President Earl H. Potter III delivers remarks during the spring 2013 convocation in Ritsche Auditorium. Photo by Adam Hammer ’05
Editor’s note: This edition’s president’s message is an excerpt taken from President Earl H. Potter III’s Spring Convocation 2013 address. The full text of the president’s speech can be viewed at http://scsu.mn/XWeMTv.
For four decades St. Cloud State has offered rich international study opportunities and benefited from an increasingly diverse international student body. From our first program in Denmark — begun in 1973 — 10,000 St. Cloud State students and 700 faculty and staff have transformed their lives through education abroad. Nearly 7,000 international students have come to St. Cloud State to study since the 1970s and gone on to succeed in a broad range of fields here and abroad.
These numbers represent a tremendous impact. However, if we are going to fulfill our commitment to prepare every graduate to live and work successfully in our multi-cultural, global community, we must do more.
We recently engaged the entire campus in developing a plan aimed at lending clarity to our international strategic vision. These conversations led to a shared understanding that the internalization and globalization of the University and the education we offer is no longer a choice but an imperative.
The internationalization of our campus must be broad and deep. It must go beyond bringing students here and sending students abroad for international experiences. We must facilitate new transformative activities that will lead to global and cultural understanding and respect for different perspectives and traditions.
Related links
View profiles of faculty and staff making an international impact.
The role of faculty and staff in internationalization of our university cannot be overstated. From design and delivery of education abroad and global internships to engagement in research and collaborations that internationalize programs and curriculum, our innovative, visionary faculty will be at the forefront.
On these pages you will read about just a few of the hundreds of faculty and staff who are doing important work to make broader and deeper internationalization of our campus a reality. These individuals represent well the dramatic scope of our reach as well as the potential for so much more.
In support of these efforts, I have traveled to China, India, Nepal, Chile, South Africa and other nations to meet with leaders of colleges and universities as well as government and business leaders to initiate or renew partnerships that have the promise of strengthening our international programs.
Together our campus community is creating more opportunities to expand and extend our impact. We honestly are recognized globally as a leader. We are doing it right, forming deep and rich partnerships. Already we have major nodes of effort and strength across the globe, and we are working to develop even more opportunities for faculty and staff to expand their efforts on a global scale and to incorporate internationalization into our curriculum and throughout university activities.
We are proud of the thousands of alumni who are working around the world or with companies and institutions that function internationally. Those numbers will be climbing exponentially in our lifetime. It is our responsibility to ensure that all our future graduates are prepared to take full advantage of the world of opportunities that await them.
