Center for International Studies Dean s Statement

Transcription

1 Center for International Studies Dean s Statement Lorna Jean Edmonds, Dean and Vice Provost for Global Affairs and International Studies The Center for International Studies (CIS or the Center) advances excellence in education, research, and outreach for Ohio University (OHIO) by fostering an innovative academic community through its Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies, Master of Arts in International Studies, and Certificate programs. The Center aspires to be the nation's model of distinction in educating globally engaged citizens, promoting sustainable and responsible development, and contributing to peace and justice in the world. In the past 50+ years, CIS has been OHIO s gateway to the world offering globally focused interdisciplinary programs and producing over 2,200 internationally mindful alumni. The Center plays an important role enriching OHIO s curricular and extra-curricular efforts to find a place for the world in the everyday lives of our students, faculty and staff. To that end, our undergraduate and graduate programs, our websites and newsletters provide globally rich descriptions of how the world intersects with our University community. Our individual programs sponsor talks and small conferences and seminars, as well as courses throughout the academic year, often supported by the many other campus constituencies that also value a globalized atmosphere at the University. Our students are actively engaged in leadership roles in the broader university community and participants in university-wide interdisciplinary competitions. Accomplishments in 2016 I am privileged to serve and work with such a talented group of faculty, staff, and students who are globally active and mindful and making a difference every day. Led by the CIS director, Dr. Steve Howard and supported by a very strong academic and administrative team, the Center s achievements are only possible with their leadership, passion, and commitment to excellence and student success was a year of transition as Dr. Howard was joined by a number of new program directors and welcomed the Global Leadership Center into its portfolio of programs. As Dean, my primary focus was to support and enable the leadership of the CIS to achieve their goals by having the resources to manage and carry out the Center s mission. Key achievements of the Center are profiled in the areas of 1) governance and management, 2) undergraduate programs, 3) graduate programs, 4) less commonly taught languages, 4) research, 5) alumni engagement, 6) communication, and 7) other events and programming. Page 1 of 10

2 Governance and Management Support for the leadership of the CIS Director Dr. Steve Howard was appointed as the CIS director effective January 15, The newly created full-time position was a collaboration between the Office of Global Affairs and International Studies and the Scripps College of Communication. Dr. Howard continues to define the interdisciplinary program focus, structure and distinctiveness for advancing international studies at Ohio University; recruit, retain and support the academic leadership and administrative team to offer unique educational experiences that provide students with the knowledge and practical skills to engage in global issues; and identify the challenges and opportunities in the RCM budget model and ongoing developments in global studies within and external to the university. Merge of the Global Leadership Center The Global Leadership Center (GLC) joined the Center for International Studies at the beginning of academic year. GLC, a unique two-year undergraduate certificate program, had been run as an independent unit in the Office of Global Affairs and International Studies portfolio. Including the GLC as a core program in the CIS strengthens its academic quality, expands educational opportunities for students, streamlines operations and further enhances the CIS programs and revenue base. New Program Directors Spring 2016 was marked by searches for directors of three of its primary graduate programs. Dr. Bob Walter retired from many years of dedicated service to the International Development Studies Program; Dr. Mariana Dantas completed her term as the Latin American Studies Director and accepted a research fellowship at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina; and Dr. Howard stepped down as the African Studies Director. After a thorough recruiting process, we are pleased to have Dr. Ghirmai Negash, Professor in the Department of English for African Studies, Dr. Brandon Kendhammer, Associate Professor of Political Science for International Development Studies, and Dr. Marina Peterson, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts for Latin American Studies. Their terms began on July 1, A significant change in the terms of these appointments was the inclusion of statements in their new contracts assuring that their departmental salary merit increases would be based, in part, after consideration of their performance as CIS directors. First Tenure Track Faculty Another search mounted by CIS in the late spring was for the new position of Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Director of the Global Leadership Center (GLC), now an integral part of the CIS undergraduate program. The position was announced in June and around 50 applications were received for the first tenure-track position in the Center for International Studies. The search committee narrowed the pool to six for Skype interviews and invited three from that pool to campus for finalist interviews. Multiple constituencies had opportunities to interact with the candidates through the interview process including a job talk for each. We are pleased to Page 2 of 10

