Elkhart Times

Goshen College awarded federal grant to strengthen faculty preparation for Study-Service Term courses

Goshen College has been awarded a $185,841 Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant provides funding to further develop the Equipping Scholars for Globally Engaged Learning (EGSEL) project offering additional support to faculty leading Study-Service Term (SST) courses.

Begun in 1969, Goshen’s Study-Service Term (SST) demonstrates Goshen’s long-term commitment to transformative community-engaged global learning.

The EGSEL project will develop a global engagement ethos among faculty who will expand language skills, specifically in the critical languages (as defined by the Department of Education) of Indonesian, Swahili and Mandarin, and cultural knowledge in these countries (Indonesia, Tanzania and China). EGSEL will also train faculty members in globally engaged pedagogy. The program will also help students prepare for SST through a visiting global scholar and new faculty-led orientation activities.

Faculty leadership has been a hallmark of the SST program since its inception and would not be possible without it. This grant will allow for additional support to build on top of this strong foundation creating deeper experiences for students.

“I am so excited about this grant as it will give us the resources we need to support our faculty in their language, culture and curriculum preparation for leading SST,” said Jan Bender Shetler, director of global engagement. “We depend on excellent faculty to lead all of our SST units, both short and long term options. This takes a lot of time and effort in the midst of everything else faculty are balancing. Now we can give them what they need to be successful.”

The new program will receive almost $300,000 over two years. The UISFL grant will fund 62 percent of the total project cost, with Goshen College providing the remaining $113,000 or 38 percent through matching funds.

SST is a core educational requirement at Goshen College, which many students fulfill through semester-long programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America, while others choose a one-course-at-a-time format that involves at least one, three-week off-campus travel experience.

Original source can be found here.