Loyola Marymount University professors are embracing global learning by participating in the International Association of Jesuit Universities’ (IAJU) Global Citizenship Project, which supports educators from Jesuit institutions around the world in integrating global learning into their courses through a learning module that promotes global citizenry through dialogue.
In Fall 2024, LMU’s Dr. Christopher Finlay incorporated its lessons into his class, “CMST 3510: Wires and Empires,” by combining his typical units with the module’s lessons, substituting readings and assignments, and aligning his teaching with the key themes of the Global Citizen Project. “I integrated the learning units into the first third of my semester,” Finlay said. “At all times, I took care to ensure the workload was balanced … It isn’t a major time commitment, but it allows students to interact with peers from around the world and to hear firsthand how different populations and cultures interpret key global citizenship concepts.”
The IAJU-created learning guidelines are comprised of four previously recorded lectures and respective readings, addressing “global citizenship as a mindset and practice, contemporary challenges and opportunities, global citizens and care for our common home, and Jesuit universities and global citizenship.” In addition to the integrated work assigned by professors, students enrolled in the integrated courses are required to participate in a virtual meeting to discuss global citizenship with students worldwide. Despite the early and late meeting times necessary to accommodate the students’ global time zones, the students in Dr. Finlay’s class found the interactions rewarding.
“Almost all of the students responded enthusiastically,” Finlay said. “One early morning is a small price to pay for the opportunity to collaborate with peers from around the world. And the vast majority definitely realized this and embraced the opportunity.” Since the Global Citizenship Project began, eleven LMU faculty have participated: Rebeca Acevedo, Chris Finlay, Anna Muraco, Bernadette Musetti, Allison Noyes, Jennifer Owens-Jofre, Roy Pereira, Nigel Raab, Jennifer Ramos, Caroline Sauvage, Katerina Zacharia.
By embracing the opportunity himself, Dr. Finlay saw the immense benefits of changing his own perspective towards the module’s. It impacted his as well as his students’ worldviews but his on global learning and international collaboration. “It’s helped reinforce my commitment to always considering a global lens,” Finlay said. “It is so refreshing to not just ask, ‘but what do you think others around the world think about issue x,’ but instead have others around the world tell us directly. It’s helped me think more intentionally about internationalization not just as theory, which is super-important, but as praxis.”
Global citizenship is critical to a Jesuit education. The Global Task Force of the Secretariat for Education of the Society of Jesus (2019) explains, “Global citizens are those who continually seek to deepen their awareness of their own place and responsibility, both locally and globally, in an increasingly interconnected world, solidarity with others in the quest for a sustainable Planet and a more humane world as true partners in the mission of reconciliation and justice.”
In 2018, the IAJU Task Force on Global Citizenship was formed and developed the Global Citizenship Course Project. To date, a total of ten LMU professors have participated in the IAJU Global Citizenship Project. As Dr. Jennifer Ramos, director of global learning explains, the module “is a meaningful way to connect with our global Jesuit network and integrate global learning into our classrooms here on campus.” Moreover, student participation in the IAJU project can act as a stepping stone to other global learning experiences like study abroad or global immersions.
After seeing students’ responses to the integrated lessons and having his own positive experience with the integration, Dr. Finlay hopes to incorporate the module into more of his courses at LMU and continue to promote the IAJU’s goal of multinational education. For professors interested in integrating the course module, visit the IAJU Global Citizenship Curriculum Project website or contact LMU’s director of global learning, Dr. Jennifer Ramos ([email protected]).
by Abby Alexander, Journalism, ‘27
