Home Programs & ServicesCenter for International InitiativesCurrent Initiatives At Home in the World

The need for cultural competency among 21^st century graduates becomes ever more pressing as U.S demographics shift, local and global communities become further intertwined, the job market becomes increasingly global, and the workforce continues to diversify. In order to become responsible, productive citizens, our students must possess an understanding of their own cultures and those of their neighbors at home and afar. They will also need the skills to analyze interconnections between global and local systems and effectively participate in their diverse communities.

Through our newly titled initiative At Home in the World: Educating for Global Connections and Local Commitments, The American Council on Education (ACE) seeks to address these needs by engaging a group of higher education institutions in examining the commonalities and potential for collaboration between diversity/multicultural education and internationalization on U.S. campuses. This initiative is driven by the premise that synergistic efforts between these areas can assist institutions in educating more effectively for global connections and local commitments. For institutions to fulfill their service mission in a globalized society, they will need to advance the analytical frameworks, pedagogical enhancements, diversification strategies, and innovative solutions to societal issues that the work in this intersection affords.

ACE's Center for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity (CAREE) and Center for International Initiatives (CII) are collaboratively building on their history of work on internationalization, access, success,equity, and diversity/multicultural education to promote the At Home in the World Initiative intended to explore the best ways in which to educate for global connections and local commitments.

Through meetings and publications over the past few years, ACE has engaged institutional leaders and practitioners in discussion about these issues:

• 2009 At Home in the World Institute: This gathering drew more than 150 representatives from 41 institutions to explore synergistic programming designed to bolster both the internationalization and multicultural/diversity education agendas on campus.
• 2008 Bridging the Gap between Multicultural Education and Internationalization Symposium: ACE convened more than 120 higher education leaders in teams from 26 institutions to advance the national dialogue on cultivating collaboration between diversity/multicultural education and internationalization.
• 2007 Publication: At Home in the World: Bridging the Gap between Internationalization and Multicultural Education: The publication outlines the common ground between diversity/multicultural education and internationalization, the ways in which these areas diverge, and potential strategies for advancing conversations that cultivate collaboration between these areas.
• 2007 ACE Internationalization Collaborative Meeting: The 2007 Collaborative meeting highlighted how domestic pluralism/diversity/multiculturalism and internationalization can be synergistic and integrated, rather than in competition.
• 2006 Roundtable of Scholars and 2007 Advisory Group meeting: ACE convened two working groups to advise CII and CAREE on the development of the collaborative initiative between diversity/multicultural education and internationalization.

Please direct questions about this page to:
jarred_butto@ace.nche.edu | Staff Contacts
Download our information brochure (PDF)
This page last updated on: 08/12/2009