Spring Break
Opportunities for a global education
Phoenix Mourning-Star
Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Opinion
After writing columns about camping in tree-houses to save forests in Scotland and witnessing a single woman educating school-aged children about environmental sustainability in a school with no windows in T'bilisi, Georgia a few months after their conflict with Russia, now being tied to campus getting down to the business of becoming educated almost feels surreal.
But how can we make sure the outside world filters into our education on these sometimes "insulated" college and university campuses? Making real, personal connections to the world beyond the classroom where innovation and creativity flow has been a struggle educators have been studying for years -- and one which CSU has been excelling at for a long time.
Just off of the Oval in Laurel Hall, we've got some of the best and most well traveled staff I've ever met in the International Programs Office willing and able to help students get "out there."
CSU's affiliation with the Peace Corps is alive and strong. This week, we hosted a special guest from the United Nation's World Food Program. And I have to mention our faculty and post-docs involved in international research in Guatemala, Iraq, Japan, Nicaragua, Mexico, India, etc. Without a doubt, CSU has global roots.
There are a number of organizations around the world doing good work: The United Nations is one of the first to come to mind, then there's USAid, the World Wildlife Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. If you want to be a little more extreme there's always GreenPeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
One organization I would like to highlight this week is Rotary International, an organization in which a number of faculty, staff and administrators here at CSU who are involved.
The Rotary Club, the world's first service based club, began in 1905 and emphasizes "service above self." Rotary is an international organization that addresses local issues through collaboration, teamwork and compassion at the community level by accessing the knowledge, skills and selflessness of individuals within a community.
But how can we make sure the outside world filters into our education on these sometimes "insulated" college and university campuses? Making real, personal connections to the world beyond the classroom where innovation and creativity flow has been a struggle educators have been studying for years -- and one which CSU has been excelling at for a long time.
Just off of the Oval in Laurel Hall, we've got some of the best and most well traveled staff I've ever met in the International Programs Office willing and able to help students get "out there."
CSU's affiliation with the Peace Corps is alive and strong. This week, we hosted a special guest from the United Nation's World Food Program. And I have to mention our faculty and post-docs involved in international research in Guatemala, Iraq, Japan, Nicaragua, Mexico, India, etc. Without a doubt, CSU has global roots.
There are a number of organizations around the world doing good work: The United Nations is one of the first to come to mind, then there's USAid, the World Wildlife Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. If you want to be a little more extreme there's always GreenPeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
One organization I would like to highlight this week is Rotary International, an organization in which a number of faculty, staff and administrators here at CSU who are involved.
The Rotary Club, the world's first service based club, began in 1905 and emphasizes "service above self." Rotary is an international organization that addresses local issues through collaboration, teamwork and compassion at the community level by accessing the knowledge, skills and selflessness of individuals within a community.
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Mary Vogl
posted 3/05/09 @ 12:48 PM MST
Dear Editor,
I'm writing to commend Phoenix Mourning-Star on his informative and pertinent contributions to the Collegian. Students come to this university to get educated, to explore, to learn more about the wider world. (Continued…)
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