President's White Paper Project: Global Literacy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore

Abstract

Our journey began with two words, global literacy, and a challenge to define and translate this complex term to the varied curricular, experiential, service and other contexts of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Working across our many different professional and cultural backgrounds to develop a collective voice and position challenged us to engage in some of the very practices by which we define this complex term: critical self-reflection, negotiation of linguistic and professional meaning, and an orientation to collaborative problem solving that integrates cultural and social diversity as a resource for problem solving and new knowledge construction.