There are many examples in the exchanges of faculty lecturing in each other s courses. In one case, two professors taught several-week modules on their respective exchange campus. Once they saw how effective it was, the first college eagerly adopted the second college s model. Administrators shared details and advice about model programs, including approaches to freshman orientation and recruiting strategies. Assessing institutional needs.
Exchanges can build bridges across home campuses as well as between exchange partners.
We found that participation in exchanges often forced administrators, faculty, and students to conduct something of an institutional self-study on issues of race, diversity, and cultural differences. The results of this introspective look were usually informative, sometimes dramatically so, and often led institutions to develop a better sense of their institution s place and role in a multicultural world. Similarly, the act of preparing for the exchange can bring together diverse components of the campus, link disciplines, and create exciting energies for campus collaboration. In these ways, exchanges can lead a campus to a better understanding of diversity, and to new organizational productivity. Participation in an exchange with Cornell College led Fisk University to look anew beyond its own campus.