Dr. Ed Brantmeier receives Provost Award for Excellence in Global Education

The Provost Award for Excellence in Global Education shines a light on the work of a JMU faculty member who has dedicated their career to providing international and cross-cultural learning experiences for students. This year’s recipient, Dr. Ed Brantmeier, the Director of Global Engagement Research and Special Projects for the College of Education, exemplifies this commitment. In fact, his robust portfolio of work goes back decades and contains a multitude of unique experiences that have shaped his worldview and informed his work in global education.

Starting as a young man, Brantmeier was first exposed to the world outside his home in rural Wisconsin by his great aunt, a Franciscan nun in Lima, Peru who had an outsized impact on his imagination. Brantmeier reflected, “I drew a lot of inspiration from hearing her stories and learning more about her travels.” He continued, “I grew up in a homogeneous community in northeastern Wisconsin and there was not a lot of exposure to global things, and my great aunt … came back with stories and speaking Spanish and I found it an inspiration to hear of these far-off places.” Because of these early experiences in his own life, Brantmeier sees rural education as a throughline of his career. He highly values exposing young people to global ideas and cultures; opening their minds to different possibilities.

These early exposures to different cultures via his aunt sparked a connection that would inform his early academic career as well. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, he attended Indiana University Bloomington which hosts a unique program called Global Gateway for Teachers. This program allowed Brantmeier to spend a semester student teaching at Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools in the Navajo Nation, teaching “Rural kids who haven't had a lot of experience outward.” Brantmeier is quick to point out that, even though the Navajo Nation is inside the U.S. physically, it is also international education; it’s bilingual, multicultural, and presents similar challenges to what you might see in a foreign country. This experience further deepened his understanding of the transformative power of cross-cultural education and reinforced his belief that meaningful global engagement can happen both abroad and within national borders.

In a decades-long career, it can be difficult to identify specific experiences that shape the direction of one’s work. This is not the case for Brantmeier. He is quick to identify the most profound experiences of his career happened while serving as a Fulbright Nehru scholar in India. To summarize his time there he said, “There are different ways to serve your country. Some people pick up arms and fight in the military, and I have a lot of respect for that, but some of us choose the power of the book and the power of education. We go in unarmed to learn from and with other people in foreign places. That's what I've chosen as my path.” His experience in India formed an ethos based on cross-cultural exchange that he incorporates into his teaching pedagogy and continues to this day. “It's one of the multiplier effects that we talk about in teacher education. Those global, cross-cultural, immersive experiences have the potential to multiply mutual understanding.” Brantmeier's own cross-cultural experiences had a clear impact on his life, and incorporating them into his teaching is his way of paying it forward to the next generation of educators.

Building on the themes developed his Fulbright work, Brantmeier now serves as editor of the Journal of Peace Education, a scholarly publication that “promotes discussions on theories, research, and practices in peace education in varied educational and cultural settings.” In this role, he is keenly aware of his influence on the field and is working to make the journal more reflective of its global context. “The aim and scope of it is to promote intercultural understanding,” he says. “It is a place to advocate, from a scholarly perspective, solid research that looks at how to alleviate various forms of violence all around the world.” Despite the challenges facing the field, cuts to federal funding in particular, Brantmeier remains committed. He believes peace education is more vital than ever in demonstrating that military power is not the only way to resolve conflict.

One example of how Brantmeier is leading in the field of peace education is his work on a high leverage activity abroad in Northern Ireland. The program takes College of Education students for a week of summer school at St. Mary’s University College and Stranmillis University College in Belfast, Northern Ireland to have international experiences and participate in cross-cultural exchange. This high leverage activity was co-designed with the United States Institute of Peace and highlights many themes that resonate through Brantmeier’s career: it focuses on a cross-cultural experience for students, it takes place in a country with a difficult history of recent violence, and the program is offered at low-cost to make it more accessible. This program highlights the work Brantmeier is doing to translate his global value system into tangible experiences for students.

Looking ahead, Brantmeier hopes to continue his work in global education while incorporating new ideas, particularly in the emerging field of regenerative leadership. “I’m most excited about integrating regenerative principles into leadership,” he explains, “because they involve attuning to the earth’s metabolism.” Exploring the idea further: “Regenerative leadership aligns with the rhythms of the earth and recognizes that constant speed and growth are not always sustainable. It calls for deep listening—to the planet and to each other—so that decisions in schools, businesses, and communities are made with the earth in mind.” For Brantmeier, this next phase of his work represents a natural evolution of his lifelong commitment to peace, sustainability, and providing transformative education.

Dr. Ed Brantmeier’s career is a testament to the power of global engagement, intercultural understanding, and the transformative potential of education. From his early experiences in rural Wisconsin to his work as a scholar, teacher, editor, and global leader, he has consistently pursued a vision of education that transcends geographic and cultural borders. As he continues to explore new ideas like regenerative leadership, Brantmeier remains deeply rooted in his mission: to foster peace, connection, and meaningful cross-cultural experiences in education. The Provost Award for Excellence in Global Education not only honors his past contributions but also recognizes the ongoing impact of his work in shaping a more engaged and interconnected world.