About
A Message from Dean Mimi Sheller
Welcome to The Global School, WPI’s newest school!
The Global School builds on WPI’s distinctive tradition of integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education with humanities, arts, social sciences, and business perspectives. Our signature Global Projects Program, exciting first-year Great Problems Seminar, interdisciplinary global graduate programs, and far-reaching global research initiatives knit together WPI’s Schools of Engineering, Arts & Sciences, and Business into a holistic, multidisciplinary approach. Centered around the new Department of Integrative and Global Studies, our faculty are some of the leading practitioners of global project-based learning.
We put this ethos into practice every day with student teams working collaboratively on the major social, technological, ecological, and economic challenges around the world and here at home. By working together on transformative projects, WPI faculty, students, and community partners can co-create new solutions to complex local and global challenges. We believe that building more ethical, intercultural, and human-centered approaches to STEM will help the world more successfully address pressing global challenges.
Student projects might address global sustainability, global health, climate change, circular economies, reducing waste, or protecting clean water, energy, food, and natural ecosystems. Our students learn to apply quantitative and qualitative research methods (e.g., ethnography, interviews, surveys), use new technologies for data collection and analysis, and gain skills in digital communication tools like data visualization and multimedia video production.
Welcome to The Global School at WPI, where you can find local belonging, global connections, and purposeful education!
Mimi Sheller, Ph.D.
Dean, The Global School
Listen to Mimi Sheller Discuss Her Latest Book on the Nèg Mawon Podcast
Listen to Mimi Sheller Discuss "Island Futures: Caribbean Survival in the Anthropocene" on Audacy Podcast
Dean Sheller Visits Acadia-Bar Harbor Project Center
Dean Mimi Sheller visited the Acadia National Park, Maine IQP Project Center where she joined Lynne Feraco, assistant vice president, gift planning, and the cohort for a luncheon, project presentations, and a dinner at Joan Bolduc Szkutak, a WPI trustee and co-chair of the WPI Women’s Impact Network, and her husband, Dave’s house. The dinner was attended by the cohort WPI alumni, members of Acadia’s National Park Service, and members of Friends of Acadia.
The Global School Forum
This yearlong event series focuses on regional and great problem themes within the context of ongoing collaborations with partners from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Oceania, Asia, Europe, and Glocal (Global/local). The series also includes plenary talks by leading luminaries. All event content will be recorded and will be available for viewing.
Undergraduate degree programs with global and international relevance
The Global School at WPI collaborates across the university and around the world to focus the resources and experiences of one of the nation’s top technological academic and research universities. Collaborative global project work at WPI results in a positive and powerful impact on the world’s great problems.
- Chinese Studies (minor)
- Environmental and Sustainability Studies (major and minor)
- Global Public Health (minor)
- International and Global Studies (major and minor)
- Latin American and Caribbean Studies (minor)
- Science and Engineering for Development (minor)
Media Coverage
See All Media Coverageof students are eligible for a Global Scholarship to complete life-changing project work
global project centers on six continents
years of undergraduate project experiences through the Global Projects Program
students completed an off-campus project (2018–19)