GLCA Global Crossroads Program

Global Crossroads Overview

Through a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Great Lakes Colleges Association is launching Global Crossroads, a four-year collection of programs to advance internationalization of the programs of learning that define our undergraduates’ experience of the liberal arts. Collaboration leading to durable partnerships is the essential building block on which Crossroads-supported efforts will be built. These efforts will involve members of the Global Liberal Arts Alliance, an international partnership of 29 U.S.-style liberal arts institutions representing 17 countries (including the thirteen members of the GLCA).

Global Crossroads consists of eight independent programs. While GLCA campuses may choose which programs to participate in, the initiative was designed to encourage institutions to think holistically and to consider how achieving an institutional internationalization goal could be pursued through coordinated participation across multiple programs. To ensure that a campus’ Crossroads efforts are coordinated and will contribute to achieving institutional goals, all Crossroads proposals must be shared with and submitted by the campus’ Alliance Liaison.

If you have questions or ideas about any Global Crossroads initiative, please feel free to contact:

Shannan Mattiace
Mellon Globalization Fellow
Ext. 3349
smattiac@allegheny.edu

Janyl Jumadinova
Mellon Globalization Fellow
Ext. 2881
jjumadinova@allegheny.edu

Terry Bensel
Allegheny Global Crossroads Campus Liaison
Ext. 3391
tbensel@allegheny.edu

Global Crossroads Campus Programs

International Innovation Fund – This program provides support for each GLCA campus to advance its goals to internationalize the programs of learning that define an undergraduate’s experience of the liberal arts. There will be one proposal per campus, submitted by the campus’ Alliance Liaison.

Grand Challenge – A Grand Challenge is a topic of global significance that transcends disciplinary boundaries and has important implications for humanity. Each year, exploration of a Grand Challenge will be the thematic focal point for curricular and co-curricular programming across all participating Alliance campuses. The Grand Challenge for the 2016-17 academic year is “Challenging Borders.”

Global Crossroads Programs for GLCA Faculty

Themed Courses – Through collaborative development of shared course materials (i.e., with faculty collaborators from Alliance institutions) and by offering shared courses with international dimensions, faculty members will engage their students in interdisciplinary and international topics. Proposals to offer a Themed Course are developed by faculty teams and are submitted through the Alliance Liaison from one of the participating campuses.

New Directions in Global Scholarship – This program supports GLCA faculty members wishing to develop a new area of scholarly expertise that extends the global reach of current research or teaching. Recipients must seek out collaborators from Alliance institutions with expertise in the subject. Proposals in this program are developed by two or more faculty members and are submitted through the Alliance Liaison from one of the participating GLCA campuses.

Additional Crossroads Programs

Shared languages – The Shared Languages program will expand and deepen foreign language curricula by designing and implementing consortially-based collaborative courses and programs of study. Over the four years of the initiative, courses will be developed for at least one commonly taught language that is experiencing enrollment challenges and two lesser-taught languages with wide appeal within the Alliance. Participation will be determined by interest.

Mellon Fellows – A total of about 30 Fellows will be appointed from GLCA colleges from among faculty who have had very successful experience in international programs (course collaborations, workshops/programs, etc.) and are recognized by their faculty peers as engaged leaders and reliable colleagues. The Fellows will work across the consortium and be resources to institutions and individual faculty for globalizing courses and the curriculum. Professors Shannan Mattiace and Janyl Jumadinova have been appointed to serve as Allegheny’s Mellon Globalization Fellows.

Inter-Institutional Visit Program – This program supports travel costs for short-term visits by faculty, staff, and administrators between Global Liberal Arts Alliance schools to address a specific need for expertise identified by an Alliance campus. In some cases, one or more Alliance personnel are brought to the requesting campus to run a workshop or consult with campus members. In other cases, a person or small team from the requesting campus travels to one or more other Alliance campuses to consult with experts. While visiting teams may be larger, funding from the Alliance typically cannot support the travel costs of more than two people. The program does not support visits intended to explore creating or strengthening bi- or multi-lateral relationships among Alliance schools.