Welcome Message
Welcome to the Center for Global Education.
The Center for Global Education was established as part of a college-wide initiative to offer an academic experience more relevant to the times in which we live. At the heart of this initiative is the curriculum and one of the central features of this curriculum is a commitment to global education. The new curriculum aims to infuse global perspectives in as many aspects of the academic experience as possible and the array of strategies now available to realize this objective is impressive. All students, for example, are required to have two semesters of a foreign language, selecting from among seven modern languages to fulfill this requirement. With the Beyond the West requirement, all students must enroll in at least one course that examines issues from non-western perspectives. The newest feature of the curriculum is Connections and more than half of the options available have significant global content.
In addition to this, our students can now select from a wide menu of short-term and traditional study abroad opportunities around the world. The dramatic increase in the number of study abroad participants speaks to the growing recognition among students of the importance of such experiences. Students are encouraged to and supported in applying for prestigious scholarships that offer international study/research opportunities such as Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall, Watson and Truman Scholarships. Through Wheaton's Academic Advising & Co-curricular Learning Center students are able to seek international internships and/or service learning opportunities.
Dozens of cross cultural events are sponsored by members of the campus community each semester, offering students a chance to challenge stereotypical ways of thinking and of looking at the world. Our growing international student presence enriches the academic and cultural milieu of the college.
At the very core of all of these efforts is the goal of helping to prepare students who are globally competent. By global competence, we mean that students participate in a broad-based program of study that emphasizes strong critical-thinking skills and effective personal and social skills. Such students are exposed to different cultural perspectives,engage deeply with matters of the human condition, and develop a confident identity as a global citizen. Understood in its most progressive sense, this is what a liberal education offers, and it is to this that a Wheaton education is committed.
Global education offered at Wheaton College is integrated in practice, interdisciplinary in approach, and institutionalized in its reach. This contemporary and relevant education offers students a chance to engage more fully with the human experience and to understand themselves in relation to a dynamic and complex world. We welcome you to this website to discover the range of opportunities Wheaton offers in terms of global education.
The Center for Global Education Staff