Global Engagement
Indiana Wesleyan University is a Christ-centered academic community committed to changing the world by developing students in character, scholarship, and leadership. We seek to be a truly great Christian university serving the world.
As an educational institution, Indiana Wesleyan University has been rooted locally in Marion, IN for nearly a century, but our scope also extends nationally and globally as we seek to fulfill our mission and vision to be a truly great Christian university serving the world.
Guided by shared values and focused on strategic initiatives, the following entities collaborate together in an effort to advance IWU’s mission and global vision.
Education Abroad Office
The Education Abroad Office provides students with global learning opportunities that enrich their academic discipline and help prepare them to effectively engage with people in multicultural environments. Led by faculty and staff, education abroad experiences include:
- Travel Classes (May Term and Summer Terms)
- International Fieldtrips (Spring Break)
- Global Service Learning Teams (Spring Break, May Term, and Summer Terms)
- Summer/Semester Abroad Programs
- International Internships, Practicum Experiences, Student Teaching
The following are approved Summer/Semester Abroad Programs:
- American Studies Program (Washington, D.C.) - www.bestsemester.com/asp
- Australia Studies Center (Brisbane, Australia and New Zealand) - www.bestsemester.com/asc
- Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies (Great Lakes and Pacific Rim) - www.ausable.org
- Azusa Pacific University (Los Angeles, CA) - www.apu.edu/laterm
- BCA Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) - www.bcanet.org
- Contemporary Music Center (Nashville, TN) - www.bestsemester.com/cmc
- Creation Care Study Program (Belize, Central America, New Zealand) - www.creationcsp.org
- Ecuador Semester - Taylor University (Cuenca, Ecuador) - www.taylor.edu
- Gordon College in Orvieto (Orvieto, Italy) - www.gordon.edu/inorvieto
- Houghton in Tanzania (Tanzania, Africa) - www.houghton.edu
- Irish Studies Program - Taylor University (Greystones, Ireland) - www.taylor.edu
- IWU Haiti Program – School of Nursing (La Gonave, Haiti) – www.indwes.edu
- IWU Summer in Israel – School of Theology and Ministry – www.indwes.edu
- IWU Zambia - School of Nursing (Choma, Zambia) - www.indwes.edu
- L.A. Film Studies Center (Hollywood, CA) - www.bestsemester.com/lafsc
- Latin American Studies Program (San José, Costa Rica) - www.bestsemester.com/lasp
- Middle East Studies Program (Amman, Jordan) - www.bestsemester.com/mesp
- LCC International University (Klaipeda, Lithuania) - www.lcc.lt/study-abroad-lithuania
- Oxford Summer Programme (Oxford, England) - www.bestsemester.com/osp
- Scholar's Semester in Oxford (Oxford, England) - www.bestsemester.com/sso
- Trinity Christian College Semester in Spain (Sevilla, Spain) - www.semesterinspain.org
- Uganda Studies Program (Mukona, Uganda) - www.bestsemester.com/usp
- India Studies Program (India, Coimbatore) - www.bestsemester.com/locations-and-programs/india
Education Abroad programs are approved according to academic policies and structures, and they are reviewed regularly to ensure that learning outcomes are being met appropriately. Education Abroad programs are also approved by the Risk Management Office to ensure international travel, health, and safety precautions are being followed. For more specific information regarding Education Abroad programs, polices, and procedures, contact the Education Abroad Office.
International Student Programs Office
The International Student Programs Office facilitates international student access programs and supports international students and scholars. As an emerging global Christian university, the residential campus of Indiana Wesleyan University is increasingly becoming a place where international students desire to reside in order to pursue their academic goals. In an effort to support these students and initiatives, the International Student Programs Office collaborates with divisions, schools, offices, and student organizations on the residential campus in a number of ways, including: international student/faculty/staff recruitment and retention initiatives; international student advising; strategic partnership development with international schools; International Scholars in Residence Program; visiting scholars program; and sponsoring/advising globally focused student organizations. In addition to these strategic efforts, the International Student Programs Office also facilitates the following international student access programs:
- Cultural Immersion Program – a cultural exchange program (1—2 weeks) on the residential campus of Indiana Wesleyan University for international high school students
- Bridge Program – an English language and cultural immersion program (1—3 semesters) for international high school students/graduates and first year international college students
- Semester Abroad @ IWU Program – a study abroad program on the residential campus of Indiana Wesleyan University for international college students (anticipated launch date: Fall 2017)
Intercultural Learning and Engagement Office
The Intercultural Learning and Engagement Office seeks to nurture a culturally responsive and inclusive learning community on the residential campus of Indiana Wesleyan University. The framework for this work includes: curricular, co-curricular, advocacy, assessment, and institutional responsiveness. Committed to both international and domestic diversity, the Intercultural Learning and Engagement Office collaborates with others to inform, inspire, and invite learning opportunities that effect policy and promote culturally responsive pedagogy and praxis, resulting in reconciliation and transformational learning outcomes.
