Via Makes Work Easier for Global Programs Office

Chloe Weatherill Assistant Director at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School.

Before Chloe Weatherill started at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, the school’s Global Programs Office was primarily using Via for its Trimester Exchange Program. Chloe wanted to expand Via’s use to include the business school’s one-week, faculty-led Global Business Intensives (GBIs).

When the pandemic hit in Spring 2020, Chloe made it a priority to learn the ins and outs of Via. One thing that helped her and her colleagues was to sit in on Via’s group training sessions. “That’s been really good, just to learn how other people are using Via in ways we may not have thought about,” she says. When her team has questions, the Via team is “very responsive.” “It’s like a small community of support,” Chloe says.

Trainings Show Via’s Commitment to Clients

Chloe, who started at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School as a program specialist before being promoted to assistant director in May 2021, says the fact that Via offers the training webinars to existing clients shows their commitment to client relationships. “It says to me that Via wants us to understand the software so we can fully use it,” she says. “It also says to me that Via wants to sustain client relationships. They want to make sure our partnership is mutually beneficial—that they want to grow and improve and add more tools.” Chloe, one of three full-time people on the Global Programs staff, is committed to helping graduate students include global experiences as part of their studies. Many do that through the Global Business Intensives (GBIs), one-week faculty-led immersive experiences in business centers around the world.

Via Keeps Global Programs Office Connected During Pandemic

When she started in Fall 2019, Chloe says Pepperdine Graziadio Business School was planning for 10 GBIs for Spring 2020. But because of the pandemic, everything was canceled that spring and the following fall.

 

The front door of Chloe’s house in Montpellier, France, from her junior year abroad in 2007.

“We dealt with a lot of uncertainty,” Chloe recalls. “We had to pivot to virtual programming for students who were required to do these intensive programs.” Their budget also took a hit—so much so that they were in danger of not being able to renew their software license. Via worked to find a solution to keep them connected, Chloe says. “That demonstrated to us that Via had a priority to maintain relationships rather than just see short-term gains.”

Chloe Believes in the Power of Global Experiences

Working in international education is a perfect fit for Chloe, who knows firsthand the power of global experiences to change the world. A 2009 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she double majored in French and Spanish at UNC and spent her junior year studying in France. She then spent her last semester of senior year in Madrid through Boston University. When she began her master’s coursework in applied linguistics at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), Chloe served as a liaison between BU staff in Boston and their UAM counterparts. After nearly four and a half years in Madrid, Chloe worked as a lecturer in the English department at the Korea Military Academy, the Republic of Korea Army’s equivalent of West Point. She was led to Pepperdine Graziadio Business School through a connection she made at the 2019 NAFSA conference. Working with graduate business students who want a global experience is different than working with undergraduate students, Chloe says. “They’ve spent most of their life in one country in one region,” she observes. “It can be a little bit harder for them to adapt, but at the same time, they have more tools to understand the cultural environment they’re going into and to understand the bigger picture.”

 

A rare Madrid snow storm (in Retiro Park) shortly after Chloe arrived there as a study abroad student in 2009.

While Chloe traveled abroad to build her foreign language skills, that’s not what motivates the graduate students she works with at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. “They’re going on company visits. They’re networking. They may aspire to work globally or to have a global scope even if they’re staying in the United States to work.” Expanding Via’s use to include the Global Business Intensives has helped simplify her workday, Chloe says. Via’s software solutions help reduce the number of emails and attachments she has to deal with—and helps to keep things organized. She also likes the reports function, which allows her to see which students are missing documents without going through each one. “Via,” Chloe says, “makes my life easier.”

Let’s Connect

Like Chloe Weatherill started at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, Via believes global experiences will change our world. That’s why we created traveler relationship management and travel risk management software, which helps universities and study abroad program providers to empower global experiences. If you’re looking for a true education abroad partner, turn to Via. CONTACT US