyber Exchange

This multimedia undergraduate class was taught jointly by Pacific English Professor Brent Johnson and a York colleague in 2013 and 2015. It was a hybrid digital exchange course, enabling students from YSJ and Pacific to share perspectives by webcam on varied readings on a biweekly basis. “The readings were organized thematically — from personal and national identity to perspectives on nature — all with the shared goal of seeing where literature is situated in a cultural construct, informing and reflecting differing geopolitical values," Johnson said. "Under each theme, students would read a work by an American author and one by a British author. Students learned from one another about how humor can reflect a national ethos, or how wilderness is tied to one’s national sense of self.” With improved technology now available, Johnson says that he is interested in reviving this model in coming years.

The Converge Partnership

This collaboration between the occupational therapy programs at both institutions focused on an innovative YSJ-initiated program called Converge, an educational program that provides the opportunity for local mental health service users to shed their medical identity and adopt the identity of students through access to higher education. In 2009, then director of Pacific's School of Occupational Therapy John White recognized the potential of Converge to grow unique internship and mentorship opportunities for Pacific students. Pacific faculty member Sean Roush later organized several summer trips for Pacific's OT students to York, enabling them to observe and participate in Converge courses. He also developed a pilot course at PCC Rock Creek, assisted by co-facilitator Leiana Petlewski ’21, who had previously studied abroad at YSJ and interned with Converge. "Students described the Converge York St. John fieldwork as a transformative experience," Roush said. "The opportunity to work side-by-side with individuals who live with mental illness, and deliver educational experiences, provided a real world opportunity to apply the concepts they learned in the classroom and make the theoretical come to life."

Pacific Kinesiology-YSJ School of Sport

Building on the student exchange program, leaders in Pacific's Kinesiology Department and York St. John's School of Sport sought to explore more creative ways to collaborate. In 2016, Pacific's department chair Brian Jackson and YSJ's Brett Wilkie exchanged campus visits, expanding their understanding of each other's programs and building networks. This led to several Pacific and YSJ students collaborating on two senior capstone/research projects in 2018-2019. “The projects, which examined the effects of attentional focus on motor skill acquisition and exercise’s effect on cognition, entailed weekly remote meetings by the students/faculty, collaborative project development, and equivalent data collection occurring in both programs," Jackson said. "Although requiring an additional layer of complexity (e.g., time zones, international ethics boards, etc), the projects were seen as successful pilot programs for future international student research.” While COVID stalled the collaboration, student exchange is ramping back up in Spring 2024, with two YSJ Sports Science students attending Pacific and efforts underway to restart collaborative activities. Jackson also notes Pacific’s new sport leadership & management major (housed in the Kinesiology Department) will create another opportunity for collaboration, given YSJ’s strong sport coaching expertise. 

These collaborations tell only part of the story. Through the years there have been many other individual connections forged through this partnership, in media arts, occupational therapy, English literature, and theater especially. The Pacific-York St. John relationship endures, creating a legacy of lifelong memories and friendships, and the promise of future collaborations and active student exchange.

Stephen Prag served as director of International Programs at Pacific University from 2004 to 2022. Following his retirement, he has reconnected with students who studied abroad — at and from Pacific — during his tenure to share their stories. This is the fifth in his series of stories.