Shared Futures: Global Learning and Social Responsibility

Liberal Education and Global Citizenship: The Arts of Democracy

Project Summaries

Albany State University, Georgia
The American University of Paris
Beloit College, Wisconsin
Brooklyn College, New York
Heritage University, Washington
John Carroll University, Ohio
Pacific Lutheran University, Washington
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
The University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska
The University of Delaware, Delaware
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Albany State University (ASU) is a historically Black institution located in rural, southwest Georgia.  ASU’s involvement in Liberal Education and Global Citizenship was designed to extend the university’s efforts to internationalize the curriculum and campus.  The project involved the following departments in the College of Arts and Sciences:  History; Political Science and Public Administration; English and Modern Languages; and Psychology, Sociology and Social Work. 

• Course Development: The ASU team used the project to develop four upper level courses: Culture and Global Citizenship; Race and Politics in the United States and the Caribbean; Comparative Literature; Explorations in History and Culture; and Introduction to Humanities. In each of the courses, faculty focused on the rights, privileges, and duties of citizenship, the meanings of democracy, and the dynamic interplay of multiculturalism on these issues. Students examined pertinent social, racial, cultural, and economic inequalities, particularly in relation to placing African peoples in the Diaspora and to their advancement globally.  Course activities were designed to help students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to make informed decisions and to take actions to create a just democratic society. 
• Faculty Workshops: The ASU team coordinated two on-campus faculty development workshops for all interested faculty.  The first workshop was held in November 2002 with Dr. Kathleen Lewis from Spelman College on internationalization of the curriculum. A second faculty development workshop was held in March 2004 by Grant Cornwell, an advisory board member of Liberal Education and Global Citizenship, and Dr. Mary Jane Smith, the coordinator of US Ethnic and Cultural Studies at St. Lawrence University. 

The American University of Paris (AUP), an international university serving students of over a hundred different nationalities, is a natural laboratory for developing and practicing the never-more-crucial arts of democracy. Global citizenship is not a goal at AUP, but a way of life to be creatively managed. On the heels of our general education review, which has moved from a model of teaching for global preparedness to one focusing on our students demonstrated capacity to have an impact on the world in which they live, we seek to develop upper-division summative exercises located within and across the majors. These interdisciplinary, laboratory-style, team-driven, student-produced, faculty facilitated, externally juried courses both create learning environments that encourage students to negotiate cultural, ideological, and linguistic difference, and include metacritical reflection on the challenges, the difficulties, and the need for mediative, democratic negotiation in highly diverse populations. (Hybrid Student Identities: A Resource for Global Learning, Schenck)

Beloit College (BC) has focused its efforts to infuse global learning through three primary arenas: annual faculty fall conferences, annual themed co-curricular programming, and course revisions. The impact on student learning at Beloit has been considerable. Most courses now begin from the explicit premise that students are global citizens, with global responsibilities. The effect of this shift on student learning is evident in the increased engagement of students. Assigned reflection papers demonstrate a propensity in students to question their own, as well as others’ assumptions, an awareness of the complexity of the motives underlying their behavior, and a recognition that their self-understanding has developed through critical encounter with their own perceptions and the views of others. (Globalizing the Curriculum)

• Annual Faculty Conferences: At the start of each year, the College brings together its entire faculty in a fall conference to set the stage for action throughout the year. From 2001 to 2003, the conferences dealt with three international themes: best practices and applications for international education, discerning global and international approaches throughout the institution, and departmental contributions to world citizenship.
• Thematic Co-curricular Programming: The second campus-wide activity built upon Beloit’s tradition of organizing campus programming—such as lectures, art and performances, films, and special courses—around a “year of” theme. Through the Global Citizenship project, Beloit created a “Year of Diasporas” and a “Year of Science, Technology, and World Citizenship.” This approach has now been institutionalized through involvement with the dean’s office and an official faculty committee.
• Course Revisions: To better infuse global citizenship into the curriculum, Beloit created and revised courses in Religious Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Political Science and International Relations. The courses in Religious Studies are designed to emphasize the dynamic between local and global manifestations of religion, in contrast to the traditional division between “East” and “West.” Attention to pluralism in both local and global communities better reflects the complexity of the interactions among religious traditions than a previous, more rigid dichotomy based on the ostensible origins of religious tradition. (Recasting Religious Studies at Beloit College, Duerst-Lahti) Women’s and Gender Studies, course revisions included a shared required reading, a self-examining “Yourself in Global Contexts” exercise, a required internship, and an extensive reflection on both the value of and critique of western perspectives on gender. The Political Science and International Relations department opted to add major courses on nontraditional security threats, a team taught course on comparative social justice, a course on comparative election systems, and a new human rights course. In addition, many courses in US politics have added “global awareness” assignments designed to embed topics into a global context.

