Syracuse University has been invited to join the 13th cohort of the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Internationalization Laboratory for 2015-17. It is one of 13 colleges and universities participating. The laboratory is a community of institutions that are developing strategies to strengthen their internationalization goals and ambitions.
The ACE’s Internationalization Laboratory is a community of institutions that are developing strategies to strengthen their interntionalization goals and ambitions.
Barbara A. Hill, senior associate for internationalization at the Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement for the American Council on Education, will visit campus on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. During her time here, she will meet with Chancellor Kent Syverud, Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy, deans of the schools and colleges, and the Academic Strategic Plan working group on internationalization.
As members of this cohort, the University will receive expert guidance over the next two years, as it forms an internationalization leadership team; reviews its current activities, goals and structures; and develops a plan based on this analysis for how best to move forward. This team is also functioning as the working group on internationalization for the Academic Strategic Plan.
Participating in this laboratory will help the University to develop broad, deep and integrative strategies for making Syracuse a more global university: curricula and co-curricula that provide students with a richer and more experiential understanding of the globalized world they will live and work in; better integration of international students into the campus through curricula and student support services; development of key regional studies strengths that will greatly improve the institution’s research possibilities and global ranking; and more substantive and affordable study, research and intern abroad opportunities for all students.
Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy is a strong supporter of the ACE initiative, saying, “Participating in the ACE Internationalization Laboratory provides an excellent opportunity for Syracuse University to continue to strengthen our commitment to providing a truly broad, rich, diverse education for our students. As is stated in last June’s ‘Trajectory to Excellence’ report from the Academic Strategic Plan Steering Committee, our goal is to ensure that students who ‘Enter the Campus, Engage with the World,’ and the ACE partnership will definitely assist us in accomplishing that.”
“This is an important institutional step forward in furthering our commitment to educating students to participate in a transnational world as citizens and professionals, eager to join with others to address the complex challenges we face in productive and ethical ways,” says Margaret Himley, associate provost for international education and engagement.
Mehrzad Boroujerdi, chair of the political science department in the Maxwell School and Provost Fellow for Internationalization, says, “Partnering with ACE is an excellent indication that the University’s commitment to internationalization is serious and substantive. Having participated in two ACE events on internationalization this year, I am confident that Syracuse University will benefit handsomely from this cooperation.”
“This is a tremendous opportunity for these institutions to share lessons and challenges as they undergo a cultural transformation over the coming months,” Hill says.
Since 2002, 105 institutions have participated in the program. The other institutions in the 13th Internationalization Laboratory Cohort are:
