Over the years, we have worked to strengthen and grow UC Santa Cruz’s international prominence, offerings, and connections. With a reinvigorated Division of Global Engagement and the development of a campus Strategic Academic Plan, now is the time to develop a campus internationalization plan for connecting students, faculty, and communities across the globe.
I am excited to announce that our participation in the American Council on Education (ACE) Internationalization Lab is off to a great start and steadily progressing. This effort will support the development of comprehensive internationalization strategies for our campus with the goal of integrating global perspectives in all areas of teaching, research, and scholarship, and leveraging the possibilities to move forward the Strategic Academic Plan.
Chancellor George Blumenthal and Campus Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor Marlene Tromp announced this effort in November. CP/EVC Tromp formed and charged a new Internationalization Lab steering committee, a partnership with the Academic Senate. The steering committee is carrying out a comprehensive review of the current state of the UCSC’s internationalization activities with the goal of identifying priorities for internationalization on our campus and proposing a realistic plan for implementing them. Steering committee membership is designed to be representative of faculty in as many disciplinary and functional areas as possible.
Throughout the winter quarter, the steering committee is collecting data about current internationalization views and activities across campus. Committee members are visiting department meetings to engage with faculty in person and learn more about their internationalization efforts and challenges. Additionally, the committee is distributing a questionnaire to department chairs that seeks more detailed information about departmental successes, and any barriers to expanding future internationalization efforts.
As we look ahead to the spring and summer, the steering committee will be engaging in an analysis of the data collected to identify campus priorities and formulate recommendations.
We are all excited to hear from departments across campus regarding current and past internationalization activities, and your ideas about where we might direct our future efforts. For individuals interested in this strategic planning process, the ACE Internationalization Lab website provides details about the lab, timeline, documents, and related information. We will be updating the site regularly as the process unfolds. If you have ACE Internationalization Lab questions or comments, please feel free to contact global@ucsc.edu.