The Intercultural Learning and Engagement Office consults with faculty, staff, and students and facilitates seminars, workshops, conferences, and other experiential learning opportunities that raise awareness regarding issues of diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion—locally, nationally, and globally.
The Intercultural Learning and Engagement Office also services the CAS General Education Committee by facilitating the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) online assessment for all courses and experiences that satisfy the Intercultural Experience General Education requirement. The Intercultural Learning and Engagement Office also provides training to faculty in how to utilize the IES online assessment in their classrooms.
There are a number of courses and experiences that satisfy the Intercultural Experience General Education requirement. All of these courses and experiences require the use of the IES, as well as the Intercultural Experience Rubric which suggests a systematic way to measure a student’s capacity to identify her/his own cultural patterns, compare and contrast them with others, and adapt empathically and flexibly to unfamiliar ways of being.
The IES was developed to evaluate the competencies critical to interacting effectively with people who are from cultures other than our own. The competencies assessed by the IES are equally applicable to evaluating how well people work effectively with people who are different from them (gender, generation, ethnic group, religious affiliation, and so forth). The IES focuses on three dimensions of intercultural effectiveness: Continuous Learning; Interpersonal Engagement; and Hardiness. These three dimensions are combined to generate an overall intercultural effectiveness score, which is reported in an individual feedback report that students receive immediately after taking the IES. This report includes analyses of the dimension scores, explanations of scoring profiles, and personal development planning for intercultural effectiveness. Faculty members are responsible for debriefing IES reports with their students and for incorporating the Intercultural Experience Rubric into their courses/experiences. For more information about the IES online assessment, go to: www.kozaigroup.com.
There is a fee for taking the IES that is charged to a student’s account after she/he has completed the IES. If a student has taken the IES online assessment for a previous course/experience at IWU, the student should notify her/his professor in order to avoid being charged again. It is not necessary for a student to retake the IES if taken previously, but the student will need to have access to the previous IES report to utilize in the class. Students will receive an automated email from the Kozai Group, which gives instructions on how to take the IES.
Multicultural Student Access and Outreach Office
The Multicultural Student Access and Outreach Office endeavors to create and coordinate programming and initiatives that promote access and impact the success of incoming and current underrepresented and underserved groups of students on the residential campus of Indiana Wesleyan University, with a design to expand the footprint of the residential campus to historically unreached regions.
The Multicultural Access & Outreach Office works diligently to explore and address issues of preparedness caused by systemic and social inequities and injustices against underrepresented and underserved groups of students, which prohibit or obstruct college access, college preparedness, and/or college graduation success.
The Multicultural Access & Outreach Office consults with administrators, academic divisions, faculty, staff, students, and external community stakeholders and facilitates seminars, workshops, conferences, and experiential learning opportunities that increase awareness regarding issues pertaining to factors that influence college success, and how to address educational inequities and college preparedness for underrepresented and underserved groups of students.
The Multicultural Access & Outreach Office coordinates the following initiatives that promote college access and graduation success of underrepresented and underserved groups of students:
- Pre-College Programming
- IWU Near You
- Project: College – Going Culture
- Parent University
- Multicultural Student Access/Support Programs
- The Emerging Leaders Consortium
- Diversity Leadership Award
- Ongoing research on Access and Equity for underrepresented and underserved students in higher education
Justice Center for Human Trafficking
The Justice Center for Human Trafficking contributes research, resources, and initiatives toward the abolition of human trafficking. This work is done in a number of ways, including:
- Promoting and funding research work of faculty and students by coordinating and giving oversight to research activities in the area of human trafficking, including: scholarships, fellowships, and grants;
- Training health and human services workers to recognize and appropriately respond to victims of human trafficking;
- Preparing students for internship opportunities with partner agencies and organizations that are combatting human trafficking;
- Providing forums for special speakers and conferences designed to educate and equip individuals and organizations to assist in the eradication of the evil of human trafficking around the world; and
- Encouraging students to move from awareness to action by providing startup resources for new initiatives that seek to combat global human trafficking.
Lumen Research Institute
The Lumen Research Institute (LRI) is an international collaborative research community shedding light on significant questions facing our world today. The LRI is a joint research initiative sponsored by Excelsia College in Sydney, Australia and Indiana Wesleyan University. The primary purpose of the LRI is to facilitate and coordinate collaborative research, informed by a Christian worldview, between IWU, Excelsia College and (over time) other research active institutions and organizations. In so doing, the LRI will assist and enable participating organizations to fulfil their respective missional outcomes and research goals. In order to achieve this purpose, the LRI will champion inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary research of a distinctively Christian nature, addressing issues and questions of global significance, and thus making a lasting contribution to the wellbeing of individuals, groups and communities wherever they may be located.
