Diversity & Mission Statement

The programs in Global Studies are dedicated to fostering cross-cultural, international understanding through interdisciplinary engagement. Our scholarship and teaching center on the cultural, linguistic and historical specificities of the world’s regions as situated within a global context. In delivering an international and interdisciplinary undergraduate curriculum, and promoting and offering study abroad opportunities, we strive to produce the kinds of linguistically and culturally knowledgeable global citizens required to meet the challenges of international decision-making in the 21st century.

As such, diversity in its many forms is an essential component of our programs’ mission. We see diversity of perspectives, cultures, and life experiences as central both to the pursuit of intellectual excellence and to building peace and international cooperation in the world. Global Studies thus aspires to be a diverse community of highly skilled scholars and teachers who educate and mentor students who come from a variety of social, national, economic, and cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. We seek to create an intellectual environment grounded in the core values of equity, inclusion, and cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity, so as to enable all faculty and students to engage fully in their intellectual pursuits and, in doing so, generate the creativity and dynamism that derives from diversity.

The Global Studies Diversity Action Plan was approved by Program faculty in March 2019.