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Since his arrival at UNCW in 1997, Darrell Irwin, associate professor of criminal justice, has consistently advocated globalization in his teaching, research and service and prompted his students to become global citizens. His efforts earned him the 2009 Faculty Global Citizen Award, presented annually during International Education Week. Nominated for the award by Kimberly Cook, chair of the UNCW Department of Sociology and Criminology, the call for nominations does not stipulate that a recipient have made global contributions in all areas of teaching, advising, research, service and study abroad programming. As Cook pointed out, however, Irwin has indeed gone global in all of these areas.
Irwin has taken students to China during the last three summers. He says, "Arranging the trip to Beijing for UNCW and other university students has been a mission of mine for the past four years. Seeing my students arriving in China and immersed in the culture and dynamics of Chinese development is really one the best experiences in my life".
Students toured Beijing, walked the Great Wall, studied Mandarin and learned about Chinese cultural and economic systems. He has not limited his global teaching to taking students abroad. His courses, such as "Globalization: Hot Zones, Transitions and Renewal" encourage students to think globally while learning locally. Outside of teaching, he has done extensive research on South Africa's four Nobel Peace Prize laureates - Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk. His article "Awards for Suffering: The Nobel Peace Prize Winners of South Africa," was published in the June 2009 issue of Contemporary Justice Review. He also penned an Op-Ed, "Obama's Peace Prize in Perspective," for the Wilmington Star-News.
Irwin's service contributions are equally global in perspective. He has spearheaded numerous initiatives including organizing a teach-in on NATO's War in Yugoslavia (1999), hosting dignitaries and police officers from Poland as part of a program offered through the U.S. Department of State (2002-2006), and introducing a film shown in Lumina Theater that dealt with current conditions in Sierra Leone (2009). This latter activity complements an in-class project "Crimes against Humanity," in which students prepare presentations on the war in Sierra Leone and other areas afflicted by conflict. Off campus, Irwin has been active in the Haiti Connection, an organization in Raleigh that provides relief to this Caribbean country currently experiencing great suffering from the recent earthquake.
