The mission of the CIS is to coordinate, enhance and expand in an intentional and coherent way the many opportunities for developing international understanding, knowledge, and experiences for Grinnell College students, faculty and alumni.


We are excited about another year of international activities, and encourage you to explore our website to get to know us.

During the summer, the Center sponsored a faculty development workshop, "Genocide and Holocaust Studies." Attended by faculty members from all three divisions, and continuing the work done last summer and academic year, the workshop explored ways of integrating the study of genocide in the College curriculum. This group also began the planning for a faculty development seminar on genocide in Summer 2007. Tentative plans call for a group to travel to Berlin and Warsaw.

The 2006-07 academic year holds in store a number of activities and opportunities sponsored by the Center. The Heath program and the International Fellows Program continue in full swing, with a number of international visitors coming to campus to teach and interact with Grinnell faculty and students.

This year's John R. Heath Professor is Ming Chan, Research Fellow and Executive Coordinator of the Hong Kong Documentary Archives, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He will teach two courses, "Identity, Democracy, and Modernity in Greater China," and "Chinese in the Global Village."

Please visit the John R. Heath Professorship web page for detailed information about our esteemed visitor.

Under the auspices of the International Fellows Program, a number of visitors will be in residence this fall.

Dr. David Willis (Japan) will teach HUM/SS 295.02: "Multicultural Japan: Race, Class, Gender, Identity and Education."

Pawel Jedrzejko(University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland) will teach "Melville: Towards a Philosophy of Existence." His course web site is at http://www.jedrzejko.eu/
Dr Jedrzejko is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Literatures in English and Postcolonial Studies. He is a member of the Polish Association of American Studies, a Member of the Executive Committee of the the International American Studies Association, as well as a member of the Melville Society. He is also an alumnus of an international organization Civic Education Project.

Dr. Abdou Ngom (University of Cheikh Anta DIOP in Dakar, Senegal) will teach GWS/HUM/GDS 295.01: " African Women Novelists and the Postcolonial Scene." Associate Professor of English, Mr. Ngom's specialty is postcolonial literature. In addition, he has taught a number of courses on African literature. He also maintains a keen interest in Senegalese literature. Mr. Ngom taught for a year (1999-2000) at Kalamazoo College, Michigan where he offered "Introduction to African Studies," "African Literature," and "Studies in 20th-century Literature"

Onur Akmehmet (Istanbul University, Turkey/The Minda D. Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University) will teach ECN/POL 295.01:"Consumption and Citizenship in Wider Europe;"