By Gaylen Byker
President, Calvin College
This summer Calvin College professor of engineering Ned Nielsen took a group of students to Germany for a brand-new, six-week summer course that combined a regular Calvin engineering course with a new course at the University of Bremen.
At Calvin we believe such opportunities for our students are vital in today’s global economy.
Indeed, in the world of engineering the two language skills most in demand are German and Japanese. Next on the list are French and Chinese, closely followed by Spanish.
That’s just one of the reasons for the new course and for the many other international engineering experiences we offer at Calvin. But engineering at Calvin is not unique in its international focus.
Last summer my wife Susan and I marked 10 years at Calvin. That milestone gave us an opportunity to reflect on the past decade and note both where Calvin has been and where it is going.
We decided that “thinking globally” - a motto close to our hearts because we have lived in Lebanon and have visited many countries around the world - has been a common theme to the changes that have taken place in the Calvin community over these past years.
For example, in 1995-1996 Calvin had four off-campus programs. We now have 10 - in countries such as China, England, Honduras, Ghana, Spain and Hungary. During the 1996 January interim, about 250 Calvin students participated in 16 off-campus study experiences. Now almost 500 Calvin students participate each January in some 30 off-campus interims, most held in foreign countries. And in 1995 Calvin had fewer than 100 international students (not including Canadians), while this past year we welcomed about 200 students from other countries (not including Canada).
Calvin’s curriculum also increasingly incorporates the influence of other cultures. We have added programs in international relations and international development. Students can also now major in Asian Studies and minor in African and African Diaspora Studies.
In fact this summer we received $500,000 from the NEH for an Asian Studies endowment at Calvin that will sustain and expand the new but growing program at the college. Some 500 students a year now are enrolled in Asian Studies at Calvin.
Chinese and Japanese have joined Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Latin and Greek as language options for Calvin students and the college faculty has become international as well. We now have 43 full-time professors who are natives of 15 foreign countries including Brazil, China, England, Egypt, Korea and Peru.
And faculty scholarship reflects an international emphasis.
Psychology professor Allen Shoemaker has been working with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, to analyze data on child growth rates. Philosophy professor Kelly Clark has been developing significant ties with Chinese universities and philosophy teachers, culminating in the translation of books on Western philosophy into Chinese.
We have also established the new Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity, now under the leadership of our former provost, Dr. Joel Carpenter, and the new Frederik Meijer Chair in Dutch Language and Culture, with Henk Aay serving as the first chair.
Student research has an international flair too. The annual senior engineering design presentations contain many projects intent on addressing real needs on other continents. For example, a team of five engineering majors spent the entire school year researching, planning, designing and building a small recording device that measures just four by nine inches, but will store 10 hours of professional quality digital recording. It will replace the jumble of equipment currently used by Epic Partners International to record native speakers telling Bible stories, which the organization then uses in its evangelism work.
It also is significant I believe that the most well-attended student production in recent years has been Rangeela - a celebration of the many cultures in the Calvin community conceived and directed entirely by Calvin’s international student community. The Fine Arts Center auditorium is filled to capacity each February for the two Rangeela performances.
What effect does this global vision have for Calvin graduates? An immediate one, by accounts we hear from alumni.
Last July, just one month after he received his Calvin diploma, Jason Fileta was selected by the ONE Campaign to be a member of a 100-person delegation to meetings surrounding the G8 Summit in Edinburgh, Scotland.
After he returned from Scotland, Fileta began working as a field organizer for the Christian Reformed Church’s office of social justice and hunger action, establishing social justice coalitions at colleges all over the country.
At Calvin we believe that our great God holds the whole world in his hands.
That’s why Calvin’s mission to train agents of renewal in all areas of endeavor is so important in these challenging times.
I applaud the efforts of agencies, businesses and organizations that contribute to improving conditions and economies throughout the world. They deserve our prayers and financial support. At the same time, I am pleased that Calvin alumni and friends understand that these institutions cannot thrive without skilled and visionary leaders infused with a call to bring Christ in to their decision-making: the very mission of Calvin College.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This article appeared in the August 2006 issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who do business in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz Network, visit www.mibiz.com.