3 announce that Dr. Matthew Leriche, a political scientist at Memorial University in St John s, Newfoundland, Canada accepted the position. Dr. Leriche has expertise in global leadership, war and peace studies, and Africa along with an extensive international network. Fiscal Management and RCM Implementation The Office of Global Affairs finance team provided an overview of the CIS budget as well as the RCM implications to the CIS directors in August of The goal was to create a common understanding of the impact of the RCM model and how it supports the CIS mission through its revenue sharing model. This serves to inform the strategic planning process, including opportunities for increasing revenue, and to provide insights into each individual program s contribution to the revenue and the expenses of the Center. Undergraduate Programs In 2016, our undergraduate programs have been striving to increase enrollment in the major and certificate programs. Currently, the Global Studies Program has 186 undergraduate students enrolled in our majors and certificate programs (see Table 1 for most recent enrollment data). We have been active with recruitment activities through Undergraduate Admissions, and have represented the CIS at multiple events and classroom visits across the campus. We advised incoming students and parents through Bobcat Student Orientation, and had our first orientation leader from the Global Studies program. Table 1: Enrollment in Undergraduate Programs of the CIS BA in Global Studies # of students Certificates in Global Studies # of students Africa 5 Africa 1 Asia 21 Asia 1 Europe 22 East Asia 7 Latin America 10 Europe 5 War and Peace 48 Global Leadership Center 45 Latin America 11 Southeast Asia 0 War and Peace 10 TOTAL 106 TOTAL 80 We have engaged faculty in various colleges in advising our students, and through the Global Studies Faculty Advisory Board. Our undergraduate Global Studies major has transitioned to an advisor system across the campus instead of having just one academic advisor for the whole group. This is due to the growth of this major and the need to engage faculty directly with the students. The Global Studies curriculum has also been revised to add new core and elective Page 3 of 10

4 courses to our major and certificate requirements, and we have worked closely with the Programs Committee, University Curriculum Council, and University Registrar to implement curriculum changes. We have also developed the Peace Corps Prep Certificate program and engaged interns in recruitment activities to promote OHIO students applications to the Peace Corps. Our War and Peace Studies Program had an exciting year with a range of new courses and cocurricular activity including the creation of INST 4950 War and Peace Studies seminar, which is an interdisciplinary Tier III (T3) equivalent course taught by six professors. It was offered in Spring 2016 for the first time, received stellar evaluations (4.93/5) and will be offered again in Spring Graduate Programs One of the main goals for the graduate programs in 2016 was to increase our recruitment efforts. The current status of our graduate program enrollment is found in Table 2. We chose the National Peace Corps Association as the main platform for advertisement and ran our graduate programs ad in their Worldview Magazine which boasts of over 14,000 subscribers. Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) have been the backbone of the CIS enrollment for many years. They not only bring the maturity and quality of the student body, but also offer the tuition subsidies which allow us to attract fee-paying students. Table 2: Enrollment in the Graduate Programs of the CIS MA in International Studies # of students Graduate Certificates # of students African Studies 20 African Humanitarian Studies 2 Asian Studies 10 African Studies 3 Latin American Studies 12 Asian Studies 0 Communication and 27 Development Studies 2 Development Studies International Development Studies 29 Latin American Studies 0 Southeast Asian Studies 1 War and Peace Studies 5 TOTAL 98 TOTAL 13 Our graduate programs strive to provide our students with various professional development opportunities. There are ongoing lectures and guest speakers throughout the year. Some highlights include the following: In January, the International Development Studies (IDS) program organized a trip to Washington DC for its students to network with development experts. In February IDS offered a series of weekend workshops in program evaluation and project management tools such as the logic model framework. Djenana Jalovcic, an international development consultant and expert in grant writing and project management led the workshop Page 4 of 10

