Winter 2005

Cwil: Building Bridges to Understanding
by Elizabeth Station

For mathematics professor Joanne Snow, it means introducing the ancient Greeks and Babylonians into discussions of the history of math, writing story problems with more
girls as protagonists, and reminding students that thinkers from an indigenous culture -the Mayans -came up with the concept of zero.

For Ginger Francis '06 and Kate Weis '05, it meant learning how African American women experience racism not from a classroom reading, but by hearing their life stories on an
emotional journey to landmarks of the U.S. civil rights movement.

For biology professor Tom Fogle, it involves taking students to Ecuador to explore the diversity of the natural world and human attempts to preserve it-from an Indian village in the Amazon to a hummingbird-filled forest in the Andes.

For Carolyn Madison '05 it meant traveling to the United Arab Emirates and meeting Muslim students at a global conference on women's leadership, and coming home with a deeper respect for their decision to wear the veil.

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The stories are as varied as the people who tell them, but a common thread runs through each. Five years since its founding at Saint Mary's, the Center for Women's InterCultural Leadership (CWIL) is changing lives and attitudes in countless ways–one learning experience
at a time. CWIL's mission has always been ambitious. Established in 2000 with a $12 million grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc., the center seeks to prepare women for leadership in an increasingly complex, interdependent world. It aims to do so by challenging individuals and groups "to grapple with issues of difference such as power and privilege," and to realize "their own potential as change agents."

In other words, CWIL wants not only to equip a new generation of women leaders with cross-
cultural skills and sensitivity, but also to transform them in the process. Fueled by generous funding and an energetic staff, CWIL works on three fronts to pursue its goals. First,
the community connections program offers a myriad of activities linking students and faculty to diverse South Bend-area women leaders and their organizations. Second, international and intercultural learning programs get students to step out of their comfort zones through study abroad or by living on "the Floor," an intercultural residential setting in Regina Hall. Third, the research and scholarship unit supports fellows and visiting scholars who explore issues affecting women around the globe.

Since 2000 CWIL has:

• developed 10 new intercultural leadership programs for students and expanded four that already existed;
• awarded travel grants to 184 students and 85 faculty members;
• hosted or co-sponsored over 348 intercultural events on campus;
• increased study-abroad participation by approximately 18 percent;
• brought 20 international and national scholars to teach and conduct research;
• provided fellowships enabling 20 Saint Mary's faculty members to take time off from teaching to develop intercultural research and programs;

Such numbers are impressive, yet those closest to the undertaking argue that the quality and
impact of programs is far more important than their quantity. Ask Kareemah El-Amin, a South Bend filmmaker and social worker who notices how CWIL has deepened the College's engagement with the surrounding community. Before, she says, area leaders saw Saint Mary's as a sort of "bubble" - distant, lovely, and impenetrable. Thanks to activities that have drawn over 1,000 community residents to campus (and taken students and faculty away from it on a regular basis), that image is changing. "A lot of people look at Saint Mary's extremely differently now," says El-Amin.

She cites CWIL's "Wellsprings of Wisdom" conferences, which gather women of all ages, races, educational backgrounds and professions on campus for a week of learning about leadership and wellness each summer. There is also the Women in Leadership in Community Organizations (WiLCO) program, which provides training, student interns, and consultants and retreats for staff of women-led groups in the Michiana area. The annual catalyst trip sends a racially diverse group of local leaders and students to women's and civil rights organizations for a "traveling conversation" on race and privilege. And a small grants program allows students, faculty, and local agencies to collaborate on mutually beneficial projects.

Participants forge relationships that last long beyond their first meeting. As a result, says El-
Amin, "a bridge has been built from Saint Mary's to the community.

"At the heart of CWIL's work is a conviction that diversifying the College is not only desirable but also necessary to its survival in the new century. Bridges have been built, say diversity advocates, but challenges remain to transforming Saint Mary's into a place that truly welcomes women from different cultural, national and socioeconomic backgrounds."Our strong Saint Mary's tradition is both a blessing and a challenge," says Elaine Meyer-Lee, CWIL coordinator. "It is not enough to be engaged with the many cultures in our region and world. To provide a rich, complex, and truly excellent education for all of our students, in and out of the classroom, we must also create that diversity in the faculty, staff, students, and curriculum on our own campus. We need to embrace diversity as part of the Saint Mary's tradition for future generations, but institutional change is not always easy."

Meyer-Lee points out that long before CWIL came along, Saint Mary's pioneered innovative
study-abroad and leadership opportunities for women. Over the last decade committed faculty and staff–including those at the Office of Multicultural Affairs–laid the groundwork for CWIL to build on. Its current focus on intercultural leadership is the natural extension of those efforts and many "strands" of College tradition.

"There is a sense of ripeness," says Meyer-Lee of the climate for CWIL's activities today.
Twenty years hence, she'd like to see Saint Mary's gain national and international recognition as a place that incubates women leaders with a unique understanding of intercultural issues. "There's enormous power in that kind of space," she says. Meanwhile, CWIL experiences are already having an impact on the future plans of a new generation of Saint Mary's graduates.

Kate Weis left the College last spring, but she continues to reflect on the lessons of the catalyst trip as a graduate student in education at the University of Pennsylvania. Ginger Francis hopes to work in the nonprofit sector to end violence against women, building on volunteer work she's done with local women's organizations. Recent accounting grad Carolyn Madison wants to bring cultural awareness tools to the business world, spurred by her experiences with interfaith dialogue.

Psychology major Katie Kelly '06 is the student representative on CWIL's national advisory
board. She studied abroad on the semester around the world program, went on a CWIL-sponsored trip to Honduras and the catalyst trip, and applied the skills she gained in "Compassionate Listening" workshops to a summer job with female offenders in the New Jersey juvenile justice system. After graduating, Kelly plans to spend several years teaching and then pursue a career in law, focusing specifically on women.

"Social justice issues have been a part of my life since I was six years old," says Kelly. "My
parents called me 'Katie-with-a-Cause.' I can't imagine myself not out there fighting. I feel like
Saint Mary's has built my confidence and competency and it's the natural next step. If it wasn't for CWIL, I don't know if I would have been prepared."

Elizabeth Station is a writer, editor, and translator based in South Bend. She served as assistant to the president at Saint Mary's from 1998 to 2000.