Curiosity Across Borders
The scope of the RAISE Center mission encompasses understanding and enhancing the experiences, engagement, and development of all globally-mobile students. A foundational component of engagement is global competence, defined as the ability to interact respectfully and effectively with people from various cultures and backgrounds, within and beyond U.S. borders.
To be fully culturally self-aware and able to engage respectfully and effectively across cultures, we must understand ourselves, what it means to be a globally minded citizen and how that affects our interactions within our local, state, national, and international environments.
What does this mean for the RAISE Center? While a full answer to this question will continue to evolve as we grow, there are three ways in which we are engaging now:
- Enhancing Theory. First and foremost a re-examination of global competence will require an integration and enhancement of current theoretical frameworks, or it may yield the development of new theory.
- Reconceptualizing Current Projects. This includes adopting multiple methodological approaches, leaning particularly on mixed methods to capture breadth (quantitative) and depth (qualitative). Approaching research from all angles will allow us to scrutinize broad trends and navigate cultural nuance more effectively
- Enhancing Dissemination and Access. While our research teams have prioritized providing Wake Forest University students access to research mentoring and experience, we are also aware that dissemination of research findings at local, national, and international education conferences is critical for the mission to enhance our approaches to research.