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College of Notre Dame of Maryland

www.ndm.edu/

Contents

General Institutional Overview

Overview of Internationalization Efforts
I.    Vision and Goals for Internationalization
II.   Progress
III. Successful Strategies
IV.  Future Plans

General Institutional Overview

Founded in 1873 by the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), the College of Notre Dame of Maryland was the first Catholic college for women to award the four-year baccalaureate degree. Notre Dame’s fundamental dedication to young women endures today, even as the mission has expanded to serve working adults, both male and female. Today, Notre Dame is proud to educate a diverse student body, composed of more than 3,000 women and men, traditional aged and adult, who attend classes full time or just one weekend per month. The Women’s College, the Weekend College and the Accelerated College for working women and men, and the Graduate Studies program are the principal offerings. The College of Notre Dame is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the National League of Nursing, the Maryland State Department of Education, and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, and is listed as a Carnegie category IIB institution.

Notre Dame is located in the cultural and business center of Maryland—the city of Baltimore (population 643,000). The state of Maryland is promoted as a premiere place to live, work, and visit. Higher education institutions are among the best in the nation. Almost half of all 18- to 24-year-olds in Maryland enroll in college-level courses, making the state a top performer in the nation. More than 700 Maryland organizations have some type of global operation. During the 1990s, Maryland’s immigrant population grew 65 percent. In 2003, the foreign-born residents represented more than one in 10 Marylanders. Notre Dame is located in a residential neighborhood in the northern part of Baltimore. The college benefits from both a beautiful campus environment and proximity to the city’s businesses and transportation, as well as cultural, recreational, and professional opportunities.

Mission

The College of Notre Dame of Maryland is committed to educating women as leaders to transform the world. Embracing the vision of the founders, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the college provides a liberal arts education in the Catholic tradition. Distinctive undergraduate and graduate programs challenge women and men to strive for intellectual and professional excellence, to build inclusive communities, to engage in service to others, and to promote social responsibility. Twenty-seven areas of study are offered at Notre Dame. The undergraduate degree in engineering is offered through cooperative agreements with the Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and the University of Maryland. The master of arts degree is awarded in seven areas of study in the fields of business, liberal studies, and education. A PhD in Instructional Leadership for Changing Populations was introduced in fall 2004.

Overview of Internationalization Efforts

I. Vision and Goals for Internationalization

Notre Dame has always embraced an international vision. From its earliest years, young women came from across the nation and the world. Courses were developed to include world affairs, the study of foreign languages was required, and faculty traveled abroad and became involved in the political landscape. The belief that the transformation of the world happens through the transformation of individuals took root in the institution. Today, the college’s ideals are lived out by its graduates in boardrooms and halls of government, classrooms, workplaces and businesses, and in homes all around the world. The Notre Dame’s mission is at work in the world. The vibrancy of this international vision permeates not only the history of the college, but also continues to be reflected in its current documents and initiatives.

The college’s strategic plan for 2002–07 was approved by the board of trustees on October 4, 2002, after one and a half years of dialogue with faculty, staff, and student groups. The five strategic themes of the plan are (1) identity and mission; (2) liberal learning; (3) student community, recruitment, and retention; (4) campus diversity; and (5) institutional resources and effectiveness. Internationalization and global learning are woven throughout the plan, but are primarily located in the liberal learning goal, which states that the college will provide an outstanding liberal arts education by building distinctive programs of excellence, infused with the common elements of experiential and international learning, service, and leadership. The plan provides new energy to a long-standing commitment.

II. Progress

The college has worked strategically to adopt policies and implement plans that reinforce its international vision and focus. It has been a time for growing programs, removing barriers, and establishing key relationships both at home and abroad. The results have been concrete, wide reaching, and significant. Several significant steps have been taken to ensure a promising future.

• The college president established the Office of International Programs in 1989 to serve as the center for international services and international campus initiatives.
• The director of International Programs formed an Advisory Council on International Education—composed of faculty, staff, alumnae, community leaders, and colleagues at other institutions in Baltimore—to assist in giving direction to international initiatives.
• A Title VI grant in 1992 began a process that has brought about significant curricular changes.
• In 1998, the college removed academic and financial barriers to study abroad. New “study abroad–friendly” policies were implemented.
• Agreements with higher education institutions in Japan, England, Mexico, and Australia and a formal relationship with the Council on International Educational Exchange are in place to permit students to participate in 40 programs in 21 countries.
• The college has adopted general education requirements that expose all undergraduates to courses with global perspectives. Students are expected to evidence cross-cultural and gender-sensitive awareness and attitudes. This key international learning outcome, a centerpiece of the liberal learning objective in the strategic plan, informs decisions made by faculty, staff, and administrators, assuring the development of courses in the majors and interdisciplinary courses, supporting opportunities for faculty development abroad, and promoting the ongoing development of co-curricular activities to enhance global classroom instruction.
• The importance of international learning is also evident in each of the major fields of study offered at the college. Academic departments are required to incorporate scholarship by and about persons of diverse cultural backgrounds and to include a study of global issues and concerns in the coursework of each of the major fields of study offered. This requirement has led to the development of a wide range of courses that create informed understanding of the interdependent nature of the world. In 2003, 13 departments, or approximately 76 percent of departments, had one or more courses with an international element.
• Study abroad is viewed as a necessary part of the student’s education. While not required, it is strongly encouraged by all departments. Since 1999, approximately 250 Notre Dame students have participated in semester or short-term programs.

