Global Education Center
22 Normal Avenue, Upper Montclair,
NJ 07043

Fall  2000

MSU/KSPU PARTNERSHIP TO COSPONSOR CONFERENCE "DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION"

WITH THE BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS,

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

IN KIEV JUNE 1 AND 2, 2001

By Marina Cunningham
Director, Global Education Center

An international conference, "Democracy and Education," will be held on June 1 and 2 at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (BECA) USIS offices of the U. S. Embassy in June 2001. This is the third such conference that MSU has co-sponsored with KSPU, the first two having taken place in Kirovograd .The selection of Kiev as a conference site will attract a broader range of speakers and participants. An announcement and Call for Papers will be placed on several international websites and in newsletters.

The MSU/KSPU partnership just completed its first year of activities. Funded by BECA, the three-year program calls for MSU to assist KSPU in the process of democratizing their classroom. During the past year, eight MSU faculty and administrators and ten KSPU faculty and administrators visited each others’ universities where they participated in a range of activities that included teaching, making conference presentations, visiting schools, meeting government officials and conducting seminars. Program participants were interviewed by the Voice of America in Washington, and participated in a half hour round-table television program in Ukraine.

(Vladimir Manakin: Vice Rector, KSPU, Richard Wolfson, Governor Vasiliy Motzniy of the Kirvograd Region, Marina Cunningham, Nicholas Michelli, Margaret Mukherjee, KSPU Rector Oleg Polyarush in Kirvograd)  

The joint efforts have produced a number of very tangible outcomes. Several Critical Thinking courses have been introduced into KSPU’s curriculum, and this critical thinking methodology is being incorporated into other courses; a prestigious Ukrainian publication on education has devoted an entire issue to the grant project; a text on Critical Thinking is being prepared in Kirovograd, and, of course, the conference that will take place in June.

This semester, Margaret Mukherjee (Human Ecology) is teaching Research Methodology in Ukraine and is running a Democracy in Education seminar for KSPU faculty. She was recently joined by Maughn Gregory and Ann Sharp (Educational Foundations), who are conducting seminars, making presentations to students and discussing the upcoming translation of the Philosophy for Children texts into Ukrainian. Meanwhile, at MSU, Pavel Lushyn and Eugenia Dannikova