Brooklyn College (BC) seeks to become a “community of diversity” as opposed to a diverse community.  Because Brooklyn’s students already have exposure to a campus rich in international and domestic diversity, their focus is “to help faculty to articulate and students to appreciate the profound importance of democracy in the present moment.”

• Faculty Retreat: In September 2002, the provost convened a two-day retreat for all faculty involved in the project.  Each participant wrote a personal statement outlining their experiences and potential contributions to the retreat in relation to civic engagement and democratic practices.  A follow-up meeting was held in December 2002 for the purpose of reviewing new syllabi that were to be taught as part of the project. 
• New Courses: In the fall of 2003, eleven courses were offered as part of The Arts of Democracy, some of which include an anthropological study of Latin America, Electronic Commerce, Social Consequences of Computers, People, Power, and Politics, Environmental Studies, Peoples of the United States, Intercultural Communication, and Puerto Rican Music. Many of the courses have a local, national, global scope. Each course also has a broadly defined service-learning component.  For example, one course, Introduction to Global Cinema, produced a student organized film series. A social philosophy course produced a summit on democratic action. Given the complexities of Brooklyn College students’ lives as commuters, workers, and sometimes parents, it was not possible to offer these courses as federated learning communities.  Much has been done, however, to make students aware that they are in courses that are a part of our overall project and to create opportunities for them to reflect on what that means.
• Lecture Series: An additional feature of the project at Brooklyn College was a set of periodic forums that brought in speakers to talk about issues related to the Arts of Democracy.  These events were listed on the course syllabi and students were encouraged to attend. 

Heritage University (HU) The Liberal Education and Global Citizenship project at Heritage is built upon earlier participation in another AAC&U project.  Participants in that project developed a required “Heritage Core” course, which emphasized cross cultural communication and global citizenship.  Thus the Heritage University proposal extends a curricular revision process already in place and closely allied to the mission of the college. 

The development and revision of courses in English, Education, and Philosophy coupled with creative projects encouraging greater civic engagement fostered deeper discussion on the practice of democracy.  Moreover, by focusing on intercultural communication, as well as culture, race, and the diverse histories of the Yakima Valley communities, Heritage was able to highlight local/global connections in its curriculum. (Looking Within to See the World, Schmidt and James) Each of the new courses includes a component of service learning, community involvement, and social justice.  For example, an upper level Education course featured semester-long projects focused on developing a curriculum at a women’s shelter, and working with third grade students in an after school program for at-risk students.

• The Heritage Core: This course studied several of the Yakima Valley cultures to explore the different reasons for immigration to the Valley as well as connecting local entities such as the Yakima.
• Comparative World Literature: This course incorporated issues of global migration and immigration to the discussion of literary texts.
• Global Fine Arts: This course incorporated new materials on the history of global migration and immigration and their expression in the fine arts.
• Methods in Social Studies and Methods in Language Arts: This course coupled discussion on the differing and complementary views of citizenship and democracy with a service-learning component.
• Diversity Issues: This course added new materials and a service-learning component to the study of non-US cultures. 

John Carroll University (JCU) is a private, coeducational, Jesuit university whose mission, “developing women and men with the knowledge and character to lead and to serve,” coincides with the objectives of Shared Futures.  JCU has successfully created a network of partners that provide opportunities for students to benefit from collaborative teaching and learning and engage in projects on social justice. The JCU project proposal focused on two major initiatives:

• Draw upon resources from three departments (Political Science, History, and Religious Studies) to develop a sophomore-level, team-taught, interdisciplinary course, "Justice and Democracy in a Global Context" (doc)
• Organize a three-course (9 credit hours), senior-level learning community around the theme, “Human Rights and the Arts of Democracy.”

