Explore the world. Here. At the Dorothy R. and Norman E. McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives, we open doors by offering meaningful opportunities for students, faculty and staff to experience international learning both on and off campus. From study abroad opportunities to on-campus workshops and events, we connect people to the resources and relationships they need to grow as citizens of our global community.
Studying abroad offers some of the most profound experiences of your life. You’ll gain new perspectives, knowledge and skills to navigate and succeed in today's interconnected world. Choose from more than 150 programs in 50 countries. We will advise you from initial planning through your return to campus.
At Mount Holyoke College, we are committed to preparing students to contribute to positive change in today’s global environment. Our Global Challenges conferences, Carol Hoffmann Collins Global Scholars-in-Residence, and many courses analyze real-world problems and solutions.
From arrival to graduation, we connect international students with the support and resources they need to thrive and become active engaged members of the Mount Holyoke community.
Since the founding of the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives, more than 3,300 students have studied abroad.
Each year the College hosts over 50 events that feature global scholars and/or focus on global issues. Events include lectures, films, conferences, live performances and more.
Students across the globe are drawn to Mount Holyoke because of the powerful living and learning experience the College provides. This diversity provides a uniquely powerful context for global learning in the residence halls, classes and campus life.
Happening at Mount Holyoke
In front of a packed crowd in Mount Holyoke’s Gamble Auditorium, a panel of legal scholars and political experts discussed what we could expect not only from the upcoming presidential election but also from more hyper-focused local races.
Mount Holyoke College student and alum leaders gathered in Chapin Auditorium in celebration of the many contributions made to the community throughout the year.
The McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives at Mount Holyoke has received a grant to support first-generation and low-income students in obtaining their U.S. passports.
March 2014. The American Council on Education (ACE) and the SUNY Center for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) named MHC as one of three recipients of their new Leaders in Internationalization through Technology Awards.
October 2014. The community celebrated the 10th anniversary of the McCulloch Center with guests from around the world, and keynote addresses from Nobel Peace Prize Winner Leymah Gbowee and Carol Geary Schneider, ’67, President of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
November 2015. NAFSA, the premier U.S. professional organization for international education recognized Mount Holyoke’s excellence with the Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive International Education.
We continue to be strongly committed to enable Mount Holyoke students, through successful careers and as global citizens to contribute meaningfully to a more just and sustainable world.
The first international student enrolled in 1839 (two years after the college’s founding), marking the beginning of growing international student diversity at the college, with over 600 students from more than 50 countries today.
The first domestic student studied abroad in 1928 (in Paris), experiencing the profound personal and professional impact of immersion in a culture different from one’s own.
Mount Holyoke President Mary Woolley (1901-1937) was the only female participant in the U.S. government delegation to the international disarmament conference in Geneva in 1932; a shining example of our commitment to make the world a better place.
Politics professor Ruth Lawson established the first Mount Holyoke international internship program in 1949, enabling students to see their studies, career paths, and themselves in new and expanded ways.
Over the decades Mount Holyoke developed a rich array of internationally-focused curricular and co-curricular offerings. Then in 2003, our faculty and trustees decided that the realities of an increasingly globalizing world demanded that we make comprehensive internationalization a strategic priority. The College established the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives to implement internationalization within the entire community of faculty, students, staff, and alums and to extend MHC’s international involvement to a network of organizations around the globe that focus on social justice, health, business, environment, culture, science and technology, and share MHC’s values and principles.
In collaboration with our faculty and staff colleagues, support from the College leadership and alums, and in partnership with foundations and organizations around the world, we have been weaving global education into the fabric of a Mount Holyoke education.
"Worldwide data transmission today is instantaneous; cultural understanding is not! Appreciation of and respect for our similarities and our differences are the vital bases that the McCulloch Center provides for all Mount Holyoke students to begin the dialog with our neighbors in the world." — Dorothy R. McCulloch, ‘50
“The world sorely needs college women who are intellectually prepared and culturally adroit to lead in the international arena. Mount Holyoke’s Global Scholars are showing our students that they too can become visionaries who improve our world.” — Carol Hoffmann Collins, ‘63
The McCulloch Center offers opportunities for students to advance their global competencies—and for faculty to incorporate global perspectives into their teaching. We collaborate with partners to weave global education into the Mount Holyoke experience.
