International students are key players in realizing the goal of internationalizing US colleges and universities, particularly when it comes to engagement on issues of global signifi cance. Th is article contextualizes the phenomenon of the internationalization of higher education and recent patterns of transnational mobility for international students, and then it examines internationalization on an institutional level, both the practices associated with this recognition of global interconnectivity and the discourses that accompany it. Th ough institutions have missed some opportunities to integrate international students into their teaching and learning communities, I argue that these diverse students are in fact rich natural resources for developing global competency in US higher education. Th is article concludes by highlighting some promising practices for integrating international students into teaching and learning environments on US campuses and emphasizing the importance of reorienting status quo approaches.