Global Initiatives

Introduction

As a Catholic and Jesuit university with a strong tradition of service, Georgetown is dedicated to its mission of developing “women and men for others.” This commitment extends from students to faculty members, from the classroom, to the playing field, to volunteer programs across Washington, DC.

It also is starting to extend beyond traditional boundaries and borders. Through the guidance of the Office of the President, Georgetown has created a process for developing mission-driven initiatives that promote collaborative efforts — both within the university and with partners around the world. The organizing principle behind these efforts is our drive to harness Georgetown’s resources in a manner that successfully responds to global challenges too complex for one academic department, governmental body or NGO to solve. 

Collaboration

In line with this vision, a dedicated team of diverse collaborators from across the university has come together to support and empower partners who promote health, provide educational opportunities, reach out to marginalized populations, and strengthen communities in a multitude of ways. Through understanding the needs of these partners, the capacities and interests of Georgetown faculty, and the priorities of donors, these initiatives create critical new lines of work for a global Georgetown.

Specifically, global initiatives develop a context in which faculty and students can engage with one another around important global issues; foster an empowering process through which faculty can extend their scholarship into the depths of complex global challenges; and press our Georgetown community to engage with the multicultural reality that affects all of our teaching and learning, inviting us to develop strong and effective communication skills across barriers – whether geographic, social or cultural. 

The Work

As the forces of globalization continue to characterize our world, Georgetown’s tradition compels us to respond in a way that presses our service and scholarship into the heart of this new reality. Through our initiatives, we can extend our mission and redefine our position as a globally engaged center for higher learning, one committed not just to productive dialogue, but also to “scholarship in action.”

To read more about our Catholic Networks Initiative, click here.