About CIIS

A St. Lawrence education includes the development of critical intercultural skills necessary to prepare students for responsible membership in the global community. Intercultural learning should be explored within the U.S. and beyond its borders. The Patti McGill Peterson Center for International and Intercultural Studies (CIIS) encourages students to attend to cultural differences in the context of historical, ecological, political, and economic processes affecting the globe.

The goals of CIIS are to assist students in the following:

  • Extend intellectual growth through an integration of classroom learning, cultural and linguistic immersion, and opportunities for engagement with diverse communities through study, work and service;
  • Reflect upon one’s own position in relation to others and develop capacities for interacting with people from different cultures and backgrounds in a world of uneven wealth and privilege;
  • Enhance awareness of the interconnectedness of human cultures and the natural environment;
  • Cultivate a lifelong appreciation of the challenges and rewards of working in intercultural contexts in a broad range of personal and professional situations.