The AASCU Global Engagement Initiative: Educating Globally Competent Citizens

Abstract

The Global Engagement Initiative (formerly Seven Revolutions Project), part of the American Democracy Project at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), focuses on educating globally competent citizens at colleges and universities. AASCU partnered originally with The New York Times Company, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and 10 AASCU member campuses to create a faculty toolkit, a national online blended-learning course, an eBook, faculty development workshops, and a student guide. All of these products focus on the promise and peril inherent in the global challenges of population, resources, technology, information, economies, conflict, and governance. The evolution of the partnerships, the products produced, and the distinctive aspects of the initiative are explained in this article.

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ (AASCU) Global Engagement Initiative has worked to educate globally competent citizens in colleges and universities for the past eight years through a variety of activities. Initially known as the Seven Revolutions Project, this initiative involved 12 AASCU campuses collaborating with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and The New York Times Company (The Times) to develop curricular materials for both faculty and students, to conduct professional development workshops for educators, and to design the first national blended- learning course within AASCU. This article explains the evolution of unique partnerships in this initiative, describes the outcomes achieved to date, and examines the unique aspects of this endeavor.