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SUMMIT SERIES: CULTIVATING THE GLOBALLY SUSTAINABLE SELF

From its inception in 2004, the IBAVI has pursued a range of projects in the service of its overarching mission: to explore beliefs and values and how they influence actions, policies, and practices around the world. Highly consistent with this mission, and working with other individual and organizational partners, the IBAVI developed a series of summits to focus on how beliefs and values about self, others, and the larger world are internalized in the first place as well as the local and global implications of such processes.

Beginning in 2015, this initiative – Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self – has become a multi-year, multi-institution, multi-country working conference, bringing together scholars, educators, students, policy makers, and leaders from around the world to engage in translation research across the IBAVI’s five thematic areas of emphasis: conflict resolution, global education, human rights, religious and cultural understanding, and sustainability (see https://summitx.org for more information about the Summit Series).

Here are some highlights of Summit Series activities thus far:

  • Developed and submitted a book proposal on the Summit Series to Oxford University Press, which was approved for publication, and will include distinguished contributors from partner institutions and organizations across the U.S. and internationally (https://global.oup.com/?cc=us)
  • Submitted a successful grant application to the American Council on Education – the ACE COIL Initiative – as a cooperative endeavor between the U.S. and Japanese governments, which works with the pedagogies and technologies of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), and will be featured in the Oxford book and Summit Series (see https://www.acenet.edu/Programs-Services/Pages/Communities/US-Japan-COIL-Initiative.aspx
  • Partnered with Kansai University in Osaka on the ACE grant and a complementary initiative from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports, and Technology (MEXT) in Japan, which will facilitate COIL-based student exchange, program development, and learning assessment (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kansai-university-in-osaka-japan-launches-institute-for-innovative-global-education-iige-platform-as-a-gateway-to-global-careers-for-students-825678737.html)
  • Through both the ACE and MEXT projects, we’re furthering Applied Global Studies (AGS), a programmatic and curricular initiative in development by the IBAVI for over a decade in partnership with other global institutions (https://ibavi.org/content/applied-global-studies.php)
  • Submitted a successful grant application to the Colonial Academic Alliance, Engaging Difference: A Deep Dive into the Assessment of Transformative Learning (https://www.caa-academics.org/in-co-grant-on-engaging-difference/)
  • Selected by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for its Sustainable Campus Index under “Campus Engagement” due to “significant leadership” and a “commitment to advance sustainability" (https://www.aashe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2017_Sustainable_Campus_Index.pdf)
  • Presidents, directors, and leaders of prominent organizations and institutions in the U.S. and internationally have joined us as keynote speakers and participants, including but not limited to:
    • Executive President, City of Knowledge, Panama
    • Pro Vice Chancellor, Malmö University, Sweden
    • Executive Director, Colonial Academic Alliance
    • UNESCO Chair, Reorienting Education Towards Sustainability
    • Director of Academic Affairs, NAFSA: Association of International Educators
    • President, Division of International Psychology, American Psychological Association
    • President, Center for Partnership Studies
    • Chief Executive Officer, Crossing Borders Education
    • Senior Fellow, Humanity United
    • Executive Director, Association of International Education Administrators
    • Executive Director, Peace and Justice Studies Association
  • Numerous countries have been represented by Summit Series participants including Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, England, India, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States
  • Developed over 20 separate research-to-practice projects to be featured as chapters in the forthcoming book with Oxford, involving teams of scholars, educators, policy makers, and students from the U.S. and around the world, which are focusing on areas such as teacher preparation and education, leadership and organizational development, liberal arts education, mental health and well-being, and the assessment of engaged, high impact, and transformative learning
  • Colleagues and students from partner institutions have presented on the Summit Series via symposia and other presentations in forums including, but not limited to, the American Psychological Association, City of Knowledge, European Association for International Education, Forum on Education Abroad, International Association of Universities, International Education Association of South Africa, Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports, and Technology, Kansai University in Japan, Malmö University in Sweden, NAFSA, Association of International Education Administrators, and the Society for Cross-Cultural Research

If you or your institution / organization are interested in learning more, please feel free to contact us at ibavi@ibavi.org.