CLA Task Force on Internationalization

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.

In August I appointed a new task force on internationalization. Professor MJ Maynes (History) agreed to chair, and over the next few months the task force will consider a number of questions as it assesses our efforts, including:

• 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 do we best align 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 are the cutting edge areas of scholarly inquiry where CLA might take the lead and have a major impact not only in our state but nationally and internationally as well? What is CLA’s comparative advantage in this field?
• 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)?
• 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 the next round of Title VI proposals)?

Members of the task force include:

Joseph Allen, Asian Languages & Literatures

Sid Bedingfield, Journalism & Mass Communication

Evelyn Davidheiser, CLA International Programs/Institute for Global Studies

Sheng He, Psychology

Lisa Hilbink, Political Science

Lynn Lukkas, Art

MJ Maynes (chair), History

Richa Nagar, Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies/CLA interdisciplinary initiatives

Matthias Rothe, German, Scandinavian & Dutch

Alex Rothman, CLA Research & Graduate Programs/Psychology

Shaden Tageldin, Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature

Karen-Sue Taussig, Anthropology

Klaas van der Sanden, Institute for Global Studies

William Viestenz, Spanish & Portuguese

Undergraduate and graduate student members (tbd)

The members of the task force have been encouraged to take a broadly collegiate, and not unit-specific, perspective as they consider these questions and topics.

I look forward to the task force’s thoughts and recommendations. The team’s work should wrap up by the end of the calendar year.

-John Coleman, dean

Catherine Squires Named RIGS Director

I am pleased to announce that Professor Catherine Squires has agreed to serve as the Director of the RIGS Initiative.

Over the past 18 months, a team of department chairs developed and discussed with governance and consultative groups an ambitious initiative that leveraged the knowledge, experience, and infrastructure already existing on campus.

The recommendations of that group form the basis of the Race, Indigeneity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Initiative (RIGS). In addition to consultation with governance groups, the initiative received the support of our CLA Roadmap Goal Team on Diversity and was a recommended action for the College. RIGS will establish a recognizable intellectual hub that builds upon the interdisciplinary strengths of individual units -- African American and African Studies, American Studies, American Indian Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano and Latino Studies, and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies--to make productive connections to other units across the College and the University.  

Among the activities of the RIGS Initiative in 2015-16 will be organizing the college’s diversity cluster hire; discussing coordination of curricular initiatives across departments, including efforts to draw new and underserved students to CLA in ways that align with the CLA Roadmap; convening and coordinating research clusters for faculty and graduate students working in race, indigeneity, gender, and sexuality studies; developing and launching digital and other communications that highlight and translate faculty and graduate student research; and pursuing opportunities for community engagement. I am grateful we will have Professor Squires’s leadership to guide us on these efforts.

Catherine Squires, a professor in the Department of Communication Studies and former director of graduate studies for the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, brings robust and relevant experience to this new role. Professor Squires received her Ph.D. in communication studies from Northwestern University in 1999. Prior to arriving at the University of Minnesota, she was on the faculty of the University of Michigan. Her most recent book is The Post-Racial Mystique, published by New York University Press (2014).

As part of our CLA Roadmap we have stated that CLA must mirror the community as we build a college that addresses important societal challenges.  Diversity is essential as we develop undergraduate and graduate student leaders to engage in the intellectual and societal challenges of our day.  

-John Coleman, dean

Diversity and the CLA Roadmap

One of the concerns I heard from many of you prior to arriving on campus was that the college had made some progress, but not enough, on diversity. While there has been some positive news on student success (for example, retention and graduation rates), in other areas, such as retaining faculty, there was great concern.

To truly engage with the community, CLA must be a reflection of the community. To make better decisions and to be first rate in identifying emerging research questions, we need diverse perspectives. And to maintain the gains we achieve, we must establish a supportive, welcoming, and encouraging climate that attracts diverse faculty, students, and staff and enables them to thrive. Diversity at all levels is a critical challenge and priority and diversity is, accordingly, one of the five major goals on the CLA Roadmap as we pursue our vision of becoming a destination college. Our Diversity Goal Team has begun meeting to map out recommendations on how we make meaningful advancement toward achieving our diversity goals.