As part of our mission to advance knowledge of China, Japan and Korea through outreach programs, the East Asia Center partners with Community College and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to enhance global studies curricula with East Asia focus. Current collaborations include the introduction of a Japanese Business sequence at Everett Community College, new course design via our Asian Studies Course Development Grant, and participation in the annual UW Community College Master Teacher’s Institute.
In January, to explore ways to take these partnerships even further, we sent a small task group to the 2020 Global Studies Symposium on National Research Center, Community College and MSI Collaboration, hosted by Florida International University in Miami Beach, FL. This professional development and networking forum, led by and for College and MSI faculty, promoted best practices to build strategic plans related to joint global studies programming.
With support from the EAC, UW Center for Global Studies and UW Southeast Asia Center, our participants included Associate Dean of IEP and Extended Learning Vivette Beuster and Faculty of Women’s Studies Michelle Marshman, both from Green River Community College. They were joined by EAC Managing Director Paul Carrington.
Examples of innovation included Spelman College’s partnership with the East Asia National Resource Center at George Washington University. This combines e-classroom technologies and in-person instruction from visiting scholars to make George Washington University’s East Asia expertise accessible to Spelman students. Other important themes discussed at the event included improving access to study abroad for under-represented students and implementation of culturally responsive global studies curriculum.
As a recent recipient of an Asian Studies Course Development Grant, Dr Marshman was appreciative of such models. Her work to develop accessible East Asian history content at Green River includes revision of the course HS 231 “Modern Asia”, to focus on the evolution of political and economic power in China, Japan and Korea from 1850 to the present.
“In addition to more theoretical approaches to globalizing the curriculum, the Symposium provided me with practical, participatory exercises to use in class, with colleagues, and/or with administrators to demonstrate the primary and secondary connections of global studies, from business to science, engineering to the arts. Thanks for this outstanding opportunity!”
Dr Beuster expressed similar sentiments, commenting that the event offered “opportunities to network, share ideas, and learn from faculty and administrators from a wide variety of institutions across the US about their challenges and successes implementing and growing their Global Studies programs.”
Inspired by the possibilities for collaboration on display at the symposium, and sharing our college partners’ enthusiasm, we look forward to building improved East Asia programming with Green River and other institutions throughout the Pacific Northwest.