Faculty: Apply Now to Teach Global Passport Course

Are you interested in teaching a Global Passport course in Rome, Italy, or Paris, France, in Fall 2027 or Spring 2028? Applications are now being accepted until Monday, November 30, from full- and part-time faculty who want to teach University core curriculum or college-specific first-year courses in the Global Passport program.  

Since students must complete one full year of study at St. John’s to be eligible for a full semester abroad, St. John’s created the Global Passport program to offer first-year and new transfer students the opportunity to participate in faculty-directed, experiential education activities at the Rome or Paris locations. The program model is simple: faculty teach a first-year requirement, either from the common or distributed core, or from among their home college’s list of first-year required courses. This New York-based, semester-long course connects the classroom global learning experience to what students then learn during a stay in either Paris or Rome. At the end of the semester, professors and their students travel abroad for seven days (fall courses travel in early January, spring courses in late May). 

In the Global Passport model, the standard three-credit core courses are enhanced by an additional one-credit corequisite course assigned to the winter or summer immediately following the full semester to provide additional academic time to solidify learning abroad. Faculty are compensated for this one-credit course.

Faculty flight and housing expenses are covered, as is limited meal reimbursement. As Global Passport program directors, while abroad, participating faculty are expected to attend the on-site program orientation, frame each program day through class time and reflection with their students, share several meals with students, co-lead excursions with local guides and administrators, and accompany students on local site visits.

For the 2027–28 academic year, the Global Passport Committee asks that faculty design their courses around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with an eye toward meeting the “Diversity/Global Learning” concepts detailed in the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ High-Impact Practices document. 

Course proposals should demonstrate relevant learning objectives, semester-long disciplinary connections, and site visits that make travel to Rome or Paris an essential, embedded component of the overall class. Interested faculty members should submit the Global Passport application with their chair’s approval. The proposal should be accompanied by a customized description of the proposed course, complete with information about relevant assignments or projects that connect to the city where they wish to teach. 

We also invite Global Online Learning Exchange (GOLE) faculty members who have collaborations with faculty in Paris or Rome to indicate in their Global Passport proposal that they are interested in incorporating a virtual exchange project into their Global Passport course through GOLE. This offers the unique opportunity to collaborate student projects across the groups online during the semester, leading to an on-site meeting as part of the week abroad.

All interested faculty members must submit a proposal with their chair’s signature, along with an acknowledgment that they will participate in required student learning assessment reporting. In addition, faculty should include in their proposal a one-paragraph description of how they envision embedding the UN sustainability goals and global learning outcomes within the New York-based semester course.

Please email completed proposal forms by Monday, November 30, to Greg Bruhn, Director of Outbound Programs in the Office of International Education, at [email protected].