2014-15 Global Activities at Westminster, Highlights from the CIGE

Recap provided by the Churchill Institute for Global Engagement.

The 2014-15 academic year saw a number of important global activities on the Westminster campus. During the 2014 Hancock Symposium, Sir Bob Geldof’s magisterial Green Foundation Lecture on the arts, politics, and humanitarianism left a lasting impression on students, faculty, staff, and the community at large (see feature photo above). It was “Churchillian” in its scope and depth.

The events of November 9, 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall were remembered in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the event. The Churchill Institute for Global Engagement sponsored two interactive events. One was with Mark Klugmann, a former speech writer for President Ronald Reagan and President George H. W. Bush, who was working in the White House when the Wall fell.

Junior Amelia Ayers, a transnational studies and security studies student, from St. Louis, spent her junior year studying at the London School of Economics and Political Science . She provided a live, interactive Skype sesion from the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin for her fellow students back on the Fulton campus.

The Model United Nation team participated in the Midwest Model United Nations conference in February 2015. The team represented the Netherlands in St. Louis. Dr. Kali Wright-Smith is the director of the MUN team.

The Honors Program, directed by English professor Dr. Heidi LaVine, continued to grow and see high quality students from all over the world. One of the Honors Program’s students, Ayush Mandahar of Kathmandu, Nepal, won the McFarland Family Scholarship.

Dr. Jeremy Straughn continued to lead the study abroad and off-campus areas at Westminster and study abroad continues to be popular and draw outstanding students to the college. Exchange students in 2014-15 from Britain, France, and Kenya were popular on campus.

Transnational and International Studies continued growth with over 20 majors.

Finally, Dr. Benjamin Akande, Dean of the Walker School of Business at Webster University in St. Louis, was named Westminster’s new president in May 2015. Originally from Nigeria, Dr. Akande brings a wealth of knowledge on globalization in higher education and business to the campus.