Loyola hosts NAFSA Colloquia on Global Learning & Education

Professor Aaron Ghirardelli, Faculty Director of Loyola's LLM and JSD programs, presents at NAFSA's "Global Learning in Legal Education" colloquium

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles hosted two colloquia during the 2017 NAFSA Annual Conference & Expo. The conference, hosted by the world's largest nonprofit association focused on international education and exchange, brought together educators from around the world to develop and share knowledge, skills and ideas to better serve their organizations and more effectively engage with colleagues from around the globe.

The Global Learning Colloquium on Teacher Education on Tuesday, May 30 focused on preparing teachers for a diverse classroom. "The world that we live in is increasingly a globalized one," said Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Dean Michael Waterstone in his welcome remarks stressing the importance of ensuring teachers had the skills needed to successfully incorporate cultural awareness into their courses and programs. The day-long colloquium featured panels such as Considerations in Preparing Teachers to Teach All Learners, Diversity in Clinical Placements (Local, Glocal, Global) and Identifying Strategies & Best Practices to Prepare Teachers for Globally & Culturally Diverse Classrooms.

Global Learning Colloquium on Legal Education on Thursday, June 1 examined the cross-cultural and global competencies required of 21st-century lawyers and how to help law students develop those skills. “The market for lawyers is fluid,” said Professor Aaron Ghirardelli, Faculty Director of Loyola's LLM and JSD program. “A U.S. law graduate can, for example, aim to find a job in the U.S. as well as in other countries.” Professor Ghirardelli stressed the importance of building effective, strategic partnerships with foreign law schools that not go beyond just bringing in exchange students. He offered up the idea of building relationships between students and faculty through workshops, visiting scholars, study abroad programs and courses held in partnership with foreign law schools.