It's good from time to time to do some perspective taking on where we've come from and where we thought we would go. As Chuck Calahan winds up his article "A Six-Year Journey of Global Learning Faculty and Student Development" for the AAC&U series Peer Review, he lays out in 2018--when CILMAR was but 2 years old--what he (and we) believed the Center's next initiatives would be:
"Due to this initiative to train as many faculty and staff as possible on campus and bring global learning to scale, the Center for Intercultural Learning Mentorship Assessment Research (CILMAR) formed in the Office of International Programs. CILMAR's mission states, 'We facilitate intercultural learning opportunities for all Boilermakers. [CILMAR] promotes and facilitates intercultural learning at Purdue and beyond. We foster inclusion, belongingness and community. We cultivate the knowledge, skills and attitudes of intercultural competence. We provide opportunities and resources for engaging with, adapting to and bridging across difference. We mentor intercultural leaders, support innovative scholarship and encourage best practices in teaching and learning.'
"In time, CILMAR hired six intercultural learning specialists to promote and assess curricular and cocurricular intercultural learning options for Purdue students, faculty, and staff while facilitating cutting-edge research on intercultural competency topics of interest to the university and to the intercultural learning and assessment field. CILMAR designated three staff members as associate directors--for intercultural pedagogy and scholarship, intercultural outcomes assessment, and cocurricular programming and engagement--and hired a communication strategist, a programs liaison, and office support personnel.
"CILMAR created an extensive collection of programs, resources, and support for students (including intercultural mentoring) via semester abroad intercultural leadership courses and grants, intercultural certification, digital badging opportunities, Sentio's Global Competence Certificate, Peace Corps Prep certification, seminar coursework, and Purdue's Boiler OUT volunteer program, which provides international and American students with meaningful local community service opportunities. The International Friendship Program connects international students to local community hosts, and Go [sic] Purdue is a way for all Purdue students to explore Indiana and places of interest in surrounding states. CILMAR also hosts welcoming activities, which include sports events, holiday celebrations, an education exchange for international students to speak and present in local schools and organizations, and events for all students to share their cultural perspectives through fun cultural activities. Student-run organizations receive One Community Grants to develop programs to provide meaningful interaction between international and domestic students."
Although some of the prognostication above was correct, by the end of 2018, it had been decided that CILMAR's co-curricular programming--BoilerOUT and GO Purdue-type programs--should be run as other student organizations were administered, with student officers and an advisor from the faculty, staff, or graduate student body. With these changes, the One Community Grant was phased out. Only the International Friendship program remained in CILMAR by the end of 2018, and it returned to ISS, which is where it had moved from in 2014. In place of the Global Competence Certificate, CILMAR now has developed its own GLUE curriculum for use in SAIL. Peace Corps Prep certification moved over to the National and International Scholarship Office several years ago.
Are there six intercultural learning specialists and three intercultural learning specialists and three associate directors? As with any office, things have not always settled out as expected. Our current organizational structure can be seen below.
Chuck predicted the following for the relationship between Purdue faculty and CILMAR:
"For faculty, CILMAR started an intercultural faculty and staff community of practice and offers workshops and simulations, intercultural assessments, institutional agreements, and one-on-one consultations. The Global Partners program takes teams of Purdue staff and faculty to Asia to conduct pre-departure orientations for first-year students and their parents. CILMAR also offers faculty study abroad grants, intercultural pedagogy grants, and intercultural research and scholarship opportunities. Growing Intercultural Leaders, managed by CILMAR and CIE, is a three-tiered scaffolding program for intercultural personal development of faculty and staff leading directly to intercultural student learning. This fosters the continuous professional development for faculty, staff leaders and mentors to implement on-campus learning."
Many of the workshops that CILMAR currently offers are formatted as self-learning modules, offered through the HubICL's Professional Development Zone (PDZ). The initial development of the HubICL was finalized just about the time that Chuck's article was published. The Global Partners Program to China was phased out not too long after this article was written. Purdue no longer offers faculty study abroad grants. The Growing Intercultural Leaders program is now two-tiered and is totally overseen by CILMAR.
Calahan, Charles. (Winter 2018). A Six-Year Journey of Global Learning Faculty and Student Development. Peer Review, 20, 1, pp. 8+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A596860401/AONE?u=googlescholar&sid=googleScholar&xid=5f024d35. Accessed 15 July 2024.