Every semester University Programs coordinates an experiential workshop for the students of CULF 3330 and CULF 3331.  This semester's theme is: Water.

To reshedule your workshop please email Jennifer Phlieger.

Just what are the workshops?

Global Understanding Workshops

Global Understanding workshops have become a centerpiece of the experience of students enrolled in both CULF 3330: History and Evolution of Global Processes and CULF 3331: Contemporary World Issues.  One of the learning outcomes for these courses promised that the courses would provide students with a significant co-curricular experience.  In Spring 2009 University Programs piloted workshops focused on global issues to fulfill the requirements of the QEP.  In response to student and faculty evaluations, the workshops were redesigned for 2009-2010 and have continued to develop.  For the past two years, the workshops have focused on significant global issues with a direct focus on the social justice and local implications of the issue considered, including ways in which students can respond with meaningful, concrete actions.  The workshops attempt to organize a high impact activity (small group discussion, activities, and reflective writing) that integrates smoothly into the curricular goals as we seek to help students understand the complexities of global issues and how course materials will give them knowledge and skills to understand and better respond to the challenges of our increasingly interconnected world.  The experience of the workshop and solutions considered at each table serve as the basis for a class assignment on the Social Justice implications of the problem and proposed solution/s, which is a learning outcome for each of the courses.

In addition to the workshop itself, in 2010-2011 we were fortunate to be able to work closely with the Kozmetsky Center to align some programming that complemented the workshops.  These opportunities were very beneficial for our students and allowed them to engage intellectually with a broader variety of issues that could be covered in the workshops themselves, and to hear a broader variety of perspectives.  Additionally, we identified films to show that serve the same purpose, and had appropriate faculty moderate discussions afterward.  We look forward to continuing these efforts to enhance the global content of the courses with the inclusion of experts from off campus, either to work with the workshops themselves as speakers or in the development, or to give public presentations or offer opportunities for faculty development related to their area of expertise. 

The workshops have also provided meaningful internship opportunities for students who are interested in global issues and social justice.  In the preparation and delivery of the workshops, we have been very fortunate to have the expertise of faculty from across the campus to work with student interns as we work to master complex materials and to ensure meaningful workshop experiences. 

Water for Life—Fall 2009; expertise of Charles Porter

The workshops addressed the complex questions of who controls access to water, who benefits from available water resources, what factors impact the availability of water resources, among others.  Each student was assigned to a country learned about the water situation in their particular state.  The states were chosen to represent a variety of different water issues, from scarcity, pollution, competing demands for water use, for example.  While learning about their state, table were visited by an outside organization, like the United Nations, a lobbyist from private industry, or the World Bank, and presented with potential solutions for their problems.  Further, a table could be visited by disaster, natural or man-made, that further affected their water situation.  Each table was responsible for devising an action plan based on their work and conversations.  

Student Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the complexity of dealing with problems of water—such as the interrelations between water, health, development, gender, or governance.
2. Students will experience the complicated process of making choices about division of natural resources within a given nation.
3. Students will experience the pressures put on nations by industry lobbyists, NGO’s, intergovernmental organizations, and/or international organizations (both public and private).
4. Students will experience the process of public discussion and debate over both the access to water and to the appropriate role of public and private interests in making decisions about water policy.
5. Students will be capable of understanding of the ethical and moral dimensions of the allocation of water resources.

Free/Fairer Trade Workshop—Spring 2010; expertise of Keith Ward

The workshops addressed the complex issues of world trade by examining the cotton and t-shirt trades from two perspectives – trade in the current trade environment and trade according to the principles of fair trade.  Each student was assigned to a country and then negotiated the best trade deal possible based upon their countries’ needs (as a producer of raw cotton, a manufacturer of t-shirts, or both), first using the principles of trade, more or less as they function in reality (often referred to as free trade), and then those of fair trade.   The first round called on students to try to negotiate deals with the goals of maximizing profits, and encounter the challenges posed by different power relationships between countries as related to cotton and t-shirt production, as well as the barriers to truly free trade.   For the second round students tried to negotiate a trade deal that considers questions of workers’ compensation, rights, working conditions, and sustainability. 
In order to bring the issues involved closer to home, a representative of a business involved in fair trade (10,000 Villages, for example) to discuss the business of fair trade here in Austin.

