THE MISSON IS ... to provide cross-cultural education opportunities in order to foster critical analysis of local and global conditions so that personal and systemic change takes place leading to a more just and sustainable world.

SINCE 1982, Augsburg's Center for Global Education has been a national leader in providing cross-cultural travel programs, serving nearly 10,000 people. Now, as Americans are learning to live in a world of terrorism, they seek to understand more about the cultures, religions, and issues affecting our global society.

Augsburg's Center for Global Education (CGE) had just begun planning for its 20th anniversary celebration when the terrorism of September 11 left in its wake a great uncertainty about the future of international travel and study.

Student enrollments in CGE's study abroad courses the following spring were understandably down, since applications were due shortly after the attack. Since then, however, interest from institutions across the country has grown so much as to fill CGE's travel seminar schedule this year and at least two of the study abroad courses. Waiting lists are in place, and CGE staff are working on programs two and three years ahead.

Rather than retreating from foreign travel, Americans have demonstrated a desire to learn more about international cultures, religions, and issues. A recent public opinion poll by the American Council on Education, measuring attitudes about international education before and after September 11, showed that interest in international issues has not only been sustained, but has actually increased in some areas, such as foreign language learning. In addition, CGE staff say that college students increasingly expect study abroad opportunities as part of their college education, and take this into consideration when making college choices.

For Orval Gingerich, associate dean for international programs and director of the Center for Global Education, all of this affirms the work that CGE has done for 20 years. In the fall 2001 issue of their newsletter, Global News and Notes, he wrote of his "realization that the mission and program of the Center for Global Education are even more significant and pertinent than they were before the attack." What is needed, he said, is for Americans to respond to the new war against terrorism "from an informed and reasoned perspective," rather than blindly responding in ways that tend to become more and more like the terrorist actions being answered.

Learning from and with people

Travel arranged by the Center for Global Education is not like tourist travel, but offers experiences that encourage participants to become informed and engaged during the trip as well as after returning home. "It is learning from and with people, instead of looking and enjoying," Gingerich told the Augsburg Echo in a December article. Participants become immersed in local culture—they meet people in their communities, hear a variety of viewpoints on issues affecting the local community, and reflect about the impact on the larger global community. After returning home, they are encouraged to share their experiences with others and to become involved in issues of social justice.

While most kinds of travel offer a "macro" look at a country, looking at it from outside in, Gingerich feels this is insufficient. Hearing from the local people themselves—the heart of a CGE experience—presents a "micro" view as well, looking from the inside out.

Regina McGoff, associate director of the Center for Global Education, has also received affirmation of CGE's program. During school visits to the Pacific Northwest last fall, one international education administrator told her that CGE is exactly the kind of study abroad they seek for their students. "We're helping their students learn about real-world issues," said McGoff. "They're not isolated on college campuses, but they're getting to see the world from a lot of different perspectives."

CGE can provide this kind of personal experience through a wealth of resources at its branch campuses and adjunct faculty in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Namibia, as well as through consultants and partnerships in other countries. The three residential centers in Cuernavaca, Mexico; Managua, Nicaragua; and Windhoek, Namibia house up to 25 people each and are staffed by both Americans and local residents. These CGE staffers and the network of community resources, including local government officials, enable CGE to develop the first-hand experiences not normally part of tourist travel.

CGE coordinates three kinds of travel programs—semester study abroad for undergraduates, short-term travel seminars for adults and students, and customized travel. In all cases, meeting the people, their cultures, and the conditions in which they live is primary. The conversations become two-way, with resource people learning from the visitors.

Spending a semester abroad

Six semester programs for undergraduates send students to CGE's three centers. In Mexico and Central America, courses focus on the roles of women, development, social change, and social and environmental justice. In Namibia, the legacies of apartheid and multicultural societies in transition are studied. In all courses, students have opportunities for independent study and internships.

During their time abroad, students visit both rural and urban areas to learn about local community issues. They spend time in homestays and hear from the people themselves about their issues, struggles, and the impact of globalization in their lives. Spanish-language classes are included in the Latin American programs.

Short-term credit courses, usually one- or two-weeks long during short terms or as alternative spring break options, enable working adult students in Augsburg's Weekend College to also participate in cross-cultural travel.

This past year, Rochester Spanish instructor Jane Melton took a group of students, mostly nurses, to Mexico. "Eager to acquire language skills to enhance patient care," says Melton, the students enjoyed daily Spanish classes and practice opportunities in the city.

Travel for action

CGE's short-term travel seminars, usually one-to-three weeks, are organized around a study topic and are focused on stimulating people to action. To date, more than 9,000 people from many organizations across the U.S.—educational institutions, churches, professional groups, and human rights organizations—have participated in over 600 seminars to 40 countries. As many of these people share their experiences with church and civic groups after returning home, the impact is greatly multiplied.

