Global and Local Learning

Students develop a more comprehensive understanding of the complexity of society as well as cultivate attitudes of open-mindedness to difference and collaboration across intellectual, cultural, societal or geographical boundaries.

Through our place-based courses, virtual exchanges, study away programs, and community engagement activity, students hone their perspective-taking and flexible-thinking skills in local and global communities. These experiences give students hands-on opportunities to operate in an unfamiliar context, ask new questions within familiar settings, and expand their thinking about local and global issues. They also develop students’ intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Courses

At the John Martinson Honors College, we value intercultural development and intercultural contact. We acknowledge that not all students can study away—owing to financial costs, jobs, internships, and other responsibilities or obstacles. Thus, we seek to make opportunities for intercultural development and intercultural contact accessible to all our students. We do this in a few ways vis-à-vis courses offered on campus, visiting international scholars, and extra-curricular activities.

HONR 22200 | Solutions Lab Global

Solutions Lab Global is a transnational, virtual, interdisciplinary course that transcend national boundaries by bringing together Purdue students with students at universities abroad. In the online course, students collaborate in interdisciplinary, cross-national teams to work towards solutions to a global problem. Honors students in the course collaborate with students in Brazil, Italy, Peru, and Taiwan. This course is offered in the fall and spring semesters and includes an optional bi-directional student mobility dimension which takes place at different points in the academic year.

HONR Credits: 2

Offered Fall, Spring

HONR 22100 | Exploring Place

"Exploring Place" is an examination of the cultural, social, and historical dynamics that influence communities and relationships of a site. Blending independent study and distance learning, in this experiential learning course, the student and the instructor work together to design an individualized, in-depth study of the place in which the student is located. This study will be attentive to the social, cultural, political, economic, and other forces that have shaped this place historically and today, while also focusing on community life and the relationships between residents, institutions, organizations, and others. Exploring Place offers students the opportunity to better understand the people and places around them, expand their worldviews, and increase their self-awareness as they engage within these spaces and understand their place in them. This course meets the university's core requirement for Human Behavioral and Social Sciences.

HONR Credits: Varies (2-3)

Offered Fall, Spring, Summer

Fulbright Brazil Chair

The John Martinson Honors College houses the Fulbright Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. Each year, the JMHC partners with a department and college to cohost a visiting scholar from Brazil. The scholar spends one semester conducting research, teaching an interdisciplinary course with the JMHC, and interacting with students and fellow researchers at Purdue.

HONR credits: 3

Offered in the Fall

 

JMHC Groups and Extra-Curricular Activity

Students live, work, and serve in JMHC groups and activities to learn across varying communities and differences.

HonorServes

HonorServes is an JMHC student committee with the goal to build community between Honors College students through service to the Greater Lafayette community. We partner with three community organizations: Food Finders, YWCA Domestic Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, and NICHES Land Trust

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International Education Week

International Education Week (IEW), a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, is celebrated annually the third week in November in the U.S. and 100 countries around the world, and is an opportunity for schools and universities to showcase the benefits of international education and promote international and cultural exchange at their institutions.

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Other Opportunities

Local Community Engagement

Classes, research, and student groups find multiple ways to support communities in Greater Lafayette and Indiana

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Study Away

Through these off-campus, domestic or international experiences, students earn credit learning about technical topics while developing their intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

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Scholarships and Grants

At Purdue and the John Martinson Honors College, there are a variety of ways to make studying abroad and across the US more affordable for students.

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