Carnegie Mellon University
IMPAQT

IMPAQT: Initiating Meaningful Pittsburgh and Qatar Ties

The Division of Student Affairs is looking for students interested in enhancing our relationship with, and traveling to, our sister campus in Qatar as a member of IMPAQT (Initiating Meaningful Pittsburgh and Qatar Ties).

IMPAQT was founded in the Fall of 2008 as an outgrowth of the Fifth Year Scholar initiative. During Spring Break 2008, eight CMU-Pittsburgh student leaders travelled to Doha in order to assess how best to cultivate more meaningful relationships between the student bodies in Pittsburgh and our campus in the Middle East. The Qatar campus has grown into a vibrant, active community, and the Division of Student Affairs is committed to advancing interactions between our two campuses in order to promote intercultural understanding, to enhance the student experience on both campuses and to build strong student connections within the global Carnegie Mellon community.

The purpose of IMPAQT is to develop strategies and initiatives to best leverage the relationship between the two campuses toward enhancing student life and the student experience on both.  IMPAQT's work is year-round, and includes activities which:

  • Raise awareness at the CMU-Pittsburgh (CMU-P) about student life on the CMU-Qatar (CMU-Q) campus and vice versa
  • Ensure that sustained communication mechanisms exist between students of the two campuses
  • Enhance the experiences of the CMU-Q students who visit the CMU-P campus
  • Encourage Pittsburgh students to study abroad on the Doha campus

To position the members of IMPAQT to effectively achieve these goals, the Division of Student Affairs affords the opportunity for up to ten (10) IMPAQT members to visit the CMU-Q campus for the week of Spring Break. The purpose of the trip is for IMPAQT members to immerse themselves in student life on the CMU-Q campus by attending classes and activities that occur during their visit; interviewing students, faculty and staff about their personal experiences; meeting with student organizations and their leaders; exploring residential life in Education City; and touring facilities relevant to the student experience in Education City and Doha.

In the months leading up to the site visit, members of the previous year’s IMPAQT trip will help orient and transition new IMPAQT members to their roles, engaging them in many of the current and ongoing activities of the group, including serving as campus ambassadors for the Doha exchange students studying on the Pittsburgh  campus.  Following their campus visit, IMPAQT members will use the information and perspectives gathered during their trip to design and implement additional strategies to advance the aforementioned goals. Additionally, the group will organize and host the visit of the Doha IMPAQT group to Pittsburgh the following spring. Comprehensively, being a part of IMPAQT involves at least an 18-month commitment.