As the US role in global governance shifts, so too does the role of US universities. US higher education’s global dominance in research, rankings, and international recruitment has given way to uncertainty as federal research dollars are cut, rankings slip, and international recruitment hinges on the vagaries of federal policy that intentionally targets international students. Land grant institutions like ours are particularly threatened not only through our laboratories and admissions, but also in our outreach, as engagement with local communities becomes fraught with political ramifications. Research on US internationalization has long critiqued hegemonic programs and imbalanced exchange. Can higher education use this decentered moment to reimagine international education? In this talk, I describe practice-based research that aims to foster collaboration across cultural differences through local and global engagement.