Welcome to the Fries Center for Global Studies, Wesleyan’s hub for intercultural and multilingual engagement. Building on the decades of experience at Wesleyan with education abroad, international studies, and language education, the Fries Center was founded in 2015. In 2022, President Michael Roth issued a Presidential Statement on Internationalization that makes explicit what we mean by “internationalization” and sets forth a range of goals for the next five years. The Fries Center’s many inter-related functions and activities can be accessed via our main menu. We also maintain an active blog featuring activities and opportunities (see below) and send out a newsletter every other week with highlights from the blog. Subscribe to the Wes and the World Newsletter here.

The Fries Center tracks and publicizes international events on campus. To submit an event, use the form here. Upcoming events include:

 

Wesleyan and the World

Anecdote From Abroad

During my first week studying abroad in Cape Town, I asked someone for directions to class. They told me, “Just turn right at the robot.” I looked around, completely confused, expecting an actual robot standing on the corner. By the time I realized “robot” means traffic light here, I had walked two blocks in the…

Keeping Cantonese Alive: At Wes and in the World

By Charlotte Li ’27 歡迎來到我哋嘅家,香港。 Welcome to our home, Hong Kong. As the plane landed, those words in Cantonese filled the cabin, a simple greeting that suddenly felt like a warm embrace. It struck me how long it had been since I’d heard my mother tongue spoken all around me. Living in the United States,…

International Education Week Begins!

Tomorrow, November 14th, marks the first day of International Education Week 2025. International Education Week (IEW) is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. Originally a joint initiative with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, IEW was developed to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global…
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