Lessons LearnedCentral Connecticut State University

Nancy Birch Wagner, DirectorThe George R. Muirhead Center for International Education

Not Just the Usual Suspectsor

Appointing the Best Committee

• Know how decisions are made

• Ensure comprehensive representation

• Forget the politics

• Remember who gets things done

• Start with a “charge and key goals”

Take Stock before Starting● What do you have?

- International Education as 1 of 4 distinctive elements

- Embedded in Mission and Vision

- Designated as 1 of 7 Institutional Goals

- Part of the Strategic Plan

- A Center for International Education

- Presidential support

- International and Area Studies major

- International course requirement

- Foreign language proficiency requirement

- Cultural centers

● What do you need?- Campus-wide commitment

- Curricular integration

- Organization and common sense

Priorities as Action Items

• International Competencies for CCSU Students

• Faculty Survey on Internationalization at CCSU

• Departmental Study Abroad Advising Sheets

• Partnerships Committee

• State-wide website

International Competencies for All CCSU Students

• Knowledge, attitudes, skills

• Carefully chosen battles

• Immediate practical implementation - Guidelines and proposal for faculty-led programs

- Faculty evaluation of short-term programs

- Student evaluation of long- and short-term programs

- Woven into Faculty Survey

• Consistent standards and a baseline for the future

A Faculty Survey

• Simple and terse; no laundry lists please

• Curricular Integration focus

• Personal and low tech; veterans with survey fatigue

• Immediate practical use- Required component of every Departmental Annual Report

- Truth in advertizing – baseline info shared with chairs, deans, provost

- Justification for GenEd reform

- Recurring annually

Advising Sheets

• Meaningful curricular integration

• 40 department-specific Study Abroad Advising Sheets

• Practical, generic advice + highly specific guidelines fromdepartments

• Link CCSU partner programs abroad with courses required for the major

• Post on websites; distribute copies across campus

Partnerships Committee

• Lab subcommittee

• Avoid ‘heat of banquet’ affiliations

• Criteria and Faculty Proposal Form

• Promote partnerships- in desired locations

- for underrepresented majors

- with student interest

- with faculty support

International Courses

● Outcome of Faculty Survey

● Remedy for a dilemma

● Meaningful study abroad promotion

The IERConn Website

● Practical consortium 

● 11 Connecticut institutions

● Resource sharing - Study Abroad (map and program details/photos)

- International Students (social networking and statistics)

- Faculty Experts (selection and linking)

- Calendar of International Events

2 years later - where we are

● Committed Lab members

● Campus-wide, integrated, and collaborative; not ad hominem

● Systematic 

● Practical

Where we are going

• Creative financing

• Outcome-based projects

- Faculty promotion, sabbatical, and appointment

- Program development

- Program assessment

● Committed to staying connected