DEPARTMENTS, PROGRAMS & OFFICES
Through innovative and interdisciplinary projects, research, and partnerships, The Global School engages and inspires the entire university. With a focus on preparing globally focused STEM leaders, supporting collaborative work that addresses the world’s grand challenges, and building a global network of partners to inform, support, and amplify the work of WPI students and faculty, the school is an umbrella for a growing array of departments, programs, and offices.
The Global School is home to the Department of Integrative and Global Studies, which prepares students to thrive in a shrinking world by developing global competency inside and outside the classroom; the Global Experience Office, which provides risk management, travel education and preparation, and administrative support to students, faculty, and staff participating in WPI-sponsored off-campus travel; the Global Lab, which helps engage partners and strengthen the worldwide knowledge and practice ecosystem among our community; the SWEET (Supporting WPI through Effective and Equitable Teamwork) Center, which helps ensure that every WPI student has at least one highly effective and equitable team experience before they graduate; and the Community Climate Adaptation MS degree program, which provides students the opportunity to work within teams to use engineering, social science, and physical and biological science skills and expertise to address challenges of climate change impacts and capacities to adapt in communities around the world.
As it continues to grow, The Global School will be connected with more WPI initiatives, including programs that help students thrive on the global stage. And with its extensive links to other elements of WPI’s academic enterprise, The Global School, in a real sense, belongs to and benefits the entire WPI community.
International & Global Studies
In collaboration with The Global School, the International & Global Studies program prepares undergraduate students to thrive in the future by developing global competency both inside and outside the classroom. The program stresses the importance of collaboration to enable students to have an enduring impact on people around the world.
On the Horizon
To prepare professionals for work in an increasingly interdependent world, The Global School is developing new academic programs, including undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates, focused on a range of global issues. In addition, WPI’s Center for Project-Based Learning, which shares the university’s deep expertise in this highly effective approach to education with the world, and The STEM Education Center, which helps K-12 educators gain strengths in STEM education, contribute to the work of The Global School through educational partnerships across the globe.