This case study investigated the impact of an institutional mission to internationalize on the daily educational experiences of higher education faculty and students. A secondary purpose of the study was to investigate the role of international students in the internationalization process. The study was conducted in two selected departments of a large Midwestern university in which the administrative mission to internationalize had been institutionalized for five years. Data was gathered through interviews with 4 administrators, 6 faculty, and 12 foreign graduate students and from institutional strategic plan documents. Responses were coded according to three categories: participants' perceptions of the mission to internationalize, descriptions of daily experiences, and perceptions of the role played by international students in the educational process. Comparative analysis revealed disjunctions at three levels between articulated institutional goals and implementation at the departmental level; these were: perceived importance of internalization to all academic fields, desired scope of internationalization, and perceived role of international students. The paper concludes with several recommendations for implementing internationalization, noting that internationalization must be undertaken as a comprehensive university-wide effort, that it must be adopted as part of the on-going "normal" process of education, and that feedback between hierarchical organizational levels is necessary. (Contains 42 references.) (CH)