Join us in Mexico in May!
Coaching training for global education professionals
May 11-17, 2025
GET STARTED
Global education has increasingly aligned with social change goals and the desire to educate students to take on the world’s most complex challenges. We are collectively creating learning experiences that serve the greater good and to create a better future for all. Within this work, how we all come to encounters with difference (whether as SIOs, a biology undergrad, an international student studying business in the US, study abroad facilitators or faculty) matters immensely.
While there are many ways to support our social commitments, coaching offers global educators a uniquely appropriate modality for advancing our capacities to hear, hold and engage with difference and to link personal and social transformation in an integrated manner.
Coaching for SELF-OTHER-WORLD LEARNING (SOWL, pronounced ”soul”) is a short, immersive learning and training experience designed specifically for global education professionals who work with international students, study abroaders, international interns and partners, and who are curious about how to incorporate coaching modalities/perspectives into their work.
This weeklong experience in Guanajuato, Mexico is focused on learning and practicing coaching techniques. We will explore how a coaching-based perspective can inform global learning design and facilitation. As we do this, we’ll try out a range of new tools in various sites around this beautiful city.
The training is immersive and intimate. We’ll take full advantage of learning together in-person and in place. It is a great option for those who want to learn about coaching in a way tailored to global education. The learning is designed for immediate application and use.
Find a downloadable flyer for this experience here.
Who should attend
Coaching for SOWL is designed for global education professionals from any area. It is of interest to people working in the US or elsewhere with students or other groups of global education stakeholders.
This training is specifically oriented towards those who are:
- curious about how to incorporate coaching modalities/perspectives into their work
- desire a difference-attuned training that will work within culturally complex settings and stakeholder groups, and
- wish to develop deeper self-awareness in their own practice as global educators
It is based in Lehigh’s self-other-world pedagogical model. Behind the scenes, this coaching approach draws heavily from theory and research. But onsite, we are gathering to learn, practice and apply.
What’s included in the curriculum?
The curriculum starts and ends with practice. It is focused across the 3 dimensions of self, others and the world: in other words, how you show up, how you interact with and impact others, and how you engage with place and the larger contexts of global education work. This will be immediately transferrable to how you work at your home institution and/or with different learner groups, and to applications related to program design and facilitation.
Together with your colleagues, you will:
- uncover more awareness about who you are as a global educator, learner and immerser
- expand how you hold intercultural skills
- practice coaching individuals and small groups
- deepen listening and observation skills through the use of new tools and lenses
- engage in perspective-shifting work
- consider some of our usual global education concepts from a new angle
- integrate the learning with applications in your specific area of concern
- emerge renewed and relaxed
As part of this work, we will engage with place. Guanajuato is small and welcoming, a perfect post-semester site for this work. You may find yourself sitting in a shady café doing some reflective work, meandering the twisty downtown to practice the perspective-shifting work we will take on, bringing individual/cultural questions together as you engage with people, or having a deep conversation with a colleague on a terrace overlooking this unique city.
Outcomes
You will leave with
- greater self-awareness and clarity about who you are as an immersive learner, facilitator or designer of global learning endeavors
- the capacity to confidently hold coaching(-esque) conversations with students, direct reports, and others
- fine-tuned and more subtle listening abilities
- knowledge of where/how to apply coaching as a pedagogical mode
- new ways of deeply connecting with global education stakeholders with empathy, curiosity and confidence.
- renewed hope about global education’s potential to contribute to a better world
- a personal plan for what’s next for you personally
- an applied plan for a next step at work
GET STARTED
Costs and what's included
Coaching for SOWL costs $3,500. This includes:
- Hotel (single room) for the week (Sunday night through Saturday morning)
- Airport transfers to hotel and back (private transportation will be provided)
- Most meals
- Materials and any related activities
Find a downloadable flyer for this experience here.
frequently asked questions
Is this all about 1:1 coaching? That won’t scale.
No. Coaching can be mobilized at different levels.
- While direct 1:1 work can open a path for deep personal inquiry and learning, coaching is also a modality of conversation that can be employed with students, faculty, direct reports or partners.
- Group-coaching offers another option and can be led by global educators or students/peers.
- Coaching perspectives and tools can also be incorporated into program planning, assignments, facilitation, strategic planning and other levels and sites.
We will discuss this in an inclusive, expansive manner to ensure that everyone can apply the learning where it most makes sense.
Am I training to get certified as a coach?
This is a bespoke training for our field, and we offer a Lehigh University certificate of completion. This is not a full coaching certification program; although it may indeed prompt some participants to invest in longer training programs in coaching (and we are happy to recommend some), that’s not the goal. Coaching for SOWL offers a great way to learn about and practice coaching fundamentals before investing in a longer and more costly coach training program. Our focus is on skills and application within the particular needs and contexts of global education. We do this in an immersive setting conducive to the pedagogical intent of the work.
Faculty
Dr. Angelina Rodríguez is the Assistant Vice Provost for Global Learning and Teaching Associate Professor in the College of Health at Lehigh University. Her research and creative interests revolve around how we make sense of our constant contact with difference. She is the author of 3 books and numerous articles. She is currently examining the dynamics between internal transformation and social change drawing from psychoanalysis, critical pedagogy, coaching and leadership models. She has held leadership positions in global education in the UAE, Mexico, Venezuela and the US. Lina is also a professional integral coach with multiple certifications. She works with executives, individuals and teams around the world, as well as with global ed students and staff.