Requirements

Experiential Learning

Students will complete three experiences that meet each of the following descriptions:
Volunteering in one’s chosen sector (at least 50 hours). May be completed both on campus and while abroad. Additional volunteering or service in other areas is encouraged.

General examples:

• Religious & Spritual Life Service Trip during Spring Break to Tijuana or Colcord, WV
• International Student Orientation Committee member (this requires a semester of training in
• additional to summer camp; fall experience with new international students)
• Residence Hall Assistant (RA) with international student residents (this requires year-long experience and training)
• Intercultural Partnership Program (IPP) through International Student Services
• Student intern in International Student Services office
• World language tutor
• Sophomore research assistant
• Peace Corps Prep Club

Education examples:

• Member of International Education Week Committee
• Tutoring at Boys and Girls Club at Edgewood Middle School
• Participating in COW4Kids service organization
• Participating in Montessori Volunteer Program
• Joining Cornerstone PlayLab Volunteer Program
• Joining Wooster Future Educators Association (WFEA)
• Education internships through APEX Fellowship program

Health examples:

• Volunteering with Central American Medical Outreach (CAMO) in Orrville, OH
• Volunteering at the Viola Starzman Clinic in Wooster, OH
• Health internships through APEX Fellowship program

Environment examples:

• Serving on the College’s Sustainability Committee
• Joining Greenhouse, Wooster’s student-run environmental organization
• Joining the Friends of Wooster’s Memorial Park
• Volunteering with the College’s Carbon Capture project at Fern Valley
• Volunteering with the Wooster “Salamander Squad”
• Engaging with the Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network
• Environmental internships through APEX Fellowship program

Study abroad or an extended international internship. Students are encouraged to seek out immersive study abroad programs with practical components, such as hands-on projects, internships, community-based learning, independent research projects, etc. When possible, please consider taking courses taught in languages other than English, to deepen your competency in a world language. We encourage students following this pathway to give special consideration to study abroad programs in developing countries. If a full semester is not an option, Wooster offers short-term faculty-led programs called Wooster TREKs. These vary in theme and location each year. In rare cases, students may be granted exceptions to the study abroad requirement.

A significant leadership experience. May be completed on campus, over the summer, or while abroad
Examples include:

• Taking on leadership role in program house or world language/culture suite in Luce Hall
• Participating in student government
• Serving as leader on the International Student Orientation Committee
• Pursuing leadership opportunities through the Center for Diversity & Inclusion

Reflection

Reflections guide students to articulate meaningful connections between the skills and knowledge they are gaining and the experiences in their coursework, experiential learning opportunities and career goals.

Reflections take place along five points in the pathway:

First Reflection Touchpoint: At the Start of the Pathway
The first opportunity to reflect is when the student declares their Pathway.  Responses to prompts asked at this moment establish a baseline from which student moves forward.

Second Reflection Touchpoint: An Opportunity to Investigate
This is an opportunity for students to dig deeper to articulate what they are learning along the Pathway in classes and about experiential learning options related to the interests they shared in the first reflection. It is also a point at which to prepare for experiential learning/career exploration.

Third Reflection Touchpoint: Before Experiential Learning Opportunity
This reflection takes place as a student is learning about experiential learning opportunities related to their pathway.

Fourth Reflection Touchpoint: After Experiential Learning Opportunity
This reflection takes place after the student has completed an experiential learning opportunity and asks them to consider how the work they have done connects with their pathway.

Fifth Reflection Touchpoint: At the End of This Pathway – and the Start of New Ones
At this touchpoint, students engage with questions that help them build connections between theory and practice, their career goals, and how they plan to extend their Pathway beyond Wooster.

Coursework (Four Courses)

Students will complete four courses that meet the following descriptions:

• Engagement with a world language
• Academic training in a specific work sector
• Experiential Learning Opportunities (Three Experiences)
• Intercultural understanding and competence

Coursework (Four Courses)

Students will complete four courses that meet the following descriptions

Engagement with a world language (one course)

Students must complete at least one course at the intermediate level. Students who placed at the advanced level when they took the placement test may complete this requirement by taking a course at the advanced level. Additional courses are encouraged. Students may complete this requirement on campus or while abroad. International students whose first language is not English may opt out of this pathway requirement. Students may choose to study other world languages, not offered at Wooster, during the summer or while abroad. Online courses are not accepted.

