What in the world is Global Education and International Services?!
The Office of Global Education and International Services is officially open but I imagine there are many folks on campus who are wondering what exactly it is that we do and why we even exist. Allow me to share the vision statement from the Strategic Proposal for Internationalizing MCC which states it so succinctly:
Globalization is no longer an emerging trend but a national consensus. Traditionally, the college campus has been a place to prepare students to become engaged citizens in their communities. Today, those communities are increasingly global. MCC will meet the challenge of preparing global citizens by having a multi-dimensional, comprehensive strategy that includes internationalization at home and engagement with global issues and partners.
How will we meet this challenge of preparing global citizens? More accurately, we might ask how have we been meeting this challenge already and what will we do to increase the effectiveness of our efforts?
How have we been meeting this challenge already?
MCC is a beautifully diverse college and workplace. Every day we interact with co-workers and students who are very different from ourselves. Across the college, so many of us already exercise flexibility and openness to students’ ideas and perspectives as we teach, advise, and lead them. Regardless of our job title, we are all educators who value the importance of helping our students develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that lead to their success. In terms of the actual strategic proposal, currently, there are over 50 people across all areas of the college specifically working on concrete steps to implement the detailed goals of the plan. We look forward to working with many more of you and welcome your help!
What will we do to increase the effectiveness of our efforts?
Success in today’s world means that our students need to be educated for a global workforce and increasingly diverse communities. With our new office of Global Education and International Services, MCC is committed for the long term to enhancing students’ learning, adding value to their overall college experience, and helping them develop cross cultural attitudes and skills that employers, and our community, require.
To this end, our Strategic Plan for Comprehensive Internationalization focuses on these primary areas:
1) Build up the office as a centrally located home for global education initiatives and enhance the capacity and delivery of international student services.
2) Promote globally competent students by infusing global learning outcomes into the curriculum.
3) Collaborate on co-curricular programing to promote global education and facilitate meaningful cross cultural exchange between our international, immigrant and domestic student populations.
4) Increase the development of globally competent faculty and staff through professional development opportunities.
5) Provide comprehensive internal and external communication and resource tools in order to support campus internationalization.
The office of Global Education and International Services is the centralized resource hub for all things international and global. As director, I will work across departments and divisions to provide the vision and the tools for us to help our campus become truly internationalized. Audra Dion, as assistant director, will be working in conjunction with me to realize these objectives, with dedicated focus on international students. We’ll be collaborating with an Advisory Council comprised of staff and faculty who are working on initiatives in each of the areas listed above.
Sometimes I find it helpful to also state what we are not, or what we don’t do.
1) We are not “the office for international students”, meaning our scope is much larger than only our international students. Our goal is to reach ALL students so they may benefit from a globally infused education.
2) The office was not created for the purpose of recruiting full-pay international students to boost enrollment numbers. While welcoming international students to campus is an important step in creating an overall global environment, the mandate for the office of Global Education and International Services is much broader than that.
3) We are not the latest trend that is here today and gone tomorrow. We are here to stay, because ALL our students need to be able to understand global systems; study another language; be aware of other perspectives; respect different worldviews; learn about global interdependence with people, economies, and institutions; and embrace practices that reflect global citizenship.
4) We are not an isolated, standalone project, but we are the result of a college-wide, SUNY supported endeavor to internationalize MCC that at its very nature will involve all parts of MCC.
I am new to MCC, having spent the last 13 years of my career at Roberts Wesleyan College. I am energized and inspired by the students, staff and faculty I have met over the past month since I joined the community, and am excited to build on the amazing work that everyone is already engaged in! Please feel free to stop by my office in the Career and Transfer Center or contact me if you have any ideas, suggestions, questions or needs as you consider ways we can become more internationalized.
Gale Lynch
Global Education & International Services
10/10/2014 |