5 for IDS and also a series of grant writing workshops for 15 faculty over a three day period. In March, IDS hosted a project management workshop facilitated by alumnus Nick Ford, who is an international project leader at IntraHealth International in North Carolina. In the same month, the Latin American Studies program invited its alumnae Adrean Scheid, current vice-president of international relations for Latin America with UnitedHealth, to give a lecture on her career trajectory and the professional experiences available to students in the field. Student Success Our students are successful in many areas but especially at innovative challenges and competitions. In March, Goitom Negash (MA, African Studies) was a member of the 4 person team Ubuntu who won the first place at the Scripps Innovation Challenge. Team Ubuntu invented a website and mobile app news service called NewsRain which targets Somali refugees in Columbus, Ohio who have been largely neglected by the local media. It allows them to use the app and website to create their own stories and news content. Team Ubuntu would train Somali volunteers to use mobile journalism to meet the information needs of their community and to offer a fair representation of these immigrants. In November, Bonita Kalinga (BA, Global Studies) and her team won the second place at the Global Health Case Competition during International Education Week. Their proposal was to empower communities through innovative infrastructure, education, and social connectedness to mitigate food security and vector borne diseases in Compañía San Francisco, Paraguay. Our students are actively involved in extracurricular activities and various student organizations. The Ohio Global Studies Union meets every other week, offer and attend cultural events on campus, and host discussions on global topics. Landen Lama (BA, War and Peace Studies) serves the Student Senate as Chief of Staff and creates a critical connection between the University s Global Strategy and the Senate s mission. Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTL) CIS is the leading university unit supporting and protecting instruction in global languages. In the Spring, we hosted the LCTL Summit and invited Dr. John Mugane from Harvard University to be the keynote speaker. He presented on the future of LCTLs, ran workshops for our LCTL instructors, and engaged with faculty across campus. Additionally, CIS had a panel discussion with OHIO faculty from various departments including Political Science, Modern Languages, Classics and World Religions, Linguistics, Geography, and more. CIS continues to find innovative ways to support instruction of LCTLs. For the past two years CIS has been a host institution for the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) program sponsored by the Department of State s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through the Institute of International Education (IIE). CIS was awarded three FLTA positions in Hindi, Malay, and Yoruba. This is the first year we have hosted a Yoruba FLTA and our intention is to develop and start offering the language. The decision was made in response to many second generation Nigerian students here at OHIO who are interested in learning their heritage language. We also were successful in securing a $90,000 grant from the National Page 5 of 10

6 Security Agency for the Swahili STARTALK summer language institute. It provided funding for high school and undergraduate students to participate in an intensive Elementary Swahili course in Summer 2016 and an online follow-up course in the fall. Leveraging our success with STARTALK, CIS hosted the African Summer Language Institute and offered Swahili during the first summer session and were able to attract among the participants, two graduate students from Emory and Michigan State. Research A team representing a broad cross-section of CIS affiliated faculty led by Professor Mario Grijalva, Heritage College of Medicine, is working to establish an interdisciplinary global research academy at the CIS that will engage faculty from across the disciplines with community stakeholders to address challenges and innovation in global development. In so doing, they have developed a proposal to submit to the Innovation Strategy competition to create a platform for interdisciplinary and community driven research that informs both community policy development and university training and future research in global development. The aim of the Global INnovation, Technology, Education NeTworking (INTENT) Platform is to intentionally and innovatively enable university faculty, students and community stakeholders to connect to collaboratively address community problems, inform policies, and enact change. This will be achieved through a dynamic collaborative research model that clearly links academic and community inputs with community and university outcomes and impact for long term sustainable development. This Platform is being initially developed in partnership with Rural Action, Appalachia, Ohio and Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE), Ecuador with the aim for it to be replicated and scalable to other partnerships worldwide. Outreach Ohio Valley International Council (OVIC) is the outreach arm of the CIS. OVIC promotes cultural and global sensitivity and understanding in Southeast Ohio by offering cultural presentations in K-12 classrooms and engaging with the community. Some of the highlights include the following: Worked in conjunction with the Kennedy Museum for outreach programming related to the exhibit Encounters Beyond Borders: Contemporary Art from the Horn of Africa. Cultural Consultants from Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia served as panel discussants and docents for the exhibit, and shared their experiences as international students and immigrants from the Horn of Africa; Worked with the Global Health Initiative on programming for the Immigrant and Migrant Health Conference at the OHIO Dublin campus; Organized cultural consultant activities in local schools in Hocking and Athens counties; and Partnered with Dr. Mike Kopish, a faculty member in the Patton College of Education, for his course EDTE 2500: Issues in Global Education and coordinated international Page 6 of 10

