Continuous Global Experience

Re-Entry and Re-Threading: Putting Global Learning to Use
Students returning from study abroad often go through a difficult period of “reverse culture shock” during which they experience a sense of being displaced in their home culture. This experience is often more difficult than the adjustment to a foreign culture, and it is important for students to recognize that this discomfort is a normal part of the learning process.

To be globally aware means to be uncomfortable as one tries to reconcile being engaged simultaneously in more than one culture. Students returning from abroad do not find the same home that they left behind; instead, they view the campus, their friends, their parents and their studies differently. The challenge for returning students is how best to continue their international learning in fruitful ways that help them to integrate this learning into their everyday lives and into their academic studies.

At Dickinson, students have many opportunities to weave their global studies into their campus social lives and academic work.

Global Campus Connections: Opportunities for Connecting Study Abroad to the Home Campus

Making Social Connections

• Apply to live in the Global Community House, a Language House or with an international student.
• Become a mentor to an international student.
• Become a study abroad peer adviser.
• Join one of the many international clubs or organizations on campus.
• Attend a Language Table on a regular basis to converse with other students interested in the language, and with professors and native speakers as well.
• Keep taking language courses or courses related to the location you studied abroad.
• Present on your study abroad experience at local schools and community organizations.
• Make friends with international students.
• Attend “welcome-back” events and discuss your experiences with fellow returnees.

Global Opportunities on Campus

• Language Houses and the Global Community House offer global living options on campus.
• Dickinson International Television Network broadcasts programming from around the world across campus.
• Bosler Hall Language Labs support audio-visual language lessons.
• International Table in the dining hall promotes cross-cultural conversation.
• Language Tables in the dining hall enhance language acquisition.
• International films are shown at least once a week on campus.

Clubs and Organizations

ABOLISH-Students for a Freer Sudan

African-American Society

Alternative Spring Break
Amnesty International
Anthropology Club
Asian Society Interest Association
Club Afrique

Chimera Club

Dickinson Christian Fellowship

Dreamcatchers

Expanding Horizons

French Club
German Club
Hillel
Indian Student Association
International Club

International Politics & Economics Club
Italian Club
Latin American Club
Middle Eastern Club
Model United Nations
Muslim Student Association

Newman Club
Pan Celtic Society

Portuguese Club

Rotaract
Russian Club
Spanish Club

Sisterhood

Students for Social Action

Sustained Dialogue

Tikkun
UMOJA

Union Philosophical Society

Making Academic Connections

• Take courses that focus on international topics and themes.
• Take advanced language courses to continue your study of foreign languages and cultures.
• Take a course with a visiting international scholar.
• Attend lectures and discussions focusing on international topics.
• Develop a senior thesis topic that relates to your overseas learning.

The Student International Research Fund
The Student International Research Fund (SIRF) addresses this disconnect by encouraging students to link their off-campus learning with academic work on the home campus, thereby giving students the opportunity to think more broadly about how their entire education at Dickinson is an education in global learning.

SIRF provides small grants to motivated students abroad to undertake projects in their host countries that build upon their academic interests or enhance their existing programs of study. The fund encourages students to dig deeper into the cultures they are exploring by focusing special studies on topics that are of particular interest to them and provides students with structured outlets in which to share their learning. Projects must have a connection back to the home campus, either as part of a senior capstone project or a thesis; presentation at the annual global education research symposium is required.

SIRF requirements are flexible in order to encourage students to think creatively in finding innovative ways to explore their host cultures. Research projects should be under the direction of a faculty member and part of a course.

Examples of recent research projects include:
A Study of the City Wall of Bologna, Italy
African Music, Musical Instruments, and Genres, Cameroon
Coastal Erosion in East Anglia, England
The Medieval Churches of Norwich, England
Cultural Implications of AIDS Prevention, France
Impact of Migration on a Mexican Town, Mexico
Rimbaud and Russian Symbolism, Russia
Obstacles in the Process of Integration into a Second Culture, Spain

International Scholars Bring the World to Carlisle

Recent international visitors to campus have included: