Growing Intercultural Leaders

GIL is a professional development opportunity for faculty and staff at Purdue West Lafayette and Indianapolis. It is designed to cultivate the intercultural leadership skills that will enhance a sense of community on campus and contribute to a better world pursued through intercultural growth and partnerships.

As a program outcome, GIL aims for broad reach across job status, campus unit, and perspective. It also seeks to build a community of current and past participants and mentors for ongoing personal and professional growth.

The GIL program provides two levels of support for faculty and staff who work as teachers, mentors and advisors to students and/or with other faculty and staff on campus. 

At the scholarship level, GIL participants complete Dr. Tara Harvey's online course, Facilitating Intercultural Learning, during fall semester. During spring semester, they are assigned a mentor to support their continuing work toward their personal development goal and to set in motion the project related to their professional goal. CILMAR covers the cost of the course (value $2500). The scholarship level calls for a commitment of one academic year and an end-of-year report.

At the fellowship level, GIL participants work on their personal development goal and implement a project related to their professional development goal with support of a mentor, research collaboration, and professional development funds of $2500 upon submission of an end-of-year report. The fellowship level calls for a commitment of one academic year and may be renewed for a second year. 

Eligibility

GIL scholars are faculty and staff who are relatively new to thinking about frameworks for intercultural learning, who seek to grow personally in this area, and who wish to explore how to cultivate intercultural growth in their students and/or in faculty or staff they mentor. GIL scholars will generally have completed IPG or Worldview Workshops or bring relevant experience with study away/abroad, community engagement, student success, learning theories, or other related activities.

GIL fellows are faculty and staff leaders who already have some experience working with frameworks for intercultural learning and are committed to making personal growth, fostering intercultural growth in students, mentoring colleagues, and contributing to related knowledge production a central part of their professional efforts. They are prepared to disseminate their work beyond their own department or program. GIL fellows will generally have completed the Intercultural Pedagogy Grant program, held a GIL scholarship, or bring both experience and theoretical knowledge in the areas such as study away/abroad, community engagement, student success, theories of learning, etc.

Note: If you are new to thinking about frameworks for intercultural learning, IPG is an incentivized, fall-semester professional development program that can help you design or redesign a course or program with intercultural learning outcomes.

Goal setting

For both the scholarship and fellowship, GIL participants set goals in two tracks – personal and professional development – and pursue a project related to their position and their professional goal. 

For ideas (not required) of personal goals, consult the AAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE Rubric and the Intercultural Leadership Rubric.

Ideas of professional goals include, but are not limited to, revamping a course, creating learning activities, developing an assessment program, mapping a curriculum, designing a mentoring program, etc.

Application

Applications are reviewed by a committee and evaluated based on qualifications, alignment of goals with CILMAR's mission and resources, depth of need in applicant's department or program, clarity of purpose, and impact.

To apply, click here.

Applications are due March 31, 2025. Selection will be announced by May 1, 2025. Program activities are expected to begin at the start of fall semester. 

Please contact Lead Intercultural Learning Specialist Dr. Aletha Stahl at stahl23@purdue.edu with any questions.

GIL Participants and Mentors

Thank you to each GIL participant for your contributions to intercultural learning on the Purdue campus and to GIL mentors who make the program possible.

2024-2025
Level Name Title College Unit/Department Mentor
Scholar Nélida Aubeneau lecturer Liberal Arts School of Languages and Cultures Dawn F. Stinchcomb
Scholar Jenna Bednarski clinical assistant professor Health and Human Sciences School of Nursing Cynthia Koh-Knox Sharp
Fellow Dawn F. Stinchcomb associate professor Liberal Arts School of Languages and Cultures Mark Puente
Fellows Margaret Phillips & Heather Howard associate professors Libraries & School of Information Studies Charles Calahan

Goals: Learning Outcomes and Evidence

Per the recommendations of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) Transparency Framework and the NILOA Excellence in Assessment Standards, we provide the goals for each program offered through CILMAR.

GIL Scholars will achieve Level 2 and GIL Fellows will achieve Level 3 on three of the six domains on the Intercultural Leadership Rubric: wellbeing, self-awareness, theoretical foundations, assessment and integration of learning, reflection, ownership/self-directed learning. This achievement will be determined by CILMAR staff as evidenced by an end-of-year report that includes critical reflection, artifacts such as a syllabus or student work, for GIL Fellows documentation of shared learning beyond their departments or program (e.g., presentation, white paper, published article), and by mentor notes.
Updated January 30, 2025