Special session - prepare locally to engineer globally: Embedding a global citizenship foundation into engineering curricula

Design projects that require engineering students to travel to other countries and semesters abroad have the potential to be very powerful learning experiences for those students. Unfortunately, cost and other constraints keep many students from taking advantage of such experiences and not all of those students who do travel reap the hoped-for gains. The goal of this special session is to discuss the importance of domestic preparation for global citizenry and consider options that are available to engineering departments to not only satisfy the ABET global and societal impact requirement but truly prepare students to be global citizens. This issue is particularly vital for those students who will not have a travel abroad opportunity as part of their curriculum. Aimed at faculty, department chairs, and student support personnel, this special session will address pedagogical options that can be embedded into the curriculum for human dignity, expanding mental models, and achieving complex thinking.