Eddie Boucher receives 2025-26 Inclusive Excellence Award

April 9, 2026 - Kelly Smith

Eddie Boucher holding his Inclusive Excellence Award and standing next to the Sparty mascot. Eddie Boucher, associate director of the Center for Integrative Studies in Social Science and a core faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Studies and Global and International Studies programs, has received a 2025-26 Inclusive Excellence Award from Michigan State University.

Dr. Boucher’s work advances innovative, community-engaged, and globally focused learning experiences that expand pathways for student success.

His teaching integrates interdisciplinary inquiry with public-facing scholarship, using documentary filmmaking and storytelling to help students engage complex topics around culture, inequality and globalization. Extending beyond traditional classroom instruction, his work emphasizes applied learning, collaboration and meaningful community impact.

Building on this collaborative approach, Dr. Boucher has designed and led high-impact education abroad programs across the United States and established a collaborative program in Rajasthan, India. Through this initiative, MSU students partner with local students and artisans to document craft traditions while examining the global forces shaping cultural production. These sustained efforts have had a measurable influence on fostering cross-cultural understanding, expanding student access to experiential learning and creating lasting partnerships that benefit both students and communities.

“Experiential learning like this isn’t possible by one person alone,” said Dr. Boucher. “What we’ve built wouldn’t be possible without collaboration.”

Eddie Boucher, shaking hands with MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz during the Inclusive Excellence Awards Ceremony.

“I’m the professor and a research scholar, but Stefan Lindahl, our program assistant, helps demystify filmmaking for our students, just as I work to demystify research,” said Dr. Boucher. “We’ve grown together as a team. He brings a different perspective on student experience — he’s globally minded and understands how to make this work accessible and real for students. Everywhere we’ve worked — India, Lansing, Las Vegas — this kind of learning has been built through collaboration. I couldn’t do this work without Stefan, or without our partner faculty in India, whose incredible time and effort make these experiences possible.”

A reception to honor Dr. Boucher, and all the 2025-26 Inclusive Excellence Award winners, was held April 3 in the Kellogg Center.