Up to six staff members will be chosen to travel to Santiago, Chile, for the second annual Global Diversity and Overseas Seminars (GDOS) Program. Applications are due by noon Feb. 4.
The GDOS program is a staff development opportunity that examines diversity from a global perspective. The 2013 program will focus on social justice and racial, ethnic and economic disparities in Santiago. While in Chile, participants will meet with WUSTL students and faculty at the WUSTL Overseas Program location in Santiago, as well as local nongovernmental organizations working on issues related to the themes.
In preparation for the weeklong trip in early June, participants will attend a series of meetings during the spring semester to discuss diversity issues and current events in Chile. Other topics will include cross-cultural learning, the study-abroad process for Washington University students and the logistics of international travel.
The program is geared toward creating a globally educated staff and faculty who can share newly acquired viewpoints on multiculturalism, difference and advantage/disadvantage with colleagues, students and communities. The GDOS returnees will conduct campus education and outreach throughout the fall 2013 semester.
The GDOS program seeks staff members who work with undergraduate students. Also, preference will be given to those whose responsibilities generally do not include international travel and those who work with underrepresented student populations.
In 2012, three staff members were chosen to go to Paris and three were chosen to go to Shanghai in the first year of the GDOS program.
To read a first-person account from Julie Kennedy, senior publications editor in the Office of Public Affairs and one of the employees selected to travel to Paris, click here.
For more information and to download the application, see the GDOS website.