In June, the University of the South received news of an $800,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with the potential to transform Sewanee’s language and global studies. The grant will create a Globalization Forum, a series of workshops on global education that will become a model for curricular review and revision as it enhances constructive interdisciplinary conversations. (Right, a group from Sewanee at a BRAC school in Bangladesh)

“Extending the scope of our study and understanding is a priority identified in current strategic planning for the University of the South, and the Mellon grant will provide critical support as we move toward those ends,” noted Vice-Chancellor John McCardell. “Our strategic planning calls for extending Sewanee’s reach, engaging both local and international communities to help students comprehend the diversity of experience and challenges facing the world.

“The globalization forum will be a key tool for achieving this strategic goal,” McCardell said. “It will allow us to test our own sense of good language and global teaching with the insights of others at research universities, peer colleges, and secondary schools.”

With the assistance of the grant, Sewanee will develop a program with four main objectives: faculty development, interdisciplinary course development, collaboration with research universities and existing consortia, and enhancement of student services in the global studies curriculum. To accomplish these objectives, faculty and staff plan to:

• Create the Mellon Globalization Forum, which will look broadly at the language and global studies curricula and teaching, and enrich course offerings through shared dialogue
• Create a grant program for faculty members developing interdisciplinary courses in language and global perspectives
• Connect Sewanee’s language and global studies instruction to activities at research universities by hiring post-doctoral fellows who will teach in these programs
• Enhance study abroad programs for the International and Global Studies Program

Work will begin this summer on implementing the new grant-funded program, which will be a program of Sewanee’s Center for Teaching.

To learn more, visit the Sewanee Tomorrow site.