At Agnes Scott College, first-year students are given the opportunity to take their first step into becoming global citizens through its Global Journeys program.
Students visit Sabal’s Cassava Farm in Belize in March 2022
“Our student demographic is one of the most diverse student demographics in the country,” said Dr. Gundolf Graml, associate VP for academic affairs, dean for curriculum and strategic initiatives, and professor of German. “Over 60% of our students are students of color. Over 40% are Pell Grant-eligible. Many of our students are first-generation students. Many of them have not really traveled widely or experienced an intentional global perspective.”
The program – now in its eighth year and is open to all undergraduate first-year students – offers approximately 15 different courses every spring semester under the program umbrella, said Graml, who directs Agnes Scott’s Center for Global Learning.
The courses take on average about 18-20 students each. Global Journeys is required for all students and is a graduation requirement, Grami said.
Notably, each of those courses takes a week out of the semester – often in March – to allow the private women's liberal arts college’s students to travel to destinations associated with their respective course, at no additional cost.
“We have a core/general education curriculum that emphasizes global learning and leadership development,” Graml said. “The phrase 'global learning' is not necessarily synonymous with international learning, but it focuses on enabling our students to recognize the global patterns and systems that we live in, work in, play in on a daily basis, from the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the means of transportation we use. Many of these things would not be possible without global connections of where these things are produced, who organizes them."
Such destinations range from domestic locations such as the Navajo Nation, Alaska, New York City, New Orleans, to international ones such as Iceland, Paris, Milan, Croatia, Ghana, Morocco, and the Caribbean.