The liberal learning focus on global education helps ensure that all students graduating from Notre Dame will experience numerous opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to function effectively in a complex, multicultural environment.

III. Successful Strategies

The vibrancy of the college’s international vision is illustrated by three contemporary marks of distinction, campus-wide policy changes and program enhancements for study abroad, the creation of an International Center on campus, and the establishment of a faculty development fund to support international travel and research.

Study Abroad. The college is committed to providing all students with an education that is truly international, and all students are encouraged to achieve this, in part, by studying abroad. Policy changes and program enhancements are making that a reality for more and more students. During the last eight years, the college has added dramatically to its study abroad offerings through the development of consortia arrangements and exchange agreements. Financial aid, course credits, and grades for study abroad courses are handled in the same manner as courses taken on the home campus. Creative structuring of study abroad policies now makes it possible for all students to build an experience abroad into their program of study. Students who are able to study abroad for a full semester or more may now use all of their federal, state, and institutional aid to finance the experience. This has been particularly helpful to those students who are most dependent on loans, grants, and scholarships. The college also participates in a number of work abroad programs that permit students to combine study and work and thus further reduce the opportunity costs often associated with study abroad.

In addition, the college has developed a full range of short-term study abroad opportunities to meet the needs of part-time students and adult learners. Here again, creative policy and institutional support combine to provide students who, because of family, work, or other obligations, find it impossible to spend a prolonged period abroad. All academically eligible students will receive a scholarship for three credits to be applied to one short-term academic experience abroad. The greatest structural impediments to study abroad have been removed. Over the past five years, the college has increased short-term study abroad opportunities, diversified its destinations, added language-learning opportunities, and provided a generous number of new scholarships for part-time students. As a result, 20 percent of all Notre Dame students who have traveled abroad over the last five years have been part-time adult students.

International Center. The fall 2001 opening of the Sister Kathleen Feeley International Center vividly illustrates the college’s commitment to international education. A $2 million renovation project designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the center brings together many dimensions of international education under one roof. The 20,000 square foot space is home to the faculty of the classical and modern foreign languages and the English Language Institute, and the offices of Study Abroad, International Programs, and Service Initiatives. A fully digitized, state-of-the-art Language Learning Center offers unparalleled opportunities for self-guided language study. The International Center also includes common meeting spaces, classrooms, and a student lounge. Located in a residence hall in the center of campus, this welcoming space facilitates dialogue and fosters intercultural understanding across countries, religious faiths, and ethnicities through lectures, roundtables, and other programming for the campus community.

Faculty Travel and Research Abroad. Within the last 10 years, a concerted effort has been made to provide opportunities for faculty to travel, study, and do research abroad. Well over 50 percent of full-time faculty has had some type of international experience. Annually, seven faculty lead short-term trips abroad; two or three visit our partner institutions in Asia, Mexico, or London; and others travel to lecture, present papers, or do research. Twice, Honors Program students and director have traveled to Japan to engage in cross-cultural learning at Notre Dame’s sister college, Aoyama Gakuin Women’s Junior College, Tokyo.

A major initiative of the college’s Legacy of Leadership Capital Campaign in   1999–2004   was creating a Faculty Professional Development Fund. The fund provides important support for faculty to increase expertise in global issues, pursue research opportunities outside the United States, and help build collegial networks with counterparts at home and abroad. A significant anonymous gift established the fund, and the faculty—in partnership with trustees and community leaders—made additional gifts and pledges in excess of $100,000. This fund benefits current faculty and will serve to attract faculty who intend to pursue internationally focused research.

IV. Future Plans

Through its participation in the Global Learning for All   project, the college has identified several short- and long-term strategies to enhance international learning for its new majority students. To this end, the college will work to provide more opportunities for its Weekend and Accelerated College students to participate in and take advantage of global learning experiences. The college will continue to identify opportunities for international travel and research for the faculty, and will undertake a comprehensive review of both the curriculum and the organizational structure that supports this work.

In addition to promoting study abroad, the college will focus on the challenges that confront its ESL program and the recruitment of international students. Through its involvement with the Fulbright Commission, the college will host a Muslim scholar in March/April 2006. This will give the campus community the opportunity to engage in dialogue on issues critical to its understanding of the Muslim world. Over the last 10 years, the college has hosted five Fulbright scholars on campus.

In September 2005, the college will launch a Pastoral Spanish program designed to meet the needs of professionals and volunteers who work with the growing Hispanic population. This new initiative explores the culture, history, and faith expressions of the diverse Latino population and includes the teaching of conversational Spanish and language skills for pastoral care.