The concept of inclusive excellence invites engagement in a troubled world.

AT THE UNIVERSITY’S FIFTH ANNUAL Internationalization Summit in April, education professionals from around the world pondered an intriguing theme: “What’s with a border? Inter/national engagement in a troubled world.”

Among them was inclusive excellence ambassador and panelist Saran Stewart, who holds a PhD from the Morgridge College of Education. Sharing a dais with nine women from seven different countries, Stewart noted that the concept of inclusive excellence has spread well beyond DU and the United States, in part because of the University’s strategic partnerships with international groups and universities. 

Stewart herself knows a lot about partnerships. A lecturer at University of the West Indies, she works to influence the way Jamaica’s Minister of Education looks at the country’s educational system.  Just as important, her research has changed the way the world considers the education of postcolonial native populations. With its social justice perspective, Stewart’s scholarship has attracted attention from the halls of Oxford University in Great Britain to educational centers in Brazil and Australia.  

Her interest in the topic was stoked at the Morgridge College, where, with its emphasis on social justice and inclusive excellence, the doctoral program “provided a solid platform for what I am working to achieve on an international level.”