Just one week prior to the terrorist attacks—on Sept. 3, 2001—an article in Time magazine featured "reality tours," travel that is attracting increasing numbers of Americans who seek more than fun and sightseeing in their travels. The article mentioned the Center for Global Education as a travel provider that effectively links participants with political issues and people in the Third World.

Before embarking on any CGE trip, travelers receive orientation materials about the history and politics of their destination, as well as practical trip planning information. They continue to receive materials upon returning home to help process and communicate their experience to others.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, many travel seminars focused on confronting the issues of civil and religious wars in Central America. Now, the focus shifts to the violence of economics, wrote Mavis Anderson, who led more than 75 travel seminars in her 19 years with CGE. In the spring 2002 issue of Global News and Notes, she writes that globalization is creating borders that are no longer defined geographically, but in terms of power and wealth. Acting responsibly as global citizens requires greater understanding of issues relating to social justice.

In the 15th anniversary issue of Global Perspectives in 1997, Dr. Darrold Beekman, then bishop of the Southwestern District of the American Lutheran Church, reflected on the 1983 trip he took to Brazil and Central America with other ALC bishops to study issues of poverty, human rights, and the work of the church in social change. He wrote, "Suddenly issues that had been primarily political, ideological, or military in nature took on the shape of human faces that defied easy definitions and neat classification."

Tailored travel experiences

CGE can tailor travel for a particular area of study, a particular purpose, or for a specific group. Study topics range from human rights, church, and social issues to the study of birds and environmental stewardship in Nicaragua. Several businesses, including a Rutland, Vt., manufacturing company, have offered company-paid, cross-cultural experiences to their employees to foster responsible global citizenship.

An expanding opportunity for the Center for Global Education has been travel for faculty and staff development. Last summer, Augsburg received a $55,000 Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program grant to send 12 faculty from various academic disciplines to Namibia for a five-week study seminar. Namibia program coordinators Phoebe Milliken and Urbanus Dax were able to connect them with educational, religious, and government leaders to learn how to integrate information about southern African issues into their teaching at Augsburg.

"The people we met, the stories they told, and the information they shared have become both anecdotes and extended pieces in the courses of the seminar participants," said Bruce Reichenbach, Augsburg philosophy professor and Namibia seminar project director. "Without Phoebe's and Urbanus's connections and persistent prodding, we would never have reached the depth of understanding necessary to make a difference in our thinking and in our classes."

Last fall, Gingerich and several of the faculty members presented their experiences to the Association for Lutheran College Faculty at their conference.

Last year, CGE also worked with Seattle University to plan a development immersion seminar in Nicaragua for its president, provost, and board of trustees to help them explore the implementation of social justice issues throughout the college curriculum. CGE arranged for them to meet with faculty at Central American University, a sister Jesuit institution.
Seattle University law professor Ronald Slye wrote, " ... I was initially a bit skeptical about the utility of participating in this trip. Thank you for ... showing to me (and the rest of our delegation) that there is a way to do these trips that engages both the visitors and the residents of the country visited, and that creates the groundwork for shared understanding and commitment across two distinct, but inevitably intertwined, cultures."

Learning by seeing, hearing, and doing

Joel Mugge, who came to Augsburg with experience in leading immersion programs for youth in Mexico, founded the Center for Global Education in 1982. Over the years, he led staff in developing the vision for a learning style in international experiential education that has become a national model.

In CGE's pedagogy, based on the educational principles of Brazilian theologian and educator Paolo Freire, students learn in a cycle of three phases. Initially, they have direct experience in the local community, listening to the voices of people talking about their own experiences. Then, informed by readings and analytical materials, they reflect on what they saw, heard, and experienced. Lastly, together with the travel group, issues are discussed and reactions shared, informing each other about different perceptions and formulating actions to carry forth. In this kind of learning community, faculty and students are co-learners.

Life-changing experience

Unlike the observational nature of tourist travel, the direct experience of a CGE travel program leaves few people unaffected or unchanged. CGE frequently receives comments similar to the student who wrote, "This program represents a turning point in my life. The people we met and the experiences we had all combined to create a change within me that I couldn't have anticipated and I'm not willing to forget."

The number of people involved in CGE programs is significant. Since 1982, more than 9,000 people have participated in the 600-plus CGE seminars to 40 countries, and more than 1,000 students have participated in study abroad semesters.

A national leader

It's ironic that while the Center for Global Education is widely recognized as a national leader in international experiential education, it remains somewhat of a well-kept secret on Augsburg's campus. Gingerich, who came to Augsburg in 2001 from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., mentions himself as a good example of someone who was not familiar with Augsburg College, but who knew and highly respected the work of the Center for Global Education.

CGE staff, including the adjunct faculty in the three centers abroad, are frequent speakers and resources at national conferences on cross-cultural communication and international experiential education. In the 2001-02 academic year, seven CGE staff members made 18 presentations at conferences and events for international and experiential education organizations, Lutheran church conferences, faculty workshops, and meetings of Latin American education leaders.

