Red House Hosts Delegation of Swiss Higher Education Leaders
October 3, 2024
Blog, News
On Thursday, October 3rd, the Red House welcomed 16 delegates from the Association of Higher Education Management (HEM) in Switzerland for their second study visit to Georgetown. Their time on campus centered around how we are addressing current challenges to higher education in both the U.S. and Switzerland.
Representatives from Georgetown came together with Swiss leaders in higher education to share their experience, insights, and strategies for addressing urgent challenges facing faculty and students, including AI, climate science, and polarization in an uncertain time.
Colleagues from CNDLS and the Red House shared findings from the first two rounds of grants for the Initiative on Pedagogical Uses of Artificial Intelligence (IPAI). Eddie Maloney discussed Georgetown’s institutional response to AI both in operational decisions being made in addition to pedagogical considerations. Given the delegation represented Swiss faculty members in design and health science, we shared a specific example of an AI Hackathon led by a Georgetown medical student grant recipient.
Maggie Debelius led a discussion on the recently launched Georgetown Dialogues Initiative as an intentional response to centralizing efforts to support students in developing essential skills in an increasingly polarized world.
Jessie Meiller (Co-Director, Bachelor of Science in Environment and Sustainability) and Keaton Nara (Program Specialist, Red House) gave a presentation that showcased one way that Georgetown is responding to the question, “How are we addressing environmental and climate issues in our degree offerings?” Their presentation shared insight into the design and student experience of the new interdisciplinary Bachelor of Science in Environment and Sustainability.
Susannah McGowan shared the story of the CALL and the growth of the Capitol Campus as a mechanism for enriching students’ academic and co-curricular experiences.
On behalf of the Swiss delegation, Catherine Sokoloff (HEM) and Jürgen Fritz (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland, HES-SO) presented on the Swiss Higher Education system.
Red House Director Randy Bass closed the day’s program with a keynote, “Disrupting Ourselves: the Problem of Learning in Higher Education,” an interactive presentation on the challenges facing higher education and the urgent imperative for change. He highlighted the Regents STEM Scholars, which supports first-generation students majoring in biomedical fields, as an example of a disruptive program.
The day closed with a send-off celebration on the Baker Family Terrace.