Student Learning Outcomes:
1. Develop a clear understanding of the definitions of and differences between Fair and Free Trade, and how these deviate from the current trade environment.
2. Experience the complexity of trade issues through an introduction to the international structures (World Trade Organization, Regional Organizations) national interests and labor interests that govern, influence and are impacted by world trade.
3. Develop an understanding of the human rights components associated with Free and Fair Trade concepts and the challenges posed by the current trade environment.

Human Trafficking: Fall 2010; expertise of Kay Burrough

The workshop focused on the fastest growing global criminal activity, human trafficking and modern slavery.  We introduced students to the legal concepts and gave them a broad introduction to the problem.  We challenged students to understand the vulnerabilities that make people more likely to become victims of this crime, both globally and locally.  In discussion with students interns, CULF students learned about trafficking and slavery in particular countries and the variety of means currently being used to address the crime and the vulnerabilities at international, NGO, and local levels.  Students heard from speakers from law enforcement and social services who work with the victims of trafficking here in Austin, in South Africa and Costa Rica.  Finally, students were challenged to consider the kinds of long and short-term solutions might be effective.

Student Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will understand the differences between historical slavery and current definitions of human trafficking and slavery.
2. Students will understand the global nature of and universal commonalities of human trafficking:  including how it fits into networks of international trade and the differences between donor and user nations.
3. Students will analyze the conditions that make some people vulnerable to being trafficked and enslaved.  They will recognize the tensions between universal human rights and cultural differences. 
4. Students will apply this knowledge to different avenues of action and advocacy to promote social justice on the local, regional and international levels.

Food Justice: Spring 2011; expertise of Lidia Marte

The workshop for Spring 2011 focused on the issues of food justice globally.  We challenged students to consider the current global food crisis and to consider the social justice implications as they evaluate solutions. 
Students focused on a number of different countries or regions and learned about the specific issues of food production and vulnerabilities in each country’s political, cultural, and economic environment.  Additionally, we had two interns serving as the World Food Programme and the World Bank to represent the powerful role that these two global entities play in affecting food, and the role they play in the current global food system.

Student Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will understand the importance of the current global food crisis, differences between hunger, scarcity, famine, food security, and food justice and the political and social conditions that make some people vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition.
2. Students will be familiar with the webs of interconnections and cultural differences, past and present, which create a global food system, and interconnections between food producers, intermediaries and consumers.
3. Students will engage with debates over the environmental and health implications for food production, distribution, and consumption.
4. Students will be able to evaluate socially just solutions to the global food crisis from below, to apply the tools and knowledge they gain to concrete food issues investigating different avenues of action and advocacy.

Global Water Works: Mediated Solutions in River Basins: Fall 2011; expertise of Charles Porter

We will examine the transboundary conflicts associated with eight water systems around the world.  Interns will serve as mediators as students move through the alternate dispute resolution process of mediation, which is the typical way that water conflicts are negotiated globally.  The mediated solutions proposed at the workshop will then be subjected to reality tests—will the solutions work?  The solutions will be tested against their feasibility in the private sector, with regard to questions of human rights, and the degree to which they meet the standards of international organizations such as the World Bank.

Student LearningOutcomes:                                                                                                                          1. Students will understand global implications of water use, including in the areas of economics, politics, geography, and culture. 
2. Students will understand the intense competition for water resources, the natural relationship of all water sources, and the significant relationship upstream water users have on downstream water users. 
3. Students will learn elementary dispute resolution processes such as treaty negotiation along with international mediation, arbitration, and litigation. The student will also learn how water issues are settled (or not settled) around the world through traditional dispute resolution processes.  
4. Students will gain an understanding of the globally preferred method of water dispute resolution, mediation, through actual participation in moot mediations.
5. Students will understand the social justice implications of water use and water allocation.

Children and the Millennium Development Goals: Spring 2012; expertise of Kay Burrough
The Spring 2012 workshop will examine children’s issues looking through the lens of the Millennium Development Goals. (more information available in near future)