What's in a word?

As Dean Preston remarks on page two, you can't hang out at an American university without hearing more and more mention of this thing called "internationalization." Webster's defines "internationalization" as the process of making something international, of reaching beyond national boundaries. The word "globalization" often turns up in conversations along with "internationalization." The process named by these words affects more than particular regions or groups of nations: the cultural, economic, and political changes--even upheavals--generated by technology, mobility, and communication are touching almost every nation, province, city, neighborhood, and person on the globe. The appearance and increasing currency of the terms in our lexicon--a product of the alchemy of change and the need to name it--suggest something of society's growing awareness of these unprecedented transformations and their significance.

You won't find either "internationalization" or "globalization" in Penn's Agenda for Excellence. You will, however, find phrases like "Penn's role as an international institution of higher education and research," "a strong international dimension within each of Penn's schools," "a student experience at Penn that is global in its dimensions," and "an internationally enriched curriculum." Penn's strategic planning document is informed by a keen awareness of how the process that these words name is reshaping the world before our eyes--almost faster than we can devise the language to say what's happening. This global perspective is an important element of the University's mission to "educate tomorrow's leaders," those who must first understand what's going on in order to choose and act wisely.

The mission statement for the School of Arts and Sciences' international programs declares that SAS prepares students "to live and work effectively, knowledgeably, and sensitively in a world characterized by increasing interdependence among the cultures and nations of the world." The School encourages academic departments to make study abroad a part of their majors and to embed cultural studies in the undergraduate curriculum. About half of the freshman seminars for the fall semester will involve subject matter related to international issues. New cross-disciplinary programs and research projects that explore the process of internationalization are already up and running--and existing ones are adapting to the accelerating, often painful birth pangs of a new world.

This issue of the newsletter looks at some of the international programs at home on Penn's campus and a few of SAS's far-flung alumni. You don't need a dictionary to tell you it's a small world, after all.