Photos by Chris Meyer IUB junior Greg Bodie volunteers to help incoming students move items to their rooms in Foster Quad. Bodie carries a small refrigerator up six flights of stairs. Herb Terry (left), director of the Global Village Living-Learning Center, and Sean McGuire, assistant director, confer as students begin to move into their rooms.

A joint venture of the College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) and Residential Programs and Services (RPS) and a culmination of more than two years planning, the Global Village welcomed its first residents on Aug. 25 at Foster-Martin in IU’s northwest neighborhood. The Village occupies the first two newly renovated floors of Foster-Martin and has a dedicated lounge, classroom, seminar room and three offices.

As new Village residents carrying their belongings squeezed past in the corridor, Michele Bowlen, RPS interior designer, and Russell Arthur of the RPS maintenance staff, affixed a sign outside the new lounge. “Things have gone pretty smoothly all summer. It took a lot of teamwork to get us to this point,” said Bowlen.

In her room in the women students’ wing nearby, Lisa Ferguson, a freshman from the Chicago area, arranged her belongings as her parents carried in more boxes. With her strong background in French, Ferguson considers the Global Village an ideal residence. “Originally, I planned to be in the French House, but at orientation I found out about the Global Village, and it seemed perfect for me,” she said. “My roommate hasn’t arrived yet, but she is a freshman who is studying French and Russian, so this is pretty exciting.”

At slightly more than 70 students, the Village is full for its first year, reported director Herb Terry. “While interviewing potential residents, I was looking for people who were not only interested in studying foreign languages, but also other cultures and travel or careers abroad. The ‘right fit’ is extremely important, since this group will be self-governing, writing its own constitution and contributing to development of the Village’s curriculum,” he said.

Roommates Brett Norris, a freshman from Chesterton, and Matthew Wright, a sophomore from Terre Haute, exemplify the “right fit” described by Terry. Although the students met for the first time when they moved into the Village, they both are studying Japanese. Wright hopes to combine his language skills with pursuit of a degree in business. “I wanted to use college as an opportunity to study other cultures and meet people that I might not otherwise have a chance to meet, and it’s already happening. For instance, we just met a student from Kuwait who lives across the hall,” said Norris.

Nancy Lorenz, director of academic initiatives for RPS, traced IU’s tradition in building living-learning communities back to the 1970s, when Collins Living-Learning Center opened with its academic and arts program. “Merging the learning and living environment has proven very beneficial to our students. Our students have higher GPAs and retention rates than those students not residing in living-learning communities,” she said. “The Village will have the same kind of creative collaboration between the College and RPS that Collins has employed, although the theme and focus will be international study.”

Summarizing the Village’s importance to the IU undergraduate experience, Kumble Subbaswammy, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said, “On a resident campus like IUB, the out-of-class learning experience for undergraduates is just as important as that inside the classroom. The Global Village is a living-learning experience for students focused on international and global issues.  It is also a way of building smaller communities within a large university campus like IUB.  From our experience with the Collins Living–Learning Center, we know that students will play a leadership role in making the Global Village a unique, rewarding project.”

To learn more about the Global Village Living–Learning Center:

http://www.indiana.edu/~college/global

IU hosts 8 th Conference on Living-Learning Programs and Residential Colleges

Date: Nov.15-17
Location: Indiana Memorial Union on the IUB campus
Opening speaker: Lee Burdette Williams, director of residential learning communities and Watauga College, Appalachian State University
70 interest sessions: Everyone is welcome—staff,
Registration: Early Bird Registration (before Oct. 15)—$275. Registration (Oct. 15 and after)—$325.

For more information, or to register online, go to:

http://livinglearning.indiana.edu/