The Americas in a Globalized World
Skills for a Shrinking Planet
One of the greatest challenges the University of Oregon faces in preparing students and the state for increasingly diverse and globalized markets, research priorities, and workplaces, is successfully linking pursuit of equity and diversity with efforts to internationalize curricula and research.
This Big Idea calls for a paradigm shift that will help students, faculty, staff, alumni, and all Oregonians to see themselves from a hemispheric perspective in order to succeed at home and abroad. This way of thinking emphasizes the United States' role as part of a larger community of nations and nation-states in the Western Hemisphere. “The Americas in a Globalized World: Linking Diversity and Internationalization” addresses the complicated, yet fruitful, relationship between international understanding and domestic cultural competency. It is precisely by successfully linking concerns over access, diversity, and equity in the United States with a hemispheric model of internationalization that the UO can lead the way in this critical effort.