Strategic Positioning Subcommittee

Purpose: To explore the issues of:

1. Institutional commitment for global education, including financial support for the various facets of international education
2. The extent to which international activity is visibly present on the college’s website.
3. The administrative structure for internationalization
4. Institution-wide tracking and assessment to monitor current international activities

Members and Invited Guests: Members: De-Shawna Yamini – Student Enrichment, Dawayne Kirkman – Regional Campuses, Karla Knepper – Advising, Jacquelyn Housel – Geography (Liberal Arts), Carolyn Reno – Vet Tech (Health Sciences), Derek Petrey, Center for Teaching and Learning, Scott Markland (co-chair), Michael Carter (co-chair), Amaha Sellassie – Sociology (Liberal Arts), Meng Riddle, International Education, Paul Carbonaro, International Education, Faheem Curtis-Khidr – History (Liberal Arts), Furaha Henry-Jones – English

Past Meeting Dates and Topics:

Future Meeting Dates and Topics:

Findings/Observations to Date:

• Internationalization efforts should be aligned with the college’s strategic priorities of Alignment, Growth and Equity; internationalization “fits” best under Equity.
• Sinclair’s mission does not address internationalization specifically.
• The International Strategic Plan does not seem to be integrated campus-wide; it seems to be operational only at the departmental level; implementation is not consistent.
• There is uncertainty about whether we are making our curriculum more internationally focused and relevant.
• Sinclair Talks and the International Series provide opportunities to learn about other countries and hear from international speakers.
• Why should we do internationalization at a community college? Or in Dayton? Why should a community college be involved with internationalization?
• There is a culture at Sinclair of not wanting to deal with what is uncomfortable.
• Fear exists about international travel and international students.
• It is to every student’s benefit to connect with a global community; we are not being responsible educators if we do not connect our students to the world.
• How can we make a global curriculum more accessible to all Sinclair students?
• How do we make internationalization at Sinclair sustainable?
• The local community is international and diverse. Internationalization relates to the Sinclair’s student body because of the many immigrants and students of African descent at Sinclair.
• Some faculty and staff do not support international students and/or studies.
• How do we educate the community about the benefits of an international curriculum and campus?

Data Needed:

• Need a rubric for diversity and cultural awareness.
• Need more information about we are serving local international communities and immigrants.

Preliminary Recommendations:
General – Entire Campus

• Add “global” in front of “community” in college’s mission statement.
• Strengthen the dotted lines, for example, between Diversity, International Education and the curriculum.
• Update travel policies and processes to make them more global.
• Create the expectation of Sinclair as “international”
• Be transparent about struggles with internationalization and why a community college should be globally connected.

Curriculum and Facilitating Global Understanding

• Make the curriculum global and make it accessible to all Sinclair students.
• Find ways so that every Sinclair student has an international interaction – either on-campus, study abroad or a COIL course.
• Educate faculty and staff first about internationalization.
• Determine a “threshold” for what it means for a course to be deemed as “international.”
• Create a map identifying faculty/staff and student country of origin.