The University will be closed December 19, 2024 to January 5, 2025. If you need assistance during that time, please call 1-855-OWU-1842 and leave a detailed voicemail along with your contact information. One of our colleagues will respond to your call as soon as possible.
If you would like to make a 2024 gift, please make your gift before midnight on December 31.
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University will bring together 22 college students from across the United States and around the world in October as part of its OWU LAB (Leaders Across Borders) international cross-cultural leadership training program.
The five-day leadership workshop will be held at Corrymeela in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1945, Corrymeela works to help people, often from marginalized communities, “explore differences and discover ways to live well together.” Ohio Wesleyan has been collaborating with the center for more than 20 years and awarded its former director, the Rev. Dr. Harold Good, an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 2010.
“Our goal for the program is to help students acquire and/or apply cross-cultural communication skills; utilize intellectual curiosity about other cultures, peoples, and ethnicities; and demonstrate peer leadership and conflict mediation skills,” said Lisa Ho, associate director of Ohio Wesleyan’s Office of International and Off-Campus Programs and director of the OWU Leaders Across Borders program.
To prepare for the Oct. 10-15 workshop, the 22 students participated in virtual programming for three months over the summer. During that time, they studied how to break down boundaries created on their campuses by nationality, socio-economic status, faith traditions, and race and ethnicity.
“When the students take their place in leadership positions on their own campuses, OWU LAB graduates are expected to apply what they have learned to build and sustain relationships across differences,” said Ho, who has been collaborating with Corrymeela since 2005. “Informal cross-cultural interactions within their on-campus communities will be assisted by their training and by the social network created by the program.”
Students participating in OWU LAB were selected through a competitive nomination and application process completed in the spring. All of the participants attend one of the 30 colleges and universities that comprise the Global Liberal Arts Alliance (GLAA), a group created and overseen by the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA).
Four of the 22 students are enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan. They are senior Blake Johnson of Centerburg, Ohio; junior Marvella Kurniawan of West Jakarta, Indonesia; junior Timothy Page of Roseville, Michigan; and sophomore Anya Robinson of Belleville, Illinois.
Ho is working to teach the courses with Ohio Wesleyan colleagues Paul Dean, Ph.D., associate professor of Sociology and Social Justice; Michele Nobel, Ph.D., assistant professor of Education; and Chad Johns, D.Min., university chaplain.
Ohio Wesleyan has received nearly $49,000 in grant funding for the program, including support from the GLCA’s Global Crossroads Initiative, made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.
Learn more about Corrymeela at www.corrymeela.org and more about the Ohio Wesleyan LAB program at owu.edu/LAB.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 70 undergraduate majors and competes in 24 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through its signature experience, the OWU Connection, Ohio Wesleyan teaches students to understand issues from multiple academic perspectives, volunteer in service to others, build a diverse and global perspective, and translate classroom knowledge into real-world experience through internships, research, and other hands-on learning. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives” and included on the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “Best Colleges” lists. Connect with OWU expert interview sources at owu.edu/experts or learn more at owu.edu.