Gonzaga’s Center for Global Engagement provides a strategic and coordinated space to provide faculty, staff, and visiting scholars with information on programs and initiatives. According to the American Council on Education, an essential element of comprehensive internationalization is Faculty and Staff Support.
As the primary drivers of teaching and knowledge production, faculty play a pivotal role in learning, research, and service. Their commitment is imperative to the success of internationalization. Institutional policies and support mechanisms ensure that faculty have opportunities to develop intercultural competence themselves and are able to maximize the impact of these experiences on student learning, research, and service.
This support comes in the form of on-campus professional development opportunities and faculty and staff mobility opportunities.
On-Campus Professional Development Opportunities
On-campus professional development opportunities is expected, encouraged, and rewarded. Workshops, seminars, and other programs help faculty and staff build intercultural competence and incorporate diverse and global perspectives into their teaching, research, service, administrative responsibilities, and local-global community connections. Gonzaga supports this best practice by providing the following opportunities:
- International Student Academic Advisory Board a group of faculty that have substantial training/teaching/research in teaching international students in the US higher education system. Our goal is to create more support services for faculty, more information here.
- Global Engagement Faculty Development Fund, provided by the International Education Council
Faculty and Staff Mobility
Faculty and staff mobility is recognized as an asset. Faculty and staff have opportunities to teach, conduct research, participate in virtual exchange and collaboration, and attend domestic and international conferences. Gonzaga carries this best practice by providing the following opportunities:
- Supporting faculty to participate in the Mukogawa Women's University (Nishinomiya, Japan) Faculty Exchange - application period closes May 31, 2024.
- Supporting academic programs to host J-1 Exchange Visitors and Fulbright scholars (Foreign Language Teaching Assistants/Scholars in Residence)
- Supporting academic programs to engage with the Diplomat in Residence - Northwest (AK, Northern CA, OR, WA)
- Supporting the Gonzaga community to create faculty exchange opportunities via Gonzaga's Partnerships Agreement.
- Supporting faculty to create and teach short-term study abroad courses via the Study Abroad Office.
International and Transnational Faculty and Staff Affinity Group
For information regarding the International and Transnational Faculty and Staff Affinity Group, visit the ITFSAG page from the Office of Inclusive Excellence.
Get Involved!
Gonzaga's community-centered mission carries over to the Center for Global Engagement in the form of involvement activities and groups for students to develop relationships with faculty and staff. In addition to developing community among members, there are opportunities available to foster intercultural competence throughout the Gonzaga employee population. If you are a Gonzaga employee looking to get involved in Gonzaga's Global Community, some opportunities available are:
- Share a meal with an international student.
- Invite an international student to your home over the holidays.
- Invite an international student to join you to a local sight of interest (hiking, Kendall Yards, Bloomsday, etc.)
- Reach out to an international student to get their perspective (research project, cultural norms, conversation, etc.)
- Participate in Global Conversations, which includes a weekly one hour English conversation groups with international students.
- Help international students adjust to life at Gonzaga by volunteering to be a mentor.
- Interested in one of these opportunities or one that you'd like to create? Please contact isss@gonzaga.edu.