Four questions with Felix Ngassa

June 16, 2026 (Volume 49, Number 18)

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Felix Ngassa, back row at left, stands with colleagues from the NAFSA Executive Internationalization Leadership e-Institute.

It's been a busy few months for Felix Ngassa. After two years in the Office of the Provost, Ngassa transitioned to a role as assistant vice president in the Division of Enrollment Development and College Futures. 

Below, the former chair of University Academic Senate and professor of chemistry discusses how his background and year-long participation in a NAFSA Executive Internationalization Leadership e-Institute bridge the fields of academic affairs and enrollment to enhance Grand Valley's internationalization efforts.

You recently transitioned to work within the Division of Enrollment Development and College Futures. What are your responsibilities? 
My role as assistant vice president for International Enrollment and Academic Partnerships is new and I am in the early stages of learning the full scope of the work already underway across this division and the university. At its core, the position sits at the intersection of international enrollment strategy and academic affairs, and that intersection is exactly what it was designed to strengthen and coordinate. I will work to advance Grand Valley's international enrollment by supporting the global pipelines, pathway partnerships and institutional agreements that bring students from around the world to our campus. 

Equally important, I will serve as a connector between the Division of Enrollment Development and College Futures and Academic Affairs: deepening and extending the collaborative relationships that faculty, department chairs and academic units have long cultivated as partners in this work. Grand Valley has talented, experienced colleagues leading international recruitment and enrollment across Admissions and Recruitment, the Padnos International Center, the colleges and Academic Affairs. My job is to help coordinate those efforts, amplify what is working and bring additional capacity to a strategy that is already well underway. 

International enrollment at U.S. universities has dropped dramatically. What strategies does Grand Valley have for international recruitment? 
The national decline in international enrollment is real, and it would be a mistake to underestimate the pressure that federal policy uncertainty around visas and immigration is placing on institutions. What gives me confidence about Grand Valley's position is that we have not been standing still. Through this division, in partnership with Academic Affairs, the colleges and faculty, the university has been developing a comprehensive international recruitment strategy. It diversifies our geographic markets, builds new pathway agreements with institutions around the world, supports faculty engagement in recruitment and strengthens our capacity to serve international students from arrival through degree completion. We have multiple pathway partnerships in active development, reflecting years of investment by our teams. 

One thing that energizes me about this work is the full picture of what international students bring to Grand Valley, not only as contributors to enrollment sustainability, but as innovators and entrepreneurs who enrich our academic community and our regional economy. We have seen students who came to Grand Valley through College of Computing partnerships launch startups and secure customers here in West Michigan — that kind of contribution is what we want to grow. Our academic strength, our location, our workforce outcomes and our commitment to student success make a compelling case. The opportunity ahead is to ensure that story reaches the right global audiences. 

You were once an international student. How does that experience impact your work today?
I came to the United States for the first time almost 30 years ago to pursue graduate studies. That transition shaped everything about how I understand this work. I know what it feels like to navigate a new country, an academic culture and a language of institutional norms, all at the same time and without a roadmap. I know international students arrive with extraordinary preparation and ambition. What they need most isn't sympathy. They need a system that meets them where they are and invests in their success. 

That's why one of the central arguments of the comprehensive internationalization plan that I am developing for Grand Valley, as part of the NAFSA internationalization cohort, is that equity cannot be an aspiration — it has to be a design principle. When I think about the students who will come through our partnerships across Africa, Asia and beyond, I'm not thinking about enrollment numbers in the abstract. I'm thinking about individuals who made courageous decisions to pursue their futures far from home. Grand Valley has the opportunity to be exactly the institution they hoped they were coming to. I don't take that responsibility lightly. 

How do internationalization efforts benefit Grand Valley? 
Study abroad, virtual exchanges, faculty partnerships and international student pipelines only create real institutional value when they're coordinated toward a shared purpose, not when they're pursued in isolation as individual programs. Grand Valley has a rich array of internationalization activities: our Immersive Virtual Exchange collaborations across Canada, Germany, Hungary and beyond; our faculty engagement with global institutions; our growing international student community. What I'm focused on building is the connective tissue that makes all those efforts reinforce each other. 

Our computing partnerships are a good example of what comprehensive design looks like: a student pipeline, an academic collaboration and a faculty engagement opportunity all at once. When we bring international students into the College of Computing, faculty become invested in their success in ways that enrich the classroom for all students. And when we engage our own students in virtual exchanges with peers around the world, they're gaining global competencies without ever leaving Grand Valley. Every student at Grand Valley, regardless of their financial means, background or major, deserves to graduate prepared to engage in an interconnected world. That's the standard I'm holding this work to.

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