San Jose - Salzburg Global Dialogue

San José State University (SJSU), the University of Salzburg (US), and the Salzburg Global Seminar (SGS) established a San Jose-Salzburg Global Dialogue In Fall 2007 to exchange ideas about international issues among students at our respective institutions.  This Dialogue is a joint venture between Dr. William J. Reckmeyer (Professor of Leadership & Systems at SJSU), Dr. Reinhold Wagnleitner (Professor of American History at US), and Dr. Jochen Fried (Director of Educational Initiatives at SGS).  This collaboration grew out of the Seminar’s International Study Program on Global Citizenship (ISP), in which all three of the organizers have served as founders, chairs, and core faculty members since 2004, as well as Dr. Fried’s visit to San José State as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence during the Fall 2007 semester.

The purpose of this Dialogue is to [1] provide students at our institutions with an opportunity to explore global issues from a variety of perspectives; [2] provoke personal reflections about their experiences and course material; [3] compare their views with those of counterparts from other regions of the world; [4] establish an on-going teaching-learning relationship between the three institutions; [5] promote further interactions between the three institutions.

Participation is open to students at San José State, the Salzburg Seminar, and the University of Salzburg who are Salzburg Scholars or members of courses being taught by Dr. Reckmeyer, Dr. Fried, or Dr. Wagnleitner.  This Global Dialogue is electronically conducted via the Internet, using a website provided by Salzburg Global Seminar, and through selected video conferences.  The specific nature of Dialogue sessions varies from semester to semester, depending on the interests of the organizers.

The first session was held during October-November 2007 with SJSU Salzburg Scholars and students/faculty who are attending the [1] ANTH 187 course on Global Citizenship offered by Dr. Reckmeyer and Dr. Fried at San José State during Fall 2007; and [2] Seminar 312.173 on Culture(s) of Globalization taught by Dr. Wagnleitner at the University of Salzburg during Winter 2007-2008.  Participants include an international mix of undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members who are citizens of the United States, Austria, England, China, India, Poland, and Spain as well as many who have studied abroad in such countries as England, Ghana, Mexico, Spain, and Switzerland.

Contact Dr. Reckmeyer (reckmeyer@sbcglobal.net), Dr. Fried (jfried@salzburgglobal.org), or Dr. Wagnleitner (reinhold.wagnleitner@sbg.ac.at) for additional information.