When Linda Allison Palmiero ’66, P’92 first learned of the Global Citizen Scholars (GCS) Program and the distinctive experience it offers Allegheny students, she knew it was a perfect fit for her philanthropic interests.
“The Global Citizen Scholars Program is very empowering,” she says, “and it does a tremendous job of integrating curricular and co-curricular opportunities and preparing students to go into leadership roles, from the local to the international level.”
It exceeded my expectations and affirmed how great the program is. Linda Allison Palmiero ’66
In honor of her 50th reunion in 2016, Palmiero and her husband, Joe P’92, made a generous gift to fund the inaugural cohort of the GCS Program. Along with other donors, Palmiero has continued to support the program. It now has four cohorts fulfilling the goal of “encouraging students to interact with communities and cultures — not as observers, but as mindful participants.” Each year, the GCS Program welcomes a cohort of up to 20 first-year students who apply to it as part of the admissions process at Allegheny. Participants selected for the program benefit from unique learning opportunities in three areas — civic engagement, global learning and U.S. diversity. The power of combining those three areas in a single initiative inspired the founding of the GCS Program by Laura Reeck, professor of French and chair of the International Studies Program, and David Roncolato ’79, director of civic engagement in the Allegheny Gateway and professor in the Community and Justice Studies Program. Two faculty co-lead each GCS cohort, selecting a theme that connects to their research expertise or teaching interests. Those themes have focused on refugees and asylum-seekers (Reeck and Roncolato); neurodiversity (Professors Monali Chowdhury and Eric Palmer);
climate change and its impact on food, energy and water (Professors Rachel O’Brien and Byron Rich); and investments in empowering women (Professors Caryl Waggett and Ishita Sinha Roy). Several key experiences punctuate the three-year GCS Program: • Beginning in their first year, students enroll in a two-credit course that meets for three consecutive semesters. • In their second year, students participate in an ongoing civic engagement commitment in the Meadville community, participate in a shared immersion experience of two to four days, and begin preparations for their anticipated study abroad experience. (The program also includes two semesters of foreign language study.) • In their junior year, students study abroad or complete an international internship. “Because students are doing one year of civic engagement work before they study abroad, that experience of being a part of a new community in Meadville locally is informing to their study abroad experience, where they also become part of a new community,” Reeck says. A longtime volunteer for the College and past president of the Alumni Council, Palmiero interviewed each student in the program’s first cohort. She asked them to reflect on their experiences and how they grew as a result. “It exceeded my expectations and affirmed how great the program is,” says Palmiero, who also worked as an Allegheny employee for nearly 30 years. “Every single one of those 13 students mentioned how they learned to respect and listen to people with differing opinions.” 23
