The Notre Dame student senate passed an amendment Wednesday night allowing the Executive Programming Board to meet within four weeks of the beginning of the second semester instead of meeting in January.
Student body president Corey Robinson thanked those who attended the Mass for Immigrants and Refugees on Monday night, calling the homily’s message “very powerful.” Senators were encouraged to read the homily by Rev. Daniel Groody, an associate professor at Notre Dame.
In addition, Warren von Eschenbach, associate vice president and assistant provost for internationalization, spoke to the group about the purpose and programs of Notre Dame International.
“Our mission is to internationalize all aspects of the University … and that includes domestically,” he said.
While the office does work with the Office of Admissions to increase the number of international students at Notre Dame, its primary focus is to build Notre Dame’s profile around the globe, which includes improving Notre Dame’s reputation abroad.
“We’re not very well-known,” Eschenbach said of Notre Dame’s reputation outside of the U.S. “That’s part of our mission is to think how do we strategically build partnerships.”
Another focus of the office is to help Notre Dame students find research and internship opportunities in other countries and assist faculty members in doing research internationally.
It partners with the Career Center to post international internships on Go Irish so all students have access to the information. Eschenbach said the office is trying to formalize the process to help students secure more internships abroad.
Notre Dame International is primarily building its partnerships through its Global Gateways and Global Centers, which are in cities such as Beijing, Dublin, London and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Eschenbach described these as “embass[ies] for the University” that help engage the region and bring Notre Dame students into the area.
The office partners with several other on-campus offices, such as the Center for Social Concerns and the Keough School of Global Affairs, to offer its programs.
“Why are we doing this? Of course, we want to raise our reputation internationally, but I do think it really fits Notre Dame’s mission,” Eschenbach said. “We are blessed with a lot of resources and recognize that there’s a world in need that if we bring our resources there, we can make a contribution in a unique way in those particular areas.”
Senators asked Eschenbach about his office’s response to the recent events concerning travel bans. He said Notre Dame International released a statement and met with students who may be affected by the bans shortly after the bans were announced in order to provide technical information about traveling, visas and other needs the students might have.
“We’re in constant dialogue about this issue, as you would expect,” he said.
