Meet Our Team
Maegan Stevens-Liska, M.A. Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs
Maegan Stevens-Liska serves as University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs and oversees the offices of Global Experiences, Global Partnerships and Initiatives, International Student and Scholar Services, and Programs in English as a Second Language. She is responsible for continued progress on the Forward Together: A Global Strategy for UNL strategic plan and completing the vision of the global education center in Louise Pound Hall.
Stevens-Liska has had a significant impact on the university's global initiatives serving international students. She has provided leadership on key programs with the U.S. Department of State including serving as Administrative Director and Principal Investigator for the Mandela Washington Fellowship; PI for the Leadership in Higher Education Program with the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture; and PI for the Center for Entrepreneurship's Summer Virtual Exchange Program with Egypt. She also served as PI for UNL's Global Virtual Project for students in the U.S., Middle East, and North Africa supported by the Stevens Initiative and Bezos Family Foundation.
Additionally, Stevens-Liska has worked closely with Fulbright Commissions around the world to establish programs at UNL, most notably with Argentina and Germany. She has also worked closely with Nebraska's Center for Children, Youth, Families and Schools to establish their partnership with early childhood education professionals across Brazil.
Prior to working at UNL, Stevens-Liska taught at the Dresden International School and at the Dresden Volkshochschule, e.V. in Germany. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a Master of Arts in information science and learning technologies from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Dave Long Director of Global Safety & Security
Dave is responsible for the development and implementation of university-wide policies and procedures related to international risk management and mitigation. In his capacity, he supports educational programs that include outbound mobility by assessing risks and ensuring that crisis response plans are put in place. He monitors world events based on institutional exposure and works with travelers to mitigate risk. In concert with AVC Davis, Dave oversees the Executive Memorandum No. 25 Travel Warning Waiver process for UNL students. Dave also supports international students and scholars on campus, working in concert with multiple offices across Nebraska to respond to crises or advise on protocols. Prior to joining Nebraska, Dave lived and worked abroad in the security industry within the Humanitarian NGO community and in private contracting. His first posting was in North Africa, where for three years he supported development agencies in Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania. He then moved to East Africa to support the relief agency, Samaritan’s Purse, and conducted critical operations in South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Additionally, Dave was posted in Iraq for two years with the same agency, where he supported relief efforts in Iraq and Syria after the fall of Mosul. Dave has working knowledge of Spanish, Western Arabic, and Sorani Kurdish. He holds a B.A. in International Studies from Georgia Southern University.
Christopher C. Heselton, Ph.D.Associate Director, Office of Global Partnerships & Initiatives
Chris is responsible for supporting and managing Nebraska’s East Asian initiatives and programs. He sees his mission as a cultural and academic interlocutor, striving to build engagement with China and East Asia in U.S. education. He received two B.A.s in Chinese history and linguistics from the University of Maryland, College Park (2005), and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Chinese and world history from the University of California, Irvine (2012, 2017). His doctoral dissertation, Saving the People from Fire and Water: Post-war Reconstruction after the Taiping Civil War, 1864-1894, focused on issues of post-war institutions, trauma, war memory and commemoration, refugees and veterans following one of the largest conflicts in human history. Chris is deeply interested in many contemporary Chinese issues, from agricultural and water resources in the North China plain, to teaching Chinese as a second language and Chinese culture and arts. He speaks Chinese, Classical Chinese and Spanish. Prior to UNL, Chris lived in Beijing, China for seven years and travelled through much of East Asia.
Elizabeth Khalil, M.A. Administrative Support Manager, Office of Global Partnerships & Initiatives
Liz Khalil serves as the primary contact for our collaborators across campus and in the community while assisting Global Affairs directors and staff. She works closely with Accounting, Human Resources and Procurement to keep office operations efficient. Prior to joining GPI, she was with the Johnny Carson School of Theatre & Film and the Confucius Institute. She hails from the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution (Delaware), but is a Nebraska alum twice over. She holds a B.A. in Art History and French and an M.A. in Modern Languages with a specialization in French. While completing her M.A., Liz served as a graduate teaching assistant and discovered a love for literary translation, narratology, and teaching beginning French. She has traveled all over Europe, has been to Ireland with her Irish grandma more times than she can count, and is looking forward to checking more countries off her travel wish list.
