The international faculty community at UB is expected to flourish with the development of the Faculty Internationalization Fund, which provides grant awards to promote the globalization of the university.
The presence of international students and faculty enriches the university, according to David Engel, a SUNY distinguished service professor at the UB Law School and a member of the International Strategy Task Group.
'The lives of our students and faculty are increasingly affected by our society's countless connections to other countries and to transnational organizations and global phenomena of many kinds,' Engel said.
In a world that is continually becoming more and more globalized, students must be able to adapt to these changes in school, the workplace and throughout their lives, Engel said. This all starts with how faculty instills a global mindset in students.
'In order to prepare our students to succeed and flourish in a globalized world, UB and other universities are striving to increase our international expertise and to expose our students to other countries, customs and ways of thinking,' Engel said.
The Faculty Internationalization Fund awards grants of up to $5,000 based on applications sent in by faculty. A committee chaired by Stephen Dunnett, vice provost of International Education, reviews the applications and decides if they are worthy of funding.
The fund is looking for three investments to promote UB as an international environment. A faculty-led study abroad program with UB students would establish relations with foreign institutions and expose students to other cultures. Also, faculty members are encouraged to use the grant for research collaboration with foreign institutions. Lastly, new courses could be developed and existing courses could be enhanced with an emphasis on adding international content to the curriculum.
'There is an obligation to prepare students, create curriculum with more foreign language courses or global geography or even putting international perspectives in already existing courses,' Dunnett said.
This new funding is also in compliance with the UB 2020 plan to develop a leading university for education and also adjusting to emerging global issues.
'It is up to [the university] to prepare the next generation to be more globally competent and to be a place where international students want to come,' Dunnett said.
UB is not alone when it comes to this global issue. Other universities around the country have been or plan to be globalizing to keep up with the rest of the world. Residents of many countries are multilingual, but in the U.S. only one out of nine citizens are multilingual.
With other countries' economies gaining on the U.S. economy, those who are not globally prepared are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to employability.
'China may become the largest economy within the next generation,' Dunnett said. '[Chinese students] are taught English in grade school and many are fluent by college. The U.S. hasn't always emphasized becoming multilingual and in the future we may not be as competitive.'
The Faculty Internationalization Fund is expected to help faculty and students, of this generation and the next, to educate themselves and become acclimated to globalization, Engel said. Several faculty members have already sent in applications for grant awards.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