7 students to serve as cultural consultants to domestic undergraduate students who were doing research projects on refugee and immigrant communities around the world, and in the U.S. This project has received funding from the Longview Foundation for for outreach programming and community-based projects with Somali immigrant and refugee communities in Central Ohio. Global Studies Programs led the Global Studies Learning Community in Fall Semester, and partnered with a Sister Learning Community in the OPIE program to bring together domestic and international students for shared field trips, academic projects, career development workshops, and activities. CIS has developed an innovative partnership to create joint graduate assistant positions with Upward Bound and the Office of Multicultural Student Access and Retention (OMSAR). We have also presented information about the Undergraduate Global Studies programs to students in the Upward Bound and OMSAR programs. Upward Bound also invited our staff to participate in teaching a course on Modern Africa to students in Summer Alumni Engagement Both CIS and the African Studies Program hosted alumni reunion events in Washington, DC. The CIS event was organized in May to honor Dr. Bob Walter for his dedication and service in the field and to introduce the new leadership by Dr. Steve Howard. Dr. Walter, who taught and served as a mentor to many of our students and alumni over the years, retired as the IDS Director at the end of the academic year. Additionally, the event served in memoriam of Dr. J. Norman Parmer, the first director of CIS, who passed away on February 13, About 65 alumni and their guests attended the reception. The African Studies Alumni Reunion was held during the African Studies Association (ASA) annual meeting in December, which is the biggest event for scholars of African Studies in the US. The main goal was to introduce the organization and to gather ideas on how to support current students and connect with alumni. The CIS started a regular communication with its alumni through an alumni newsletter and social media. A survey was also conducted and CIS has begun collecting information to feature prominent alumni profiles. These are important steps to engage alumni. Communication CIS strives to mainstream globalization across the university through various communication channels. The CIS Weekly newsletter is read by nearly 500 students, faculty and staff on and off campus and posted online and on social media. The newsletter has been a valuable medium to provide information on global events, opportunities, and other items that attest the global nature of the University. Numerous academic and administrative units utilize our CIS Weekly to share Page 7 of 10

8 and learn the global heartbeat at the University. Individual programs run their own newsletters and Asian Studies produce their annual Monsoon magazine. CIS website has been revamped a couple of years ago and attracts constant traffic. There were 80,472 page views during While the CIS website is popular with students, more than 40 percent of all page views came from different countries topped by Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and India. Recently, the CIS has created an official Twitter, Facebook, and Alumni Facebook accounts to reach more audience and respond to the popular communication preference. The followers grew quickly and currently CIS twitter has 636 followers, CIS Facebook 522 followers, CIS alumni Facebook 169 followers. Other Events and Programming As part of its outreach efforts, CIS organizes and co-sponsors numerous intellectual and professional development events on campus. Events Organized by CIS 20 th Annual Spanish and Latin American Colloquium (March th )2016 Heroes Night with Anas Aremeyaw Anas (March 26 th ) Lecture by Sumit Ganguly, the Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at University of Indiana, on Conflict Unending: Explaining the Indo- Pakistan Rivalry (October 17 th ) Deborah Avant, Director of the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy at University of Denver African Studies Fall Lecture by Dr. Nwando Achebe, an award winning author and professor of history at Michigan State University on University of Benin F**K Porn: Lesbian, Sex, Internet Voyeurism, and Corrective Rape at a Nigerian University (October 21 st ) Africa Crossroads programs o Zotero Workshop with Jessica Hagman (January 21 st ) o Event with the Ohio University Press (January 28 th ) o Global Health Case Competitions Winners Present their work (February 12 th ) o Islam, Power and Dependency in the Gambia River Basin: The Politics of Land Control, presentation by Dr. Assan Sarr (March 31 st ) o Youth of South Sudan: Documentary Stories of Resilience talk by Colin Lasu (April 7 th ) o Discussion on how international students can get involved in the Athens Community a lecture and question/answer session about the community with Athens NEWS Editor Terry Smith (September 2 nd ) o Africa Crossroads Workshop Series: Using Library Resources and Navigating Blackboard (September 9 th ) Page 8 of 10