In some cases, their task has been to convince university officials that rigorous and meaningful study abroad experience can be highly experiential and does not have to be campus-based. To that end, CGE hosted a trip for members of NAFSA, the professional organization for international educators, for them to experience first-hand CGE's experiential learning model.

CGE's third decade

As it begins its third decade, Gingerich says that the Center for Global Education's program is squarely in line with Augsburg College's vision to provide a transformative education, based on a sense of vocation, in a diverse campus community.
CGE's part of that vision includes sponsoring courses under the Lilly grant "Exploring Our Gifts" that infuse reflection on vocation as part of the curriculum for study and travel abroad. It also includes integration of CGE courses into the new Augsburg Core Curriculum being implemented in the next academic year.

Recent additions to CGE's programs have included several travel seminars and short-term courses in Cuba, an area now accessible to Americans for educational purposes. Last year four travel seminars studied aspects of Cuban society and social issues, with programming help from the Martin Luther King Memorial Center in Havana.

Former CGE staffer Mavis Anderson, who now works for the Latin American Working Group on Cuba Policy in Washington, D.C., traveled to Atlanta last year to brief Jimmy Carter prior to the delegation he led to Cuba in April. While they were in Havana, CGE staff person Janeen McAllister joined them at an event at the Martin Luther King Center.

As programs and destinations are added, the curriculum may change, but the fundamental mission of CGE remains the same. Augsburg student Nat Jungerberg, who studied in Cuernavaca, Mexico, expressed it succinctly in an article he wrote for Augsburg Echo: "Everything matters, from whom I vote for to represent me to where I spend my dollar. It's much easier to be cynical and say, "What I do doesn't matter,' but it's far more responsible to become a global citizen and act like it does."

Every winter since 1989 a group of 15 or so adult students in Augsburg's Weekend College have traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico, for a week. Not for the same fun-in-the-sun vacation as many of their co-workers have enjoyed at that time of year, but to take a religion course, The Church and Social Change in Latin America.

The vision of Rick Thoni, then Weekend College director and current director of the Augsburg Rochester program, and Joel Mugge, director of the Center for Global Education, this course was designed to provide a study abroad opportunity for the increasing numbers of students in Weekend College—working adults for whom the option of studying abroad for a semester was not possible.
The course was designed as an attractive option to fulfill Augsburg's requirement for a religion course. But, Thoni and Mugge knew that students would also be deeply affected by the experience.

"We knew the power of this kind of study opportunity, given our experience with day school students and adult travel groups," said Thoni. "We were pleased that the reactions of the first groups of students confirmed our belief that they would find this type of travel/study experience 'transforming'."

The course begins on the Augsburg campus with two or three orientation sessions, centering around the theme of liberation theology and how it has profoundly impacted the social and religious fabric of society in Latin America. Students also get general historical information and practical help with travel planning.

Their Cuernavaca home for the week is Casa CEMAL, the Center for Global Education study center, permanently staffed by American and Mexican personnel. The week is carefully planned with lectures, visits, exploration in the city, and time for both individual and group reflection.

Each day, local resource people lecture about history, politics, and social issues of Mexico and the region. Visits range from the Aztec ruins of Xochicalco to a Benedictine convent to hear the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe. In the indigenous village of Tepotzlan, students meet with members of a women's cooperative that successfully thwarted efforts to usurp their croplands for a golf course. Another day, the group meets with Cuernavaca city officials to hear very differing perspectives—in some cases, opposing sides of issues already discussed.

Much of the real impact of the trip comes from the personal stories and the opportunities to share in the lives of local residents. Students visit a Base Christian Community meeting, one of many small, neighborhood groups that grew out of the liberation theology movement and give people opportunities to act in community and voice their needs.

The resources and expertise of the CGE Mexico staff make it possible for students to visit with people and make contacts that relate to their work back home. The January 2002 class, made up of 13 Weekend College students and five day students, included five nurses from Augsburg's Rochester program. While in Cuernavaca, the nursing students visited local hospitals and learned about programs in alternative medicine. Other students, some of whom work at large corporations in the Twin Cities, learned first-hand about business issues with local perspectives.

While the goal of the trip is to increase cross-cultural understanding, a benefit in this particular group was the opportunity for the mixed group of adult and day students to get to know each other and share experiences, says Jeni Falkman ’02, one of the day school participants and currently the Lilly grant intern at CGE. During reflective sessions, their differing perspectives of age and life experience contributed to different ways of understanding the cultural issues.

Just as Thoni and Mugge had known, students return deeply affected by the experience. Rochester nursing graduate Diane Fieseler wrote, "I must say that the Mexico trip greatly changed my life and expanded my worldview. It has changed the way I view my own community and has changed the way I view myself in the community." Back home, when she began helping a migrant Hispanic woman with medical care, Fieseler said, "From the Mexico trip, I learned the importance of religion and family and incorporated those aspects in my teaching plan for the woman."

It's just like the words students read from theologian Jon Sobrino, "Let the people of Latin America keep moving you when you return."