The week of Nov. 15, the International Studies department hosted International Week in order to provide resources for studying the global community and to become an active member in it. Michael Woolf, president of the Foundation for International Education, gave the first lecture of International Week on Nov. 15. He spoke about the importance of cross-cultural education. “To learn of another culture is to increase tolerance…to reduce the likelihood of conflict,” he said.

Woolf added, however, that this was a “very utopian view.” As far as creating a more tolerant, respectful utopia that appreciates diversity, he believes international education has failed. He cited this past century as evidence of that failure, as it was defined by two World Wars and continuous international and intercultural conflicts around the world.

He also noted that student’s increased mobility – both physically across the world and virtually across the Internet – has expanded cultural sharing and understanding among youth. “They now share the same music and cultural icons,” he said.

Woolf is no stranger to issues of global education. He is currently a senior associate of The Global Affairs Institute of the Maxwell School of Communications at Syracuse University in New York and a member of The Smithsonian-University of Westminster Colloquium on Culture.

He also serves as an adviser to boards including The General Education Group of Schools and Colleges, United Kingdom, Services for International Travel and Education and Council on International Education Exchange UK Trust.

History professor and International Studies director Dottie Borie said that Woolf did a “good job of presenting the critical importance of internationalizing the campus.”

An international campus includes but is not limited to a diverse variety of study abroad programs, emphasis on the enrollment of foreign students, the hiring of foreign faculty, and the integration of international perspectives into its curriculum.

On the importance of global study, Borei said, “we can understand ourselves as Americans better if we look at the Other.”

Erin Dell, international student advisor and organizer of International Week, believes the talk was a success, “I appreciated his comments on how international education should not become uniform.” She added that one line that has stuck with her from Woolf’s talk is,”a good journey is not just into space but also into the self. International education not only allows for physical journeys to other countries, but also allows us to learn more about ourselves.