Andrew Mahlstedt
27 March 2017
Acting Head of UWC-USA
Andrew holds a B.A. and an M.A. (English) from Middlebury College, an M.A. (International Comparative Education) from Stanford University, and a PhD (English) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2013-2016, he was Deputy Head and taught ToK, History, and English at UWC Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, he has taught at UWC Mahindra College, the Prison University Project at San Quentin Prison, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Middlebury College. His M.A. thesis at Stanford focused on the relationship between the UWC educational program and the International Baccalaureate, and his doctoral dissertation examined the ethics of representing abject poverty in the global south. Andrew has been involved with UWC, in one form or another, since 2002. Beyond work, he is the single father of two small children.
Having seen UWC from across nearly all of its entities – in three colleges, a short course, two national committees, and even UWC International – he is passionate about the potential for UWC to achieve its mission by continuing to network together our diverse movement.
“Our diversity supercharges our learning both in the classroom and in less formal learning environments. Students are challenged in dorm conversations, academic discussions, and expeditions to take the perspectives of their peers into account A conversation about borders will land differently for a U.S. student from Arizona and a student from Ukraine and a student from Rwanda. This generates learning at UWC-USA in a way that other schools can only imagine.”