Goucher hosts global forum

By Molly Englund

On April 14 and 15, dozens of higher education leaders came together in person and virtually to discuss global learning. Held at Goucher College and sponsored by the Association of International Education Administrators, the forum was called “Faculty Leadership in the Changing Landscape of Global Education: Modalities and Curricular Design.”

Goucher President Kent Devereaux opened the forum by welcoming participants both local and global, as some speakers were Zooming in from London and Freiburg, Germany. He discussed how global education brought him to Goucher, and how he and Provost Elaine Meyer-Lee have made it a priority for the college. Devereaux also mentioned that Goucher is already great at sending students abroad, so now the college must look to improve everything around that—what changes need to happen in the classroom or student life? How can we best engage with local communities, as well as with refugees?

Allan Goodman, CEO of the Institute of International Education, attempted to address some of those questions in his keynote address. He spoke about the nationalism, racism, and xenophobia that students may encounter abroad, as well as fascist and imperialist ideologies. Students already face these issues in the U.S., Goodman argued, and so colleges must prepare students to face them in other countries. “There’s a whole new discipline, to me, of orienting and preparing students to study abroad,” he said.

Sessions from the first day included Strategic Leadership and Implementation, Faculty Development, the Connected Classrooms Experience, and Lessons Learned from the Implementation of Global Seminars.

On April 15, Jim Fielder, secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, welcomed everyone with opening remarks. He asked for a moment of silence for Ukraine, and pointed out that Ukraine had more than a million college students across 800 institutions.

The first session of the day featured two Goucher staff members, Associate Director of the Office of Global Education Mark Bladel and Director of Faculty Professional Development & Teaching Excellence Bill Hader. The session focused on faculty engagement and collaboration in global curriculum design and delivery, and, true to theme, Bladel and Hader set it up as a guided discussion in small breakout groups.

The next panel, moderated by Karin Fischer, a senior writer from The Chronicle of Higher Education, looked at the role of provosts and presidents in global education. Devereaux and Meyer-Lee spoke on the panel, as well as leaders for San Jose State College, the American Society for Engineering Education, and Babson College Academy.

Several other Goucher staff members participated in panels, too, representing global education, faculty development, and student success, as well as faculty members who teach literary studies, international business and marketing, counseling psychology, biological sciences, history, and theater.

Luchen Li, professor of literary studies and associate vice president of global education at Goucher, closed out the forum with some final thoughts, calling back to the event’s theme: the faculty. He pointed out that the faculty are the backbone of global education, and it’s important to understand how the backbone works. After a two-day deep-dive into the anatomy of global education, the participants had much to reflect on as they continue their leadership roles in creating global experiences across education.