SJSU Salzburg Program

Program Overview

Welcome to the SJSU Salzburg Program.  We were established in 2005 to enhance the university’s ability to educate global citizens—people who know how to both live and work in a rapidly-changing complex world—by promoting a more intentional and coherent approach for connecting the dots among random acts of globalization on campus.  San José State is the leading public institution of higher education in Silicon Valley, an extremely diverse and highly innovative region that continues to play a significant role in shaping our modern world.  We believe that educating globally competent citizens should be one of SJSU’s fundamental strategic priorities, no matter what kinds of studies and careers students choose to pursue.

The Program’s primary goal is to develop a critical mass of collaborative change agents throughout the campus who will work together on activities that transcend institutional silos to advance this priority.  Honored in 2010 as one of the country’s “Top 10 Programs on Global Citizen Diplomacy” in American higher education by the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy, NAFSA, and the United States Department of State, the SJSU Salzburg Program was created through a long-term partnership between San José State and the Global Citizenship Program (GCP) at the world-renowned Salzburg Global Seminar.  The Seminar, which has been one of the world’s leading forums for dialogue about pressing international concerns ever since Margaret Mead chaired Session #1 in 1947, convenes a broad mix of intensive sessions that enable the free exchange of ideas, informed discussions, diverse viewpoints, and creative solutions in a neutral cross-cultural environment.

Each year the Program selects a group of faculty, staff, and administrators to serve as SJSU Salzburg Fellows and a group of students to serve as SJSU Salzburg Scholars for an 18-month period spanning three semesters.  Both groups are sent to attend a GCP faculty-admin or student session in Austria each summer, following which they are expected to spend the subsequent academic year working on a mix of individual and group projects to help globalize the university.  They also have opportunities to participate in various professional and social activities during the academic year—including guest talks by visiting experts on global issues, interdisciplinary panels and events during SJSU International Week each Fall semester, and special invitation-only opportunities like a Provost’s Honors Seminar.

The Program is administered through SJSU’s College of International and Extended Studies, funded by scholarship support from all seven of the university’s colleges as well as other administrative units on campus, and coordinated small Steering Group composed of our Salzburg Fellows and Salzburg Scholars.