Leading Internationalization in Higher Education

In 2024, the Center for the Study of Global Change (Global Center) supported internationalization efforts for faculty and administrators from across the world. This included dedicated support for U.S. designated minority-serving institutions like Fort Valley State University and additional scholarships provided to attendees of our annual Institute for Curriculum and Campus Internationalization. 

This year, for our 27th Institute for Curriculum and Campus Internationalization (ICCI), in addition to supporting faculty, staff, and administration of higher education institutions across the world, we were able to offer dedicated support to Indiana University regional campuses. Thanks to funding from the Heartland project, supported by IU’s Area Studies National Resource Centers, faculty and administrators from all of IU’s regional campuses were invited to apply for a scholarship which allowed them to attend ICCI at no cost. Twelve additional colleagues attended ICCI thanks to this additional funding. Connections made with our regional colleagues and their feedback were invaluable to the ongoing design of the Global Center’s training in internationalization and global learning efforts. 

Along with our regional campus colleagues, ICCI welcomed participants from 20 different of institutions across the U.S. and the world, including attendees from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. We once again offered scholarships to MSI and Community College participants and will continue to do so for this year’s 2025 institute. Each year we diversify our programming for ICCI. For example, at this year’s institute we approached the concept of: Alternative Local Spaces for Internationalization, integrating the Eskenazi Museum of Art by touring the facility and demonstrating the concept of object-based learning as a tool to teach and engage in the concept of global learning. In response to this additional activity, one participant stated: “the museum tour exemplifying object-based learning has given me ideas on how to collaborate with my local community to internationalize my courses/campus.”

ICCI 2025 will take place from May 18-21st here at IU Bloomington. Early Bird Registration is now open! 

In February, Global Center Director Eli Konwest, along with colleagues from the IU Hamilton Lugar School, visited Fort Valley State University, a public land-grant historically black university in Fort Valley, Georgia, to lead a workshop on curriculum internationalization. An interdisciplinary group of Fort Valley faculty worked to add global learning to their syllabi. The IU cohort also had the opportunity to meet with Fort Valley leadership to discuss future connections. Our connection to Fort Valley State was originally through the International Studies Consortium of Georgia based at Reinhardt University. In October, the Global Center coordinated a day-long virtual conference on Integrating International Perspectives into Business Curriculum for all consortium faculty members.  

Throughout 2024, the Global Center, along with IU’s Title VI National Resource Centers, supported internationalization efforts at Diné College and Navajo Technical University, both Tribal colleges and universities. Faculty and administrators from those institutions attended the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. and other relevant professional conferences. For example, a Grant Specialist from Diné College presented in Paris on “Global language Arts Cultural Traditions in Indigenous Communities.”