9 o Frank and Fearless Speech: BlackLivesMatter Beyond Sound Bytes by Dr. Akil Houston (September 16 th ) o Constructing a New Great African Novel: A Critical Look at What Young Africans Are Writing by Onyeka Nwelue (September 23 rd ) o Post-electoral Protests, Masquerade and the Congolese Diasporas by Patrick Litanga (October 7 th ) o Applying to a Ph.D. Program -a workshop with Professor Nancy Stevens (November 4 th ) Events Co-Sponsored by CIS Luis Bonillia and OHIO Faculty Jazz Band Performance (March 11 th ) Ohio University World Music and Dance Concert (April 1 st ) Lecture by Isaac Weiner, Professor at Ohio State University on The call to prayer in America: Amplifying or muting religious differences (April 6 th ) Talk by Arn Chorn-Pond, Human Rights Activist/Cambodian Genocide Survivor/Musician (April 14 th ) Symposium: Encounters Beyond Borders: Contemporary Artists from the Horn of Africa by Kennedy Museum of Arts (April 15 th ) Wealth and Poverty Week Event : Botswana Healthcare Interprofessional Study Abroad Experiences (September 30 th ) Lecture by Wael Al-Zayat, the senior policy advisor on Iraq and Syria to U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations Samantha Power, on Age of Revolution: From the U.S. Invasion of Iraq to the Syrian Uprising (October 12 th ) Wealth and Poverty Public Lecture by Larry M. Bartels, Professor at Vanderbilt University on Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (October 13 th ) Race, Gender, Culture Film Series: Menstrual Man by Women s Center (October 26 th ) Lecture by Max Woodworth, Assistant Professor at Ohio State University on Ghosts in the Shell Game: Informal Finance and Urban Imaginaries in China s Western Mining Frontier (October 27 th ) Lecture by Adriana Groisman on Voices of the Tempest: Falklands/Malvinas: One War, All Wars (November 1 st ) Workshop/Conference/Special Classes Less Commonly Taught Languages Forum (April 14 th ) Special Summer Classes a. Global Cities Past and Present a two week summer program b. Diaspora Engagement and Sustainable Development c. Global Sports Broadcasting Graduate Colloquium on Malaysian Studies hosted by Tun Abdul Razak Chair (September th ) - Joined by 17 graduate students from around the world who are completing research in various fields with a Malaysian focus Page 9 of 10

10 Goals in Smooth leadership transition and team-building: As Dr. Howard will step down as the director of the Center at the end of the academic year, I will assume the role of CIS director as of July 1, Also the new GLC director will join the Center in the spring. The goal is to make sure that the leadership transition is smooth, maintaining the integrity and vitality of the Center and its stakeholders year review and formative evaluation: As CIS is scheduled to be under 7 year review this year, we are aiming to hire a consultant to conduct a formative evaluation which will be used to develop a strategic plan for both short-term and long-term planning. 3. Student success: Our ultimate goal is to make sure that our students have the best learning and experiential opportunities while at Ohio University that lead to their future success in their professional and career development. 4. Stability under the RCM model and opportunities for innovation: CIS will continue to strengthen the depth and breadth of programs and experiential learning it offers while seeking new opportunities for innovation such as the Global INTENT Platform and highly valued educational programs. Page 10 of 10