• CHIN-20100: Intermediate Chinese Level I*
• CHIN-20200: Intermediate Chinese Level II*
• FREN-20100: French Conversation*
• FREN-20300: French Composition*
• GRMN-20100: Intermediate German Level I*
• GRMN-20200: Intermediate German Level II*
• RUSS-20100: Intermediate Russian Level I*
• RUSS-20200: Intermediate Russian Level II*
• SPAN-20100: Intermediate Spanish for Grammar, Conversation & Composition I*
• SPAN-20200: Intermediate Spanish for Grammar, Conversation & Composition II*

*Course has pre-requisite or requires instructor permission to register

Academic training in a specific work sector (two courses)

Two courses in one of the following sectors (three for students completing Peace Corps Prep certificate). Courses may be completed on campus, over the summer, or while abroad.

• Education: Approved coursework in the education sector encourages students to examine the historical, sociological, and philosophical foundations of educational institutions and policies through the lenses of nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and social class.
  • EDUC-19903: Urban Education
  • EDUC-30000: Classroom Management as Social Justice*
  • EDUC-19905: Teaching Globally Engaged Learners
  • SOAN-20100:  Education in Sociocultural Context
• Health: Coursework in the global health sector has students consider cross-cultural perspectives on health-related issues such as reproduction, nutrition, infectious disease, economics, medicine, and the experience of pain. Approved courses in this sector may also allow students to study local and global responses to these issues, as well as inequities based on race, nationality, class, age, gender, or sexuality.
  • ANTH 29901: Global Politics of Reproduction*
  • BIOL 10009: Biology of Nutrition
  • BIOL 10010: Science of Outbreaks: The Past, Present and Future of Infectious Disease
  • ECON 26800: Health Economics*
  • HIST 20135: History of Pain
  • SOAN 20201: Globalizing Health*
  • SOCI29908: Sociology of Medicine*
• Environment: Coursework in the environment sector may introduce students to theories & methods of conservation and sustainability; economic, social, and political influences on environmental decision-making; and/or perspectives on humanity’s relationship with the environment.  
  • BIOL-35600: Conservation Biology*
  • BIOL-35000: Populations & Community Ecology*
  • CHEM-21600: Environmental Chemistry*
  • ENVS-11000: Environment & Society
  • ENVS-12000: Ecology & the Environment
  • ENVS-30003: Sustainability
  • ENVS-21000: Rural Society & the Environment
  • ENVS-23000: Sustainable Agriculture: Theory & Practice
  • ENVS-26000: Sustainability Challenges in Latin America
  • ENVS-23500: Gardening Practicum
  • ESCI-10500: Geology of Natural Hazards
  • PHYS-19901: Environmental Physics

*Course has pre-requisite or requires instructor permission to register

Intercultural understanding and competence (one course)

Addressing global challenges requires dedication to intercultural understanding and competence.Courses approved for this requirement must include direct and sustained engagement with intercultural questions and learning; conceptual and theoretical components relating to cultural relations, exchanges, and dynamics; and a comparative, trans-national, or trans-continental focus. This requirement must be completed on campus.

• AFST-10000: Introduction to Africana Studies
• AFST-21300: Racism 101
• COMM-22700: Intercultural Communication*
• FREN-22406: Mediterranean Crossings: North Africa & France
• FREN-33500: West Africa & France: Encounters since 1900
• GMDS-21200: Cultural Studies & Power*
• HIST-10176: History of Islam
• HIST-10165: West Africa & Black America
• IDPT-19910: Global Engagement Seminar
• RELS-21900: Ethics in a Social Perspective
• SOCI-21400: Racial & Ethnic Groups in American Society*
• SOCI-21900: Globalization & Contemporary China
• WGGS-19901: Race, Gender & Tourism
• WGGS-20400: Transnational Feminisms*
• WGGS-20600: Queer Lives*

*Course has pre-requisite or requires instructor permission to register