Creighton Global Initiative
A Distinct Presidential Initiative
The Creighton Global Initiative seeks to animate, enrich and embrace an intentional global focus for the University community. Creighton has a remarkable track record in global outreach and education. Many established programs offer service, research, internship and volunteer opportunities abroad. The Creighton Global Initiative builds upon current academic and institutional efforts and creatively envisions and implements new ones.
Creighton Global Initiative
Our Jesuit Inspiration
In the 16th century, St. Ignatius Loyola propelled the Jesuit Order to unprecedented international outreach, particularly in the work of education.
In recent years, the Superiors General of the Society of Jesus have reminded Jesuit educators of their responsibility to inspire students to reach beyond their boundaries in order to fulfill their potential. The Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., articulated the fundamental mission of Jesuit higher education as the service of faith and the promotion of justice, and he encouraged Jesuit colleges and universities to know and engage the uncomfortable realities of the world. Recently, the Rev. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., has challenged Jesuit higher education to network more creatively and substantively.
Global Opportunities for Our Community
Our Jesuit academic community demonstrates an impressive international presence, and we will expand our outreach with the Creighton Global Initiative Fund. With increased resources, Creighton University will strengthen the ideals of global citizenship by forming international relationships, engaging worldly crises, and building a better world.
Creighton Global Initiative (CGI) allows faculty, staff and students to strengthen existing Creighton projects and programs while increasing support for and build up the Global Engagement Office (GEO). CGI creates a funding pool, housed at the GEO, to which the Creighton community may apply for financial and departmental support.
Awards are grants for projects including campus-based workshops, guest speakers, a lecture series, course development, recruitment, immersions and research initiatives. Proposals may be issue-specific, such as climate change, migration, or natural resources, or experiential, allowing participants to immerse more fully into international realities.
All campus constituents who have developed promising, globally related initiatives were invited to submit proposals. A campus committee comprised of faculty, staff and students, and chaired by the executive director of the GEO evaluated these proposals.
- International experiential learning in the Dominican Republic includes the semester-long Encuentro Dominicano.
- The Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC), an Ignatian-inspired collaborative healthcare and educational organization, began in 1975.
- Faculty-Led Programs Abroad (FLPA) offer summer courses all around the world.
- East meets West at the on-campus Asian World Center, which has hosted more than 100 leading Asia scholars.
- Project CURA provides healthcare information to low-income individuals and families in greater Omaha and eastern Nebraska year round and dispatches Creighton medical students to serve in Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Romania and Ghana.
- Scholar and student exchanges with China focus on enhancing rehabilitation care in that country and deepen global learning for students in the health sciences.
- Collaborations with the government and educational institutions of Saudi Arabia bring students to practice emergency medical services in Omaha, and projects are unfolding in medicine and pharmacy.
- Honors programs in China and Scotland permit Creighton’s top students to engage in extraordinary learning opportunities.
Mission
Centered on Creighton University’s commitment to advance global learning, Creighton Global Initiative creates resources that offer opportunities for faculty, staff and students to embrace global perspectives. Through philanthropic support, we will animate a global focus for the Creighton University community, living out our mission to stimulate critical and creative thinking and provide ethical perspectives for dealing with an increasingly complex world.
Vision
Creighton Global Initiative drives transformational learning exchanges through heightened relationships, experiences and perspectives embracing Jesuit higher education’s centuries-long tradition for building global networks. CGI celebrates and creatively extends the University’s presence on the global stage.
SJ Convocation 2015 Freshman Address
"Break the boundaries of what’s familiar and friendly. Go beyond your comfort zones. Study and work abroad. Reach out to those other gritty realities of the lives we live and the world we inhabit." — Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson
