As the focal point and information center for Creighton’s international activity, the Global Engagement Office (GEO) supports the University's mission by providing global learning opportunities and services that foster cross-cultural awareness, facilitate intercultural communications, and enhance knowledge about world cultures and societies.
The GEO carries out its mission through the administration of programs and services that support international students and scholars, learners of English as a second language, study abroad, linkages with international organizations and institutions, the faculty in their efforts to internationalize the curriculum, and administration of the Creighton Global Initiative (CGI) and The Common Home Project.
Moreover, the GEO is Creighton's official link to the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security. The authorized GEO staff processes all documentation that facilitates the entry and the maintenance of status of international students and scholars at Creighton University.
International Students and Scholar Services
The Coordinator of International Student and Scholar Services assists students and scholars from around the world prior to their arrival, throughout their stay at Creighton and beyond. Specifically, these are the services the GEO provides international students and scholars:
- F-1 and J-1 student advising on visa, personal, academic and employment matters
- J-1 Exchange Visitor Program administration
- New student and scholar orientation
- Cultural, cross-cultural and social activities
- Multinational Ambassador Program (MAP), which brings U.S. and international students together for cross-cultural exchange and social interaction.
The Common Home Project
The Common Home Project combines Creighton faculty, staff and students with dedicated educators, international development professionals, administrators and researchers across the globe through a unique partnership with select Jesuit universities dedicated to addressing global poverty and inequality. This partnership has created a network of “hubs” across the world (the Caribbean, South America, South Central Asia, and South Western Asia) that facilitate global learning opportunities for students (including credit-bearing courses, co-curricular immersions and internships), collaborative research between faculty, and capacity-building sustainable development projects in each institution’s community. The Common Home Project provides funding for programs that cut across academic fields to produce multidisciplinary knowledge on complex development challenge areas related to 1) Sustainability; 2) Humanitarianism; 3) Business Development; and 4) Global Health.
Study Abroad
Students have the opportunity to participate in semester-long, full-time programs with partner universities across the globe. Additionally, Creighton University offers at least 15 annual short-term travel courses on a variety of subjects and to a variety of destinations. Additionally, Creighton University's own semester-long Encuentro Dominicano embodies the Jesuit mission of promoting justice, striving for excellence, and dedication to the truth. Encuentro centers around service-learning, travel, and building community with fellow students and Dominicans – all while experiencing the rich and vibrant culture of the Dominican Republic. Students will experience service, academic life, and two immersion trips living and working with Dominican families in a rural community.
Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC)
Creighton University has had a presence in the Dominican Republic for 45 years. We are hosted by the Centro de Educacion para la Salud Integral (CESI), well-known by its English name, Misión ILAC, with whom we have a very close partnership. This partnership grew from efforts to provide immersive experiences in health services and has expanded to other initiatives including supporting a semester-long academic service learning program for undergraduate students, Encuentro Dominicano, facilitating service and immersion experiences for partner high schools, and assisting with surgical missions and medical rotations.
Intensive English Language Institute (IELI)
Since 1979, the IELI at Creighton University has been helping students from different language backgrounds enhance their English skills. Core courses in grammar, writing, reading, and speaking/listening focus on academic language skills. IELI classes meet four hours a day, Monday through Friday, between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.; additionally, there are regularly-scheduled co-curricular activities outside of the classroom. The IELI has a full semester (17-week) session in the fall and spring, and an accelerated 9-week session in the summer with 4 levels: beginner, intermediate, high intermediate, and advanced.
Office of Academic Service-Learning
The Office of Academic Service-Learning (OASL) connects academic courses with community partners to enhance academic learning, meet community-identified needs, and foster global perspectives through engagement and reflection. Academic service learning is an experiential educational strategy that integrates community service into academic courses so that learning is enhanced and community partners receive concrete benefits. Students study, serve and reflect on their experience in order to deepen their appropriation of knowledge.
Office of Sustainability Programs
At Creighton University, we recognize sustainability as a strategy to fulfill our moral responsibility to care for creation. We follow the United Nation's definition of meeting the needs and aspirations of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. The Office of Sustainability Programs guides the implementation of sustainable practices and programs on campus and serves as a hub for collaboration among students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, our local neighbors, and global partners so we can work together toward a more sustainable present and future in Omaha and afar.