Over the next 20 months, leaders at Hilo’s Hawaii Community College will be strategizing on how to globalize the campus as part of an American Council on Education program that helps internationalize cohorts of colleges each year.

Hawaii CC was selected along with 10 other colleges and universities that make up the council’s 11th Internationalization Laboratory Cohort. Seventy-nine institutions have participated in the program since 2002.

The program includes leadership building, planning, visits to Washington, D.C., site evaluations and monthly phone calls with the laboratory director. 

Hawaii CC’s “mission is to serve our island community and to prepare our students for the demands of a global economy,” said Noreen Yamane, the college’s chancellor. “By bringing the world to our students, Hawaii Community College is positioning itself to give our graduates the skills they need to succeed in our increasingly multicultural, diverse community.”

Assistant Professor Sherri Fujita is leading the effort. 

Photo: The globe. (Courtesy of laynasaur via Flickr)

— Alia Wong