Global education is part of the CEAS mission statement. Herbst contributes to this in many ways, including the Global Engineering RAP and the various study abroad courses. These give American students a more international perspective, both at home and abroad.
The program contributes to the CU Engineering mission in the other direction, too, by making international students feel more comfortable in the U.S. and at CU. We do this formally and informally, in the following ways.
In fall and spring semesters, Herbst offers two sections of HUEN 1010 just for international students who need additional help with English. These sections give students a bit more time to express themselves fully in conversation. These sections also require extra-curricular assignments on conversation, including weekly conferences with their instructor and also weekly chats with American conversation partners. Participating in these sections helps international students gain confidence speaking English; this in turn enables them to get more out of their engineering classes—especially their projects courses.
Also, Herbst now offers a five-day summer workshop for new international graduate students. This workshop helps these students adapt to being in the U.S. It also alleviates some anxiety about their upcoming courses and teaching assistant responsibilities, and it gives them the opportunity to form friendships before their first semester starts.
Finally, Herbst helps promote the campus-wide International Coffee Hour. This is held Fridays from 4-5:30 p.m. at the UMC; both international and American students are welcome, whatever their discipline. In early fall, Herbst plans to co-host an Engineering International Coffee Hour in the Engineering Center lobby. This will introduce engineering students to the fun and fellowship of such a gathering—and that introduction might induce them to make the trek to the UMC in subsequent weeks.