November 15, 1999
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President Susan A. Cole and seven members of the MSU delegation that recently traveled to China will give a presentation this week about the trip and opportunities for academic collaborations and exchanges in that country.
China is one of several areas on which Cole believes Montclair State should focus its efforts to have the greatest impact in internationalizing the University. "In addition to China's being a large part of the world-representing one-fifth of the world's population-it is a very significant part of the future," she said. "China is a nation that is opening up to the west. This is an important moment for us to continue our relationships with China and forge new ones."
Montclair State's ties with Chinese universities have grown in recent years. Such collaborations include three major international conferences co-sponsored by MSU's School of Business and the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing; an art exhibit and exchanges between Shanghai University and MSU's Fine Arts Department; an international conference on food science with Wuxi University of Light Industry; and the translation of the Philosophy for Children texts into Chinese and adoption of the curriculum in many Chinese schools. In addition, faculty have traveled to China to deliver papers, teach workshops and discuss scholarly collaborations. Global education grants for China also have increased significantly.
During the delegation's visit, linkage agreements were signed with Nanjing University, one of China's premiere research universities, and Shanghai Teachers University, which focuses primarily on teacher preparation. MSU entered into a third linkage agreement last week when representatives from East China Normal University were on campus for the formal signing. During the visit, the ECNU group also toured MSU's Center of Pedagogy and Science Hall, and visited with faculty from Linguistics, English, and Earth and Environmental Science. "We take these relationships very seriously and we try to build them into the University in multiple ways so they're not just paper agreements," Cole said.
Participating in the Nov. 17 panel discussion will be Alan Oppenheim, dean of the School of Business; Geoffrey Newman, dean of the School of the Arts; Marina Cunningham, director of the Global Education Center; Jordan Feng of Earth and Environmental Science; John Specchio of Human Ecology, and students Casey Flint and Justin Vellucci. The event will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. in Dickson Hall, Room 178.
Other members of the delegation who will be in attendance are Gerald Caracciolo of the International Center for the Arts, Catherine Bebout of Fine Arts, and students John Griffin and April Hill.
Accompanying the delegation on the trip were a reporter and cameraman from New Jersey Network who filmed the group's activities. Segments were broadcast on three news programs on PBS, and NJN will produce a half-hour documentary to be aired in January.