Our Shrinking World Comes Home

People occasionally ask me the origin of my last name, to which I reply, "Russian." My grandparents on my father's side came to the United States from Russia around 1915. Growing up during the Cold War, this was not a popular thing to advertise, and yet over the years, I have felt proud of my Russian heritage and drawn to learn more about my country of origin.

This week we have a guest visiting our house from Samara, Russia. Yelena Mikhaelovna is a judge, part of a group of delegates here to study the American judicial system. My wife and I have the privilege of hosting her for four nights. While the days are filled with a lot of activities and events, the nights and the mornings will be spent simply with our family and Yelena. The orientation materials I've received indicate she doesn't speak English, but to my joy and surprise, she speaks more English than I speak Russian. The only Russian I have had was two years in college, 35 years ago. In anticipation of her arrival, I spent the last few weeks trying to recall those two years of Russian, relearning pronunciation and a number of key phrases.

I really want Yelena to feel comfortable in our home, welcome in our city, and to get a good taste of American life. My attempt to re-learn what little Russian I knew is part of that effort. I think that where there is good will, communication follows.

On another note, these past few weeks have caused me to reflect on issues of globalization, enculturation, intercultural communication and the ways we in higher education are called to create a climate that exposes our students to the larger world.

In many ways, this experience for me is part of the challenge. It is when we have the opportunity for a real life immersion experience that the language lessons matter. It is when we have the opportunities to engage in face-to-face dialogue from the perspectives of each other's culture that the issues of intercultural communication and understanding take on new meaning.

Avila has long had a robust international student population. About 5% of our student body are international students, representing over 28 countries, and that number is growing. We are examining how we might better engage our students in studying abroad, crossing cultural dialogue, and pursuing global experiences.

In a world whose boundaries seem ever smaller, my trying to recall a language learned in isolation over thirty years earlier seems like an experience that can't be repeated for our students today if we hope to provide them an education that serves them well for their future. It is my hope that we prepare them to be citizens of a world community.