In the Fall, I developed a task force to focus on the important topic of Internationalization from a CLA perspective. Their charge is below, along with links to the report and an anonymous online survey to gather feedback from the CLA community. Please review the report and then let me know your thoughts via the survey.
CLA Task Force on Internationalization Charge:
CLA has long played a central role in the international activities of the University of Minnesota. Our faculty and students are engaged around the globe and CLA students represent the largest group studying abroad. CLA faculty collaborate with colleagues in more than 70 countries. We are the home of the University’s language programs and the place where students take courses on diverse cultures and social systems as well as the transnational processes that link them. In addition to the work underway in CLA departments, we are the home to more than a dozen centers and programs that define their missions around international projects.
The task force will be asked both to assess our current efforts in internationalization as well as consider a set of broader questions looking forward. I encourage the members of the committee to take a broadly collegiate, and not unit-specific, perspective as you consider these questions and topics.
- What does it mean for us at this time to internationalize or incorporate global perspectives into our teaching and research? Has this become a "mature industry" where we need to fine tune and refine what we do, or are there compelling new directions and ways to leverage our international strength? Is there an Internationalization 2.0?
- How, and how effectively, are we currently “being international”? Do all of these efforts remain vital or might we have opportunities to reallocate resources and energy to different international efforts? Are there potential cross-departmental, cross-college opportunities we have not tapped?
- How do CLA’s efforts intersect with the focus of the Office of the Vice President for Research on promoting/facilitating
international research? With the Global Programs and Strategy Alliance (GPS-Alliance) and its constituent units (e.g., the Learning Abroad Center)? - How effectively are we aligning international activities with the goals of the CLA Roadmap? How could we best leverage what we do in internationalization to advance our intent to be a destination college?
- What short-term changes might enhance our internationalization efforts (these changes would include not simply adding more activity or resources, but also what we might stop doing in order to focus on more promising directions)?
- What are possible longer-term activities for which we might seek external funding (e.g, preparing for next round of Title VI proposals)?
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