Elizabethtown College Center for
Global Citizenship
The Center for Global Citizenship was launched in 2004 under the direction of Ron McAllister, professor of sociology and of peace and conflict studies and former provost and dean of faculty at the College. The work of the Center is focused on three separate but related spheres of activity: international programs, service-learning, and peacemaking.
In addition to promoting the work of these separate areas, the Center seeks to create new opportunities at the places where these areas come together. Thus, future programming can be expected to involve such things as faculty international seminars, the promotion of experiential learning for all students, opportunities for justice-oriented service and the creation of a mediation center for training mediators and settling community disputes.
International Programs
Today cultural boundaries are blurring, and the world is becoming increasingly interconnected. To help our students develop an appreciation of our global culture, the Center encourages and facilitates study-abroad experiences for our U.S. students and provides a support network for international students who elect to study here.
Our international programs provide students with opportunities that expand their worldview by immersing them in another culture. Study abroad is an eye-opening, life-changing experience for Elizabethtown students. Thanks to the efforts of faculty and staff members, increasing numbers of students are participating in the semester-long study-abroad opportunities as well as in short-term faculty-led study. Typically, more than 200 Elizabethtown students go abroad annually to study in more than two dozen countries.
Every year, the College also opens its doors to international students from over 40 countries. Studying side-by-side with their American counterparts, these student ambassadors bring a new perspective and awareness to the College. Typically, Elizabethtown is the educational home to as many as 70 students from other countries.
Service-Learning
As Elizabethtown’s motto is Educate for Service, the concept of service-learning is natural for us. Programs such as Into the Streets, which offers several hundred students opportunities to give back to the community, and the Parents and Pupils in Educational Partnership of the Elizabethtown Area School District are some of the ways in which college students participate in service-learning projects. In addition, the College involves students in urban service-learning activities in the richly diverse neighboring communities of Lancaster and Harrisburg.
Faculty members are supported in integrating service-learning into their academic courses and in finding placements in which students can be engaged meaningfully in deeper understanding of social, political and economic issues. The Center’s link to Campus Compact and Americorp opportunities is maintained through our service-learning programs.
Peacemaking
As a college founded by the Church of the Brethren in 1899, Elizabethtown is imbued with the spirit of peacemaking. The Peace Studies Association is a clearinghouse linking us to other colleges and universities having similar commitments. Our commitment to peace and justice concerns is manifested in our own academic programs, such as our Peace and Conflict Studies minor, programming conducted by The Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, as well as in external groups whose work resonates with our own, such as the New Community Project.
The development of the Peacemaking arm of the Center for Global Citizenship will help to promote the causes of peace and justice locally, nationally and internationally. Speakers and field trips are some of the ways in which this initiative is practiced. Organizations like the Brethren Volunteer Service are natural linkages for the Center’s work.
