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Center for Globalization StudiesAt Siena, we recognize that in today’s world we are interconnected across regions and national borders. Whatever we do affects others around the world and the choices made by people in other countries affect our lives. It is also highly likely that the careers that Siena graduates choose, whether in business, social policy/action, and the humanities, will be pursued within a global context. Hence, we share McMaster University's broad definition of globalization: “the growth of relations among people across national borders that creates a complex series of connections that tie together what people do, what they experience, and how they live across the globe.” While we acknowledge today’s global connectedness empirically, we also approach globalization from Siena’s Franciscan tradition. This perspective mandates that we evaluate these connections in terms of how they relate to human society, all of Creation, and our responsibility to others, especially to the poor and the marginalized. The Globalization Studies Program serves as a catalyst for campus and community discussion of various features of globalization in many ways. We provide a forum for students returning from international experiences and a venue for discussing scholarship on globalization. We also seek to raise campus and community awareness through its speakers' series. In the past the program has hosted Dean Baker, Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Chris Matthews, EU Delegation to the United Nations; David Dollar, Director of Development Policy at the World Bank; Abraham George, founder of the George Foundation in India; Jessica Karbowski, Voices of Young Americans for Global Engagement (VOYAGE); Sr. Mary Beth Ingham, Philosophy Professor, Loyola Marymount University; Joel Kovel, Social Science Professor, Bard College; Jessica Stern, lecturer, Harvard University; Hugh Johnson, Chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors. This coming academic year will mark the 5th annual Siena College- Concordia University Globalization conference. This year, it will be held on the Concordia campus in Montreal, Canada. We hope that you will join us in our endeavors as we explore and use our global connections in order to meet challenges at home and abroad and to promote a more just world. Sincerely, Jean M. Stern, Ph.D. |
