The Indiana Language Roadmap initiative began in 2017, funded by a grant to Indiana University from the Language Flagship. The Language Flagship is a public/private partnership sponsored by the National Security Education Program of the U.S. Department of Defense and administered by the Institute of International Education. Indiana University’s Center for the Study of Global Change in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies has been honored to coordinate this initiative and is proud to advance this work with partners for the economic, educational, social, and overall well-being of our state.
The Indiana Language Roadmap has developed a plan of recommendations that will strengthen language skills and global awareness across Indiana’s citizenry and workforce. The implementation of these recommendations will advance the long history of global education and engagement already existing in Indiana.
To ensure that this initiative incorporates diverse perspectives across the state and sectors, the Indiana Language Roadmap has used the unique approach of forming regional networks, inviting regional leaders to develop and coordinate ten committees to facilitate broad involvement and implementation. Despite significant regional diversity, all parts of Indiana are internationallyconnected and globally engaged. Rural and 10 urban areas alike are in need of 21st century workforce skills and global competencies. The regional approach to the Roadmap’s design and implementation explicitly recognizes the unique opportunities and challenges each community faces in pursuit of these skills.
The regions are based on the business development regions of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and also include a statewide committee. The ten regional leaders and committees have provided critical insights and suggestions over the course of the development of the Roadmap’s recommendations and events. The advisory board’s nine members have given invaluable guidance throughout the development of the plan and continuation of this initiative.
A series of events were coordinated throughout 2018 and 2019 to facilitate statewide conversations. This included two statewide summits (February and December 2018), advisory board meetings, regular regional leader meetings, writing workshops, and regional meetings in Bloomington, Charlestown, Indianapolis, Mishawaka, and South Bend. The structured discussions that have taken place across state regions during the past two years have involved business, education, healthcare, government, community services, and other types of sectors that recognize the state’s critical need for language skills and global awareness across its citizenry and workforce. We are grateful to all who have supported this initiative from the initial funding proposal into the current work of implementation and sustainment.
We encourage you to stay connected by visiting our website at Go.iu.edu/LanguageRoadmap and by reaching out through our email at LRoadmap@iu.edu.
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