Student Symposium in Global Citizenship

Lake Forest College

Partners Project Final Report

In 2001, Lake Forest College received a Global Partners Project award that allowed us to run a Global Responsibilities Student Symposium. We are writing to request additional funding to repeat and expand this project for a second year. Our intent is to launch this project as an annual co-curricular event at the College. Last spring, the Symposium Planning Committee hosted two sessions that connected with our theme of global responsibilities. These two sessions were conducted in one afternoon, followed by a dinner with presenters and selected faculty and administrators. The first session was a lecture by noted speaker Dr. Martha Nussbaum. Her talk, titled "Patriotism and the Limits of Compassion," was well-received. This session was followed by a panel of students who spoke about their study abroad experiences, in Paris, Santiago, Beijing and Spain. These American and international students offered insight into the cultural adaptation process and what it means to be a cultural representative; one Swiss student also spoke of his cultural adaptation to America. In addition, students offered general tips for others to use during the study abroad experience. The ensuing discussion among those in attendance, most of whom were looking forward to study abroad this coming year, was imminently useful, in both conceptual and practical terms. One international student provided a photo exhibit of his experience; this was supplemented by a world map pinpointing the many places from which Lake Forest College students hail. The Symposium closed with a buffet dinner in honor of the presenters.

The Lake Forest College Global Responsibilities Student Symposium serves the concept of Best Practices for study abroad because of its focus on conceptualizing and sharing student experience during pre-departure and re-entry. The College has demonstrated its commitment to helping students develop international perspectives by providing small need-based Global Student Symposium Participation Grants to support student participation in our study abroad programs. These awards require participation in the Symposium in some way: creating a display, writing an article for the student newspaper, or generating an e-journal to share with language classes during their stay abroad.

We plan to improve the format of the symposium, and envision the following, for which we seek your assistance:

1) Expand the student panel discussion on study abroad experiences, to include Lake Forest College American and international students who have participated in our own programs in Paris, Santiago, Greece/Turkey, and East Asia, as well as ACM and other programs. This Symposium is a useful way to aid the process of re-entry by creating a forum for returning students to reflect on their experiences, and provide some pre-departure orientation for students preparing to study abroad. Presenters will include current students, and alumni participants residing in the Chicago area, who will comment on the long-term benefits of study abroad. Another panel comprised of international students will speak about their encounter with American culture through their time at LFC. Discussion with attendees will be strongly encouraged and this session will be expanded in length from last year.

2) Invite a guest speaker to address the conceptual issues of global responsibility. This person may also serve as moderator for the student panel, and will dine with presenters and other students, faculty and administrators immediately after these sessions. One resource for a speaker/moderator which will provide for inter-institutional collaboration would be an appropriate faculty member from another ACM college. This would also provide a means for our colleges to have a discussion of common pre-departure and re-entry issues related to the student immersion experience.

3) Add a faculty panel to discuss this summer's two-week tour of China, funded by a Freeman grant. A dozen faculty will use this experience to add course content on East Asia, while administrators will research sites for our proposed study abroad program in East Asia. This discussion will inform and promote the new program abroad, as well as highlight the new and revised courses in our curriculum with some focus on Asia.

4) Increase publicity for the event on the College web site, and by sending email notices to the entire campus community. We may inform residents of the surrounding area through posters, the local news media, and by inviting other area and ACM institutions. We plan to create a web page that will summarize the event, include remarks made by the keynote speaker, and highlight the comments of the students and faculty panelists. In addition to publicizing the event, the website will promote study abroad, by making written reflections on the immersion experience available to interested students, alumni and other institutions.

5) Invite appropriate faculty and students as participants and/or attendees from other area and ACM colleges. We will offer video-conferencing for another institution who would like to attend in this manner, in order to promote inter-institutional dialogue around issues of global responsibility and the importance of study abroad.

Through this year's symposium, we hope to reach a greater number of students and faculty both at Lake Forest College and at other institutions. Inclusion of more international students to discuss what it means to be globally responsible citizens on our campus will enlarge the scope of our discussion in a dynamic way. The addition of a panel on China will help draw attention to this new study abroad program and Asian course options. We intend to tie the Symposium more closely to current courses that relate to the discussion of what it means to be "responsible global citizens." Faculty and their classes discussing international topics will be invited to take part as active audience members. Inter-institutional collaboration through invitation to share in this experience, as speakers or attendees, along with dissemination of the information presented on a new web page devoted to this topic, will add to knowledge of best practices in study abroad.

The Global Responsibilities Student Symposium will provide an academic forum for the discussion of diverse perspectives and experiences. It adds to efforts in best practices for study abroad by contributing to the processes of orientation, re-entry, and building awareness of cultural representation and responsibility. Finally the Symposium is an integral part of a College-wide initiative to recognize the international character of our campus community and a growing emphasis on global issues in our curriculum (as evidenced by a working group on this topic during the past year, and a new off-campus program review committee). Financial assistance in 2002-03 for this expansion of our Global Partners project will help us as we seek to make this an annual event at the College. We thank you in advance for your consideration.

Report by Cynthia Hahn, Associate Dean of the Faculty

(Members of the Symposium Planning Committee currently also include: Robert Archambeau, Cathy Benton, Shiwei Chen, Steve Galovich, Daniel Lopez, Jan Miller, Rand Smith, George Speros).

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