By Ashlyn Kennedy | Reporter
Currently entering its fifth year, the Certificate in Global Engagement is giving over 400 students an official outlet to explore multicultural opportunities and become globally focused.
Raphael Abayateye, assistant director for global engagement, described the program as a way to develop “global leaders” and “cultural humility and competence.”
“[The certificate gives] opportunities that would help students interact with other cultures and other people who just have a different way of doing things and perspectives different from them,” Abayateye said.
The certificate has three requirements: intercultural events, global courses and practical involvement, and international experience.
For the intercultural events section, students must attend 10 Baylor events. Abayateye said the events are meant to expose students to cultures and activities on campus.
“This is to help students participate in these events outside the classroom,” Abayateye said. “It’s good to read about cultural events, but then you see it, and it feels different.”
To receive credit for global courses and practical involvement, students must take part in four experiential opportunities — such as a book club or an international student organization — and they must take six credit hours of global engagement courses.
Holly Joyner, associate director for global engagement and marketing, said global engagement courses are not classes specifically created by the Center for Global Engagement but rather classes that professors have submitted as being 25% or more “globally relevant.”
“They aren’t going to be found anywhere in the registrar’s office or on a transcript. They’re just on a list that we have cultivated here in our office,” Joyner said. “The spirit of the idea is that there would be courses from every major included on the list.”
The last requirement, international experience, seeks for students to experience different cultures by studying abroad, participating in a mission trip or working an international internship.
The certificate, known as a co-curricular certificate, can be started at any time during any year of school. Students who complete the program get a line on their transcript, a certificate signed by President Linda Livingstone and a graduation cord.
Joyner said the certificate is open to anyone, but especially to those who are already “on the fringes” of participating in cultural experiences on their own time. The certificate is meant to guide students through being “globally involved” on campus.
Oklahoma City, Okla., junior Eli Siatkowski began working on her certificate in fall 2022 after studying abroad over the summer.
“In high school, I didn’t have a ton of opportunities to engage with people from different cultures, and I think that’s really important to do,” Siatkowski said. “You learn how to interact with so many different types of people, and you have so many shared experiences that you probably wouldn’t have found out had you not engaged with people who are different from you.”
Siatkowski studies Spanish and said she most likely would have focused exclusively on Spanish-speaking cultures had it not been for the certificate to broaden her experiences. She said most students on campus who are interested in exploring different cultures have probably already met some of the requirements for the certificate.
“It’s definitely manageable and a really meaningful way to enhance your time at Baylor,” Siatkowski said.
Abayateye encourages students to at least start the certificate, because they don’t lose anything by not completing it. However, for students who do finish the certificate, he said the benefits are enormous.
“The world is moving very quickly toward globalization, if it’s not already there,” Abayateye said. “Having this experience and having it on your transcript goes a long way to position you for after school to make you job-market ready.”
Students interested in enrolling in the Certificate in Global Engagement program can email global_baylor@baylor.edu.
