Taking us beyond our borders: The DODGE speaks
Ms. Nipp leads the China delegation on a parade through the Academic Village.
December 2, 2009 • Molly K.
Filed under Partner Schools
On any given school day in the Global Village, you can find gigantic balloon flowers, sophomores lounging on the couches, seniors sobbing to their college counselors, and a Bear Facts newsstand. But most importantly, the Global Village is the home of Ursuline’s global education initiative led by the Dean of Diversity and Global Education (DODGE), Ms. Cecilia Nipp.
You are probably somewhat familiar with the DODGE’s work due to the recent Brazilian delegation. But do you know what her title really means?
Essentially, Ms. Nipp is in charge of implementing Ursuline’s global education initiative. The goal of the initiative is to prepare students for life in our interconnected world.
How Ms. Nipp reached her position is a long story. An Ursuline graduate from the class of 1985, she had a job in the corporate world for a number of years before she decided to teach. She taught at SMU and Jesuit briefly, then returned to Ursuline in 1998 when she joined the World Languages department. After serving as department chair, she became the Dean of Students, a position she held for four years.
“Around this time, Ursuline administration started talking about a diversity position and planning what we wanted our diversity department to look like,” the DODGE explained. “We always wanted to link diversity with global education and ultimately take a broad view of diversity.”
And so, during the 2006-2007 school year, the DODGE was born, and Ms. Nipp took over her numerous responsibilities.
“My job is basically split into things inside and outside of the school,” she said.
In the school, Ms. Nipp works with all of the different teachers and departments. She provides them with the information, resources, and opportunities to include more of a global focus in their lessons. Ms. Nipp also leads the school’s Global Task Force. As dramatic as its name may sound, the task force is actually composed of faculty members who apply to be members of the team for a year and investigate ways to integrate global awareness throughout their curriculum.
But outside of the school, Ms. Nipp’s responsibilities include coordinating all of Ursuline’s sister school partnerships as well as looking for international opportunities for the students.
Each of Ursuline’s many partnerships is unique. Huaxia, our longest sister school relationship, found us, but the DODGE initiates most partnerships with a conversation with school leadership. If the other school is interested, she visits and invites their officials to visit Ursuline. Ms. Nipp estimates that she spends 15% to 20% of each year out of the country visiting schools and investigating programs.
“I do a lot of scouting to look for something innovative and exciting for the students,” she explained.
When a relationship with a sister school has been established, Ms. Nipp maintains communication with the school. If the administrations of both schools express interest, she looks into sending or receiving a student delegation.
When planning an international exchange, Ms. Nipp has to consider quite a few details. All of the activities the Brazilians did during their visit, such as attending the state fair, going to the Mavericks game, and making prints in art class, had to be coordinated with the students, faculty, and host families. She also had to consider the visitors’ special requests. The Brazilians are spending a school year focusing on astronomy at their school, so Ms. Nipp arranged for the delegates to visit the NASA Space Center in Houston.
“It’s like a big puzzle,” she said. “We have to look at what fits and what makes sense.”
Ms. Nipp has recently started incorporating technology into her travels and exchanges. She and the Brazilians set up a blog to share all of their experiences in Dallas with their families back home in Brazil. Ms. Nipp also has her own blog at uaglobaladventures.blogspot.com which chronicled her journey to India last September and includes her thoughts on topics as diverse as Hello Kitty, British airport drama, and Gandhi.
“I think we will do a blog every time we travel,” she said. “It’s a great way to connect with everyone back home and to bring the community along with us.”
So what’s next for the DODGE? Ms. Nipp planned to send a delegation to China this fall, but that trip has been delayed until spring due to swine flu. She is hoping to take a delegation to Chile over spring break and to Peru over the summer. Ursuline will also be welcoming a delegation of Peruvians toward the end of January for Catholic Schools Week.
In the future, Ms. Nipp is interested in building relationships with Ursuline Schools in South Africa as well as deepening our existing relationship with Ursuline Wimbledon in England. She is also investigating exchanges with schools in Uganda and Kenya to bridge what she calls Ursuline’s “Africa gap”. By the way, a group of very talented orphan student dancers from Uganda will come to Ursuline to perform and to enjoy Global Celebration Day on February 22 with the school.
Ms. Nipp also has plans to enhance and decorate the Global Village. She plans to hang clocks displaying the local time at our sister schools and photos from student trips as well as a bulletin board for news and announcements.
“I love that everyone knows it’s the Global Village,” she said. “It is a fabulous gathering space.”
Ms. Nipp’s goal for the global education initiative is to set students on a path to be responsible global citizens in their lives and studies. Her ultimate hope is that what we learn from our experiences at Ursuline will cause us to be more impactful on a global level.
“I’m happy to be able to do this,” she explained. “Through my work, I really hope to bring students to a deeper appreciation of humanity.”
Oh, and those balloon sculptures? They’re from Balloons Everyday in Carrollton.
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