Global Cultures & Languages
Resources for faculty/staff
GCL Department Mission and Vision Statement
Mission statement:
UWL’s Department of Global Cultures and Languages is committed to our students’ professional and personal growth. We enact this commitment by preparing students to communicate effectively—with cultural sensitivity and awareness—in more than one language. Students and teachers collectively engage with the products, practices, and perspectives of other cultures. By putting such knowledge into practice through applied learning opportunities—such as study abroad experiences, internships, community engagement projects, and teacher education training opportunities—we educate and empower students to employ their learned expertise in culture, language, critical thinking and leadership with an eye towards social justice action in our diverse and ever-changing regional, national, and world communities.
Vision statement:
UWL’s Department of Global Cultures and Languages aims to increase students-citizens’ global competence by promoting the curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking skills necessary to adapt to a rapidly changing world. The Department will invest in and foster students’ abilities to operate within multiple cultures and languages in a challenging and diverse learning environment. Through innovative teaching that supports deep learning, we provide interdisciplinary courses that expose students to different perspectives, push them to think critically about the world around them, and opportunities for them to contribute intellectually to local and global communities. The Department aims to be a cultural hub at UWL and in our communities; as such, our major priorities are to equip students and citizens with the tools to 1) become efficient and effective problem-solvers in a multicultural society; and 2) develop a sense of their own role as agents of change in their communities and the world.