Monday, September 27, 2010

Internationalization in The College at The University of Chicago

Today is the first day of Autumn Quarter at The University of Chicago and I am entering my eleventh academic year of work at this fine institution.  My first five years I worked in the Office of International Affairs which is the office that works with our international student, scholar and staff population.  Since 2005 I have worked in the Office of the Dean of Students in The College with the current position of Senior Adviser for International Initiatives.  


With the start of a new academic year (which brings upon a crazy busy schedule for me) I thought I would highlight the international activities here in The College at The University of Chicago by walking through three floors of Harper Memorial Library (the administrative building for The College where my office is located) and taking pictures of things I see that promote scholarship beyond our borders.  I was surprised to find many different kinds of images that highlight internationalization here on campus and I plan for this to be a week long series here on IHEC Blog.  


For this first post I thought I would take a picture (above) of the eastern wall of the great reading room in Harper Memorial Library and copy and paste text about its significance from a recent Chicago Maroon article (which you can view here):
"Dean of the College John Boyer's speech [to a group of visiting diplomats] continued with the morning's emphasis on Chicago's connections to the wider global community, focusing on international education through centers in London, Singapore, Paris, and, starting next fall, Beijing.  He explained that the screen above the reading room's eastern wall has coats of arms of international universities from Berlin to Calcutta to Tokyo, symbolizing the school;s commitment to international education.  "The iconography of this great building spans geography, and this is a wonderful symbol of the University today, "Boyer said."
As you walk through your campus or organization, building or office what images do you see around you that promote internationalization?


Photo credit:  http://davidcomp.wordpress.com/

2 comments:

  1. I live in a college town and it's always great to hear languages spoken other than English.

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  2. Living in the global environment means more opportunities that were unheard of a couple of decades ago. Anyone can go to college these days - if there is a will, there is a way. And for sure colleges only benefit from the diversity of their students - it allows exposure to various cultures.

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