When CILMAR was being created in 2016, it was very important to our founder Dr. Michael A. Brzezinski that mentorship be at the heart of our name and the heart of all we do. Listen in as our director Kris Acheson-Clair tells the story:
CILMAR's plan for scaling up intercultural learning (ICL) on the Purdue-West Lafayette campus includes mentorship. Although mentorship is accomplished using a one-to-one model, scaling up is accomplished when each mentee in turn mentors others.
The Growing Intercultural Leaders (GIL) program, an incentivized program for faculty and staff, provides an ICL mentor for each participant in an individualized professional development program meant to foster champions of intercultural learning and research across campus.
The Intercultural Pedagogy Grant (IPG) is an incentivized series of workshops for faculty professional development. Throughout the program, participants are mentored in designing individual plans to more intentionally build intercultural learning into the curriculum in a study abroad, online, or on-campus learning experience.
CILMAR collaborates with the Chicago State University PReMMiSS partnership and the Purdue Sloan Center for Systemic Change, to organize and host the multi-institutional Sloan Mentorship Community of Practice. This CoP brings together faculty and staff mentors each semester for a three-workshop onboarding series as well as deep dive events for ongoing members and open events where anyone is welcome. The mission of the CoP is to support mentors in developing the capacity to more holistically and responsively meet the unique needs of the students they advise and supervise.
Although not necessarily a formal mentoring relationship, the professional connections afforded the participants in the Purdue InterCultural Learning Community of Practice (PICLCoP) and the HubICL Workshops offers less experienced practitioners from across campus the opportunity to learn from those who are more experienced.
CILMAR also offers one-to-one mentoring support during consultations to colleagues from across and beyond campus, including needs analysis, resource identification and development, and coaching.
For more mentorship resources, created in conjuniction with the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence, please go here.
The Semester Abroad in Intercultural Learning (SAIL) program provides a one-credit, pass/fail class, which includes a mentoring component and is incentivized by a $2000-scholarship for those who complete the class.
Updated February 14, 2024
Spoon feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
E. M. Forster