Serving our Students, Faculty, Indiana, and Beyond
Dear friends and colleagues of the Center for the Study of Global Change (Global Center),
I’m proud to share with you the highlights from the Global Center in calendar 2024. Our small, but mighty, team has accomplished a lot to advance global studies and international education at Indiana University, and across the nation and world. Our initiatives align with larger IU priorities as reflected in IU 2030 Strategic Plan. This year’s newsletter features our work to increase student success and opportunity, support research and creative activity, and serve Indiana and beyond through collaborative activities. These highlights include the creation of the new IU Bloomington Global Learning Framework, hosting a robust platform for public scholarship as part of Muslim Voices, and supporting Kindergarten through university level educators to include global perspectives into their curriculum.
Eli Konwest Director of the Center for the Study of Global Change
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship Coordinator
Institute for Curriculum and Campus Internationalization Director
Sumreen Asim, Eli Konwest, and Katie Silvester present at the International Symposium in Service-Learning hosted by the University of Indianapolis.
The Global Center staff and affiliates had the opportunity this year to share our work in a wide variety of venues, including presentations to campus colleagues as part of IU Global’s Global Connections series and off-campus to diverse audiences. Faculty fellows from the 2023 cohort of the Global Community-Engaged Learning Course Development Institute presented at the 2024 International Symposium in Service-Learning in Indianapolis about their experiences in the institute. Global Center staff presented with the University of Wisconsin at the Association of American Colleges and Universities Conference on Global Learning in Washington DC. Governing Board members of the Indiana Language Roadmap gave an update on current Roadmap activities to the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association Annual Conference. I was privileged to participate in a panel with Diplomacy Lab coordinators from around the country at the International Studies Association Midwest Conference in St. Louis. And finally, in an extra fun day of presentations, Global Center staff gave two presentations on global learning at Trade Day, the one-day educational conference that proceeds GenCon, the largest tabletop game convention in North America.
Staff of the Center for the Study of Global Change presented at Trade Day during GenCon Indianapolis in July.
We supported curricular development, research, and creative activities across IU as well. As part of our long-running program Arts & Refugees, we supported an exhibit in collaboration with DEEP Arts Rochester high school aged students at Gymnasium am Augarten in Vienna, Austria. Originally entitled “On the Run” and “Utopia," it was a collaborative project between Deborah Haber, Executive Director of DEEP Arts Rochester, and students, many of whom are recent migrants and refugees to Austria. Like Ms. Haber’s musical about Holocaust survivors’ journey, it explores stories of escape and relocation. The Global Center was able to support other world class visitors to IU in support of student opportunity and faculty connections including panelists as part of the Hamilton Lugar School’s annual America’s Role in the World. We supported course development and travel opportunities for faculty to lead workshops at the IU Global Gateways, present papers at international conferences, and meet partners abroad to create new opportunities for IU students.
Members of the IU community visit the exhibits on display in the Ferguson International Center as part of the Global Center’s Arts & Refugees project. The art was created by students from a school in Vienna that serves many migrant and refugee families.
There are many programs and long-standing collaborations that we did not have room to elaborate on here and in the following newsletter articles. We invite you to keep abreast of all our happenings by signing up for our weekly digest email or following us on social media.
Thank you for engaging, collaborating, and connecting with us now and throughout 2024. Wishing you the best now and into the future!
