Significance of Immersion Programs

Through our international immersion programs, we hope to have students encounter, share, and grow their perspective of the world and its inhabitants. Some of these encounters occur through direct service; some through learning engagements with government officials, NGO directors, survivors of war, migrants, teachers, doctors, lawyers, families, peers, and many others. Each Immersion is unique, and each student may gain something different. But our hope is to have students return from an international experience with new commitments to promoting global solidarity and the human dignity of all peoples—starting back here with our campus community. ... At this point in U.S. history, exposure to and encounters with the global human family seems profoundly important. As leaders seek to degrade and sometimes vilify those from certain parts of the world for their own personal gain, it is my opinion and experience that building relationships with others is the primary way to seek peace and social justice. Hopefully such education of our students will break down barriers that lead to stereotyping, oppressive practice, and laws promoting American exceptionalism

2020: Kathleen Rossman, O.S.F.

During Women’s History Month, the University of Dayton Women’s Center coordinates, as an experiential learning opportunity for students, an annual exhibit highlighting the contributions women have made at the University of Dayton. Theme for 2020: Women of Courage.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/women_of_ud/1043/thumbnail.jp

Memoria y Resistencia: Sharing UD experiences at the Encuentro to Close the School of the Americas

At UD, our Catholic and Marianist values inform us to uphold the human rights of all people, especially those whose agency has been diminished by unjust laws and corporate government policies. Guided by the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, including solidarity with the poor, we seek ways to join together to bring about a more peaceful and just world. The annual SOA Watch Encuentro, a peaceful protest to close the School of the Americas (SOA), is such a movement. Established in 1946, the SOA has operated at Fort Benning, Georgia since the 1980s. Technically closed in 2000, it immediately reopened as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001. For over 70 years, the SOA/WHINSEC has trained thousands in military tactics, prompting reigns of terror and human rights abuses throughout Latin America. Names like Efraín Ríos Montt, Manuel Noriega, and Mexico’s Zeta Cartel founders are all graduates of the SOA/WHINSEC. The SOA Watch started following the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, a champion for the poor, slain while saying mass in San Salvador on March 24, 1980. His assassins were members of the Salvadoran death squads, including two SOA graduates. Major Roberto D’Aubuisson, also a graduate, was identified as ordering the killing by the 1993 UN Truth Commission. The Encuentro, held along the U.S. Mexican border, is an intersectional initiative, bringing together activists to share spaces, stories, and objectives for closing the SOA. With actions like the Presente! Litany, a roll call of the missing or murdered, the public is reminded that memory is strong, powerful and affective. This panel will focus on the stories of UD faculty, staff, and students who have been immersed in this environment of artistic interventions, activist speeches, and scholarly perspectives, all of which that they bring back to Dayton, OH and our campus

Alumni Voices of the African Immersion Experience

In this session, alumni shared their experiences of African immersion while they were students at UD and how that experience has carried with them in their careers and personal lives.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/global_voices_3/1009/thumbnail.jp

Connecting Values, Charism, and Community

This presentation focuses on tangible ways to connect our Marianist charism, students\u27 values and identities, and civic engagement. Through the example of the modular retreat Vox: Using Your Voice and Your Vote Faithfully, we will explore how students make the connection from discernment to action for participation in civic society. We, along with Samantha Kennedy, created Vox during the 2020 election as a virtual engagement opportunity and adapted it for the 2022 midterm elections as a PATH-eligible online retreat. Session participants will have an opportunity to think creatively about how to communicate broad and abstract ideas to students in tangible ways that reduce anxiety and instill hope for action in the future

Adaptation and Change: Answering the Challenge Brought by COVID-19 with New and Adapted Student Programs in Social Justice

This session will look at some creative ways the panelists worked together to continue to provide reflective, educational, and prayerful social justice-based programming for students while adapting to COVID-19 restrictions. Answering the need for anti-racist education, the Awaken Retreat was created, allowing students an opportunity to explore how their faith calls them to be anti-racist. The Center for Social Concern’s long-standing REAL Dayton experience was still able to connect students to the cty of Dayton while keeping everyone safe. Finally, 2020 also called for education on the elections; the Vox Retreat, available to students through downloadable modules, allowed participants to learn how to use their voice this election year, guided by their faith or personal values. The presenters will share the joys and challenges of creating and adapting these programs during this very different year

Vocational Reflection on Immersion: A Quest for Purpose

Kennedy Union 222 A common thread among the collaborators for this presentation is working with transformative student immersion experiences. Through a vocational mini-grant, our team developed curriculum to enhance and develop students’ conceptions of vocation in light of their summer immersive experiences. All of the immersion programs (ETHOS, Center for Social Concern, Semester of Service, and Global Flyers India) provide intentional pre-reflection and learning experiences. Through conversation, we identified a need to bring more authentic reflection on vocation and to incorporate post-immersion reflection through community processing. In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to engage in some of the reflection activities used, interact with and learn about the design of the curriculum, and take away a deeper appreciation of integrating vocation with experiential learning as part of a community of learners

Intercultural and Global Learning: Pilot Assessment Results

During the 2019-20 academic year, this project team reviewed tools to support intercultural and global learning and assessment. Our two objectives were to consider opportunities to support student growth and development and to assess student learning at the program and/or institutional levels. We piloted two tools during the 2020-2021 school year: Global Engagement Survey - assessment tool Global Competency Certificate - learning tool We will share the experiences of using each tool along with the assessment data collected from the pilot year. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the pilot and the tools and explore potential uses in the future

Cultivating Global Learning Experiences through Virtual Engagement

This past year has encouraged educators to think creatively about ways technology can keep us connected and help to facilitate student learning inside and outside the classroom. This has been especially true for educators focused on creating global learning experiences. In this session, four panelists will share recent examples of ways in which they supported global learning through virtual engagement. Some examples will include virtual exchange, collaborative online international learning (COIL), adaptations to immersion programs, and student research. We hope this session inspires attendees to think about small and large-scale ways they can virtually integrate global learning experiences into their work