Dr. Cynthia Napoli-Abella Reiss, Chair of the WVC Global Citizenship Committee and Professor of Art History, Dr. Kathryn Davis, Director of the Global Studies Program and Professor of Geography at San José State University, and Dr. Stephen Branz, Associate Dean for Curriculum and Director of General Education at San José State University, have been collaborating on the creation of a basic Certificate in Global Citizenship that students earn at SJSU and WVC. As they explain, “this certificate is a multi-disciplinary certificate program intended to assist students in understanding the interconnectedness of peoples, cultures, and societies,” and to understand the “richness of human diversity in a global context.” The required lower division courses also meet GE requirements. Students may complete those courses at WVC and then transfer to SJSU where they complete the upper division courses in the Global Studies Program.
Dr. Branz explains that this certificate “recognizes the efforts of the themed transfer pathways” that the WVC Global Citizenship Committee has helped to developed with its “Mini-Salzburg” collaboration with Leigh High School and SJSU, and its Compass Faculty Learning Community. (Click Poster to see detailed descriptions of these three collaborations.) This certificate strengthens the work of Global Studies at both institutions, incentivizes transfer, encourages students to be deliberate in choosing their GE courses, definitely complements efforts to globalize both campuses, and most importantly, this certificate is instrumental in guiding students to include global competence in their academic training.
The idea for developing this 16 unit certificate grew out of the collaboration begun with the Give Students a Compass grant that allowed for the Compass Faculty Learning Community to convene. The collaboration for the certificate has expanded to include other community colleges where students may complete study abroad and language courses prior to transferring to SJSU. The certificate is awarded when students complete five 3-unit courses, language competency at the intermediate level, study abroad or volunteer/internship abroad, and an e-portfolio. Upon completion of requirements, students will have gained intercultural knowledge, and international experiences, and practice in communicating effectively across cultural and linguistic boundaries. The certificate serves as recognition of achievement and can be used for academic, personal and professional purposes.
WVC-SJSU Global Pathway Project
Cross-Institutional Global Citizenship Certificate
Course Requirements
Name of Basic Certificate: Global Citizenship
Units: 16
| GE Area | Units | ||
| Requirement of Certificate | 16 | ||
| Basic Courses (Select 3 – must be from different disciplines) | 9 | ||
| ANTH 11 Cultural Anthropology | D1 | 3 | |
| ARTH/ASIA 070C Arts of Asia | C1 | 3 | |
| ARTH 070B Art History, Renaissance to Modern | C1 | 3 | |
| COMM 074 Fundamentals of Intercultural Communication | E | 3 | |
| ENGL 040 Contemporary World Fiction | C2 | 3 | |
| GEOG 2 Cultural Geography (or equivalent) | D1 | 3 | |
| GEOG 10 Global Geography (or equivalent) | D2 | 3 | |
| GLST 1A Introduction to Global Studies | 3 | ||
| GLOBL-001 Introduction to Global Studies | 3 | ||
| GLOBL-002 Global Issues | 3 | ||
| MUSC 019A Music in World Cultures | C1 | ||
| POLS 002 Introduction to Comparative Politics | D2 | 3 | |
| POLS 004 Introduction to International Relations | D3 | 3 | |
| RELS 070A Western Religions | C2 | 3 | |
| RELS 070B Eastern Religions | C2 | 3 | |
| UNVS 96B, or C, or D, or E (only one can be counted for the certificate) | B2, C2, D1, or E | 3 | |
| Advanced Course (Required) | 3 | ||
| GLST 164 Advanced Seminar in Global Citizenship | 3 | ||
| Advanced Course (Select 1) | 3 | ||
| GLST 143 Technology, Policy, and International Development | 3 | ||
| GLST 156 Inventing the Modern World: History of Technology Since 1500 | 3 | ||
| GLST 162 Contemporary Global Issues | 3 | ||
| GLST 167 Changing Ecologies of Globalization | 3 | ||
| Additional Requirements | 1 | ||
| Language competency at basic level (2 semesters or 3 quarters) | |||
| Study, volunteer, or internship abroad, or local multicultural experience with approval of advisor and evidence of inability to go abroad | |||
| E-portfolio assessment | 1 | ||
WVC Global Citizenship 