Vision

This is a long-range plan for advancing the international dimension at SUNY Cortland. In the pages that follow, we will chart a course for the college and for the James M. Clark Center for International Education.  The goal defined here involves a transformative approach to an international vision for SUNY Cortland. The college has come a very long way and has a strong record of achievement – building on the work of talented faculty and staff from throughout the college, a hard-working and devoted Office of International Programs, a strong International Studies major and the leadership of successive Presidents – Clark, Taylor, and Bitterbaum. It is in a position to move to the next stage and more fully, widely and deeply provide a perspective to learning, searching and service.

Let us state this clearly at the outset: SUNY Cortland has a long history of international effort and is firmly committed to further internationalize the campus. In what follows, we will describe our goals, determine where we are now, and define where we hope to go. In the last two years, we have done much to deepen and to broaden our international mission; this effort has given us a more profound understanding of the opportunities and complexity – and joys – of being at home and at work in the wider world and of inviting the wider world onto our campus and into our classrooms, libraries, laboratories and living spaces. We are not alone and we are not shy about stating that we were pleased to hear then-Chancellor Ryan describe SUNY and ourselves us in this fashion:

While SUNY is located physically in New York, we are proud to be among the first universities to pursue globalization on every level, from business partnerships to international education. SUNY Cortland should be equally proud. President Bitterbaum and the College Administration are fulfilling their commitment to expand Cortland’s international mission, and making the College’s international activities a flagship program within the SUNY system.

The responsibility for taking the lead and overseeing this effort falls to the James M. Clark Center but this is a mission that is shared with excellent colleagues, Departments and Offices throughout the College the College Administration and, indeed, the entire College Community. The mission of the Clark Center – which will be discussed are more length elsewhere – is to advance Cortland’s international dimension – its global dimension – and to do so in collaboration with the international mission of the State University of New York. The function of the Center, in the broadest terms, is to provide a single framework and single administrative unit within which to define, encourage and advance the variety of international activities on the Cortland campus. In broad terms, the function of the Center is to work collaboratively with colleagues, offices and departments throughout the campus, in the community, in the university, and in colleagues and institutions abroad. The aspiration of the Center is to make it possible for us to achieve our common goal of advancing internationalization on the campus.

Goal

We note that internationalization is a goal that we share – with our own college community, with our colleagues in SUNY and, we believe, with colleagues across the country. A commitment to internationalizing the College, is a firm and articulated goal at SUNY Cortland. The College Mission Statement articulates this as follows:

We focus on helping students become good citizens with a strong social conscience and an appreciation of the environment and diverse intellectual and cultural heritage. We strive to instill within students a sense of responsibility, an eagerness to make a difference in their community and an awareness of the important positive role they must play in an increasingly globalized society.

This goal, articulated in the College catalog, has been given added importance by the leadership of President Erik J. Bitterbaum. His vision is shared by our academic leader, Provost Elizabeth Davis-Russell. Building on the international leadership and focus provided by his immediate predecessors – President James M. Clark and President Judson Taylor – President Bitterbaum has made internationalizing the college one of his central priorities. As he has put it, “SUNY Cortland actively participates in our global community”.10 Appealing to the alumni and the college community to support this mission with their dollars and their hearts, President Bitterbaum developed the rationale for internationalizing the College in the following terms:

International understanding and language proficiency have become essential in an interdependent world. In order for the U.S. to remain a world power, we must educate citizens who have the ability to understand, and who can cooperate with, other nations. Issues of peace, economics, international trade, technology, energy resources and diplomacy require a special comprehension of how other people think and live.

The College’s commitment goes beyond aspiration. The college was asked to list in Mission Review II – the College’s contract (as it were) with SUNY System Administration and the basis for performance evaluation of the College – the College’s “outstanding programs and/or initiatives/services that play an important role in defining the institution, and expand the description of (Cortland’s) unique role within SUNY”. In its reply, the College identified the following as “central to its mission”:

commitment to international education; and, producing good citizens with a strong social conscience who seek to “make a difference” in the world.