What does global citizenship mean?

As part of Macalester's podcast series, Faculty Talks, Professor Ahmed Samatar and Karin Trail-Johnson talked about the new institute and how being a global citizen starts at home.
Listen: Samatar | Trail-Johnson

The World, in South Africa
A unique study abroad program seeks to prepare students for global citizenship more»

International Roundtable
Listen to the keynote address by Janice Gross Stein, "Late for a Very Important Date: The United Nations in Wonderland"

Global Citizenship Award
In May the 2008 Global Citizenship was awarded to Hector Pascual Alvarez ‘08. This annual award is presented to the graduating senior who best demonstrates a commitment to the ideals and practice of high academic performance, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. 

Groundbreaking for IGC
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Institute for Global Citizenship (IGC) was held Friday, May 16, 2008.

The new IGC building will be located at the corner of Snelling and Grand, just south of the Kagin Commons, and house the college's Civic Engagement Center, the International Center and Internship Program. Macalester is seeking LEED Platinum Certification for the building, which would make it one of the first LEED Platinum buildings on a college campus in Minnesota and only one of a handful on a campus in the United States.

The approximately 17,000 square-foot IGC building is scheduled to open in summer 2009.
· Read more about the groundbreaking
· View renderings and floor plans of the IGC

Global Advisory Board Announced
Distinguished diplomats, business leaders, scholars and policy makers have all agreed to serve on the Global Advisory Board of the Institute for Global Citizenship. The board held its inaugural meeting on campus on Thursday, March 6, 2008.

President Brian Rosenberg called the members of the Advisory Board “outstanding citizen leaders in their respective fields and an inspiration to our students, staff, faculty and alumni. We hope that through the institute we can educate students for leadership positions at the local, national and international level.”

The inaugural members include the previous U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan '61; the chairperson of the NAACP, Julian Bond; the chairperson of the Caux International Roundtable, Lord Daniel Brennan, QC; Twin Cities philanthropist John Cowles, Jr.; former U.S. Vice President, Walter F. Mondale '50; the president of the Saint Paul Foundation, Carleen Rhodes; the president of Winnipeg University and former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy; and former St. Paul Mayor and Macalester professor emeritus George Latimer.
. Read the press release
. Read more about the advisory board

Davis Projects for Peace program awards funding to two Macalester students

Two projects devised by Macalester students were selected for funding by the Davis Projects for Peace program. Students from 81 colleges and universities in the Davis United World College (UWC) Scholar Program will receive $1 million in funding to undertake their proposed projects. The program, in its second year, honors philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, who launched the initiative on the occasion of her 100th birthday in 2007. Designed to encourage and support motivated youth to create and implement their ideas for building peace throughout the world in the 21st century, each of the 100 projects will receive $10,000 in funding.

Leah Roth-Howe '08 will begin her project in Chicago while working with the Cambodian Association of Illinois to organize and moderate intergenerational dialogue between survivors of the Kymer Rouge genocide and their descendents and other youth. She aims to raise awareness of these histories so that their legacies can lead to future tolerance and peace. To build trust between the adults and youth she will start with interactive art projects to build comfort with each other. She will also travel to Cambodia to work with Youth for Peace to publish a reflective book on peace and genocide, with contributions from Cambodian teens and Cambodian-American teens. The books will be distributed through numerous institutions and incorporated into Macalester’s Political Geography Web site.

The second Macalester project funded will be led by Zainab Mansaray '09 and Arthur Sillah '10, who will work in their home country of Sierra Leone to rehabilitate the infrastructure of Sierra Leone Muslim Brotherhood Primary School which was severely damaged after 10 years of civil war in the country. In addition to rebuilding the school, they will organize workshops and activities that introduce students to the value of community service as well as establishing a scholarship fund so more children can attend the school.  

Click here for full press release.

In 2007 two Macalester students were awarded $10,000 each to implement their projects for peace. Dara Hoppe ’10 went go to Brazil, where she encouraged sustainable economic development by strengthening handicraft production in the community and commerce. Read about Dara's project». Fiorella Ormeño Incio ’09 collaborated with the Peruvian Association of the United World Colleges (APCMU) to produce a conflict resolution textbook, establish Peace Clubs and organize Peace Building Workshops in 25 schools throughout Peru. Read about Fiorella's project»

A complete list of the participating schools and projects, as well as a summary of the 2007 projects and a video interview with Davis from 2006, is available on the program’s web site.

Learn more about the program»

These remarkable members of the Macalester community have pursued many of the kinds of opportunities the Institute for Global Citizenship will further support, expand and integrate as part of the Macalester experience. Look for the fall issue of Macalester Today to learn more about how their experiences have transformed them as they prepare for effective global citizenship.

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