The team designed other components to the developed majors—experiential learning/immersion trips and a capstone learning community. (Engaging Diversity on the Homogeneous Campus: The Power of Immersion Experiences, Bowen) The first learning community, with a focus on El Salvador, was built around a cluster of three courses: The Politics of Central America; Christian Social Justice; Race and Gender in Latin American History.  Over the years, JCU has organized immersion trips during spring break.  The FIPSE team took advantage of one such program in El Salvador (in collaboration with the Casa de Solidaridad program from Santa Clara University) to link the trip to a learning community.  Students in the learning community earned an additional credit hour if they traveled to El Salvador. The project team also encouraged faculty to develop new courses focusing on globalization, citizenship, and democracy.

The JCU team also invited scholars and policymakers to campus for a series of faculty seminars.  Among others, Angelika Kartousch (United Nations) spoke on “International Trafficking of Women,” Bonnie Honig (Northwestern University) discussed “Democracy and the Foreigner,” Matthew Krain (The College of Wooster) spoke on “Globalization,” and Noam Zohar (Princeton University) spoke on “Just War Theory.” Some of the seminar leaders also spoke to students in other project-related classes.  In addition to the faculty seminars, a lunch series with local practitioners was developed to enhance faculty development.

Pacific Lutheran University's (PLU) Trinidad and Tobago Program connects the university's strengths in service learning and international education with democratic values and civic engagement at home and abroad. To help students make this connection, PLU linked its Trinidad and Tobago study abroad programs with a subsequent service-learning project in the local immigrant community of Shalimar. Far from a routine service-learning placement, students live in the community to establish a more extensive relationship between Salishan and Pacific Lutheran University. This service-learning component was central to PLU’s promotion of civic engagement, at home and abroad. (Student Civic Engagement at Home and Abroad, Temple-Thurston)

To accomplish these goals, PLU supported faculty development to include course material on the Caribbean across at least six disciplines: Communications, Environmental Studies, Religious Studies, Women’s Studies, Sociology, Literature, and Languages. Learning goals for students included understanding “the impact of colonialism and immigration” and identifying, describing, and acting on global issues in pursuit of a just and equitable society. Participants then integrated the goals of civic engagement, participatory democracy, and the Lutheran commitment to service into several new or extensively revised courses in both major and general education requirements.

One of the new courses designed to promote global learning and understanding is the Plays on Tour theater course, which uses a Trinidadian Carnival model and employs traditional and oral characters from street theater around the world. The objectives of the course are threefold: (1) to develop skills in the art of interpreting and creating the role of a traditional Carnival character utilizing both mental skills and physical as well as bodily control and expression; (2) to help free the student-actors from inhibitions which prevent them from realizing their personal potential; and (3) to help students understand the interconnectedness of our global society. The course allows students to explore the way in which theater is enriched by infusing it with global components. Other courses also include Sustainability and Community; Families in the Americas; Religion and Democracy; Global Gender; Film, Art, and Caribbean Literature; and modified Women’s Studies.

PLU has determined that students who have participated in the above courses and/or the off-campus experiences in Trinidad and Tobago, and the student residency program in Salishan acquired the following competencies: 1) knowledge of other countries, cultures and global systems; 2) better understanding of personal and national responsibility for global problems; 3) openness to different points of view and solutions. For additional information see: (Globalizing the Curriculum) and (Global Education Continuum—Four Phases, Kelleher)

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) The Rochester Institute of Technology’s Globalization, Human Rights, and Citizenship curriculum development project features over twenty internet-accessible, issue-specific modules that can be incorporated into existing classes or developed into specialized courses. Most modules offer conceptual frameworks, knowledge oriented content, reading lists, some additional resources such as websites, and some suggestions for student assignments and discussion questions. The project helps interested faculty incorporate globalization-related topics into their courses. The lectures and discussions are designed in blocks of time, most spanning two or three sessions that last from ninety minutes to two hours, depending on the topic.

Some of the modules include: “Poets Without Borders: The Poetry of Witness and Human Rights Activism,” “Globalization: Islam, Dialogue or War?,” “Technology in Global Society,” “Globalization and Democratization in Africa,” “Social Movements in the Global Economy,” “Global Governance,” and “Globalizing the Credit Card Nation.”

The project timeline called for recruiting and preparing faculty participants and identifying module topics in Year I, as well as developing a globalization website. Year II was designated for module development, defining potential classes for the International Studies major and recruiting minors for that program. The goal for Year III was to introduce modules to courses across the College, introduce specialized courses in the International Studies major, and develop study abroad trips and summer research programs. The project aimed to recruit a mix of junior and senior faculty including those involved with the Senior Seminar program. (Globalizing the Curriculum)

The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) is an ideal platform for the study of global change due to its position as Alaska’s land, sea, and space grant institution and international research center. Through curriculum development and multiple initiatives facilitating student and faculty academic development, UAF has integrated global citizenship into the study of Global Environmental Policy.

• Course Revision: New courses and themes were developed in anthropology, philosophy, northern studies, political science, psychology, and philosophy.
• Guest Scholars: Professor Yu Zuanmeng of the Institute of Philosophy, Shanghai Academic of Social Sciences, China; Professor Debra Mubashshir of Beloit College’s Department of Religious Studies; and a counter terrorism expert, Professor Rohan Gunaratna.
• Panel Discussion: A public panel discussion, “Indigenous Rights and Native Sovereignty,” organized by two UAF team members in March of 2003.
• Conferences: The UAF team attended national and international conferences focusing on global and citizenship studies.
• Global Café: The Global Café in the Students’ Center provides students and other members of the university with a place to relax, have coffee, discuss global events and issues, and read foreign newspapers.
• Resource Center: The “Global Crossings” initiative devotes space in the Rasmuson library for globally-themed books, print and electronic resources, and students’ projects relating to global studies.

The University of Delaware (UD) In 2002, a team of University of Delaware faculty and administrators embarked upon a project to introduce the concept of global citizenship with the long-range goal of encouraging the development of students’ intercultural competencies.  The project focused on the creation of a Global Citizenship Certificate (GCC).  Through this certificate, the University of Delaware would formally recognize student engagement in credit-bearing and extra-curricular globally-focused activities.  There would be no prerequisites or requirements that qualify a student to pursue the GCC, but rather, a number of pre-approved activities.

For example, students may take one or more courses with a global or cross-cultural focus, study abroad, engage in international service-learning, serve as an officer of an international club, or attend a series of lectures. In the spirit of inclusiveness, the requirements for the GCC are such that students are not compelled to engage in any one particular activity. Instead, students choose from a large array of possible activities. This high level of flexibility allows all students to create their own global experience, regardless of curricular constraints, financial means, physical impairment, or other traditional hindrances to off-campus study. The goal is simply to encourage all students to become more active and engaged in global issues than is required by their chosen academic field. (Globalizing the Curriculum)

In planning the Global Citizenship Certificate, the project team also applied for grants through UD’s Center for Teaching Effectiveness.  The University of Delaware’s Center for International Studies was awarded a generous grant to support fourteen “Global Citizenship Faculty Fellows,” across eleven departments, to infuse their courses with global content or established new courses with an international focus.  In January 2004, a day-long seminar was held in order to introduce the Fellows to the key concepts global learning, to increase their awareness of international activities and resources on campus, and to discuss means by which courses in a variety of disciplines can be given a more global focus.  Some examples of the Fellows’ projects include:

• Hotel/Restaurant/Institutional Management: Develop a cross-cultural awareness seminar concentrating on international etiquette
• Nursing: Enhance an existing online course on cross-cultural health care with video streaming from educational international films
• Individual and Family Studies: Intersperse the content of an existing course with global themes through the introduction of videos, books, software, and other supplementary materials.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) designed its "Liberal Education and Global Citizenship" project to support the development of a Global Security track within the Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies (BAGS).  The Global Security track focuses on human security issues such as health, conflict resolution, and environmental issues.  In addition creating upper and lower division courses, the track includes foreign language, study abroad, overseas internship, and service-learning requirements.  The degree aims to bring students and faculty from professional schools together with those from the liberal arts.  The Global Security track is paralleled with other tracks such as Global Management, Global Communication, Global Cities, and Global Classrooms. (New Global Studies Degree Combines Liberal Arts and Preprofessional Disciplines, O’Connor)

• Lower-Division Global Studies Core Courses: In addition to courses specific to each Global Studies track, core lower-division courses (required of all Global Studies majors) were developed.  These include: People & Politics; International Trade & Environmental Change; and Globalization & Information Technology. 
• Overseas Global Security Courses: New security-related overseas courses that focused primarily on the environmental aspects of security were also developed and include: Urban Environmental Change in Guatemala City; Service Learning in Milwaukee and Oaxaca, Mexico; and Sustainable Urban Environments in Vancouver.
• Upper-Division Global Security Courses: Courses developed covered a broader range of security-related themes.  These include three core upper division courses (required of all Security students) developed by teams of faculty from diverse disciplines, as well as several electives and two overseas programs to Egypt and Morocco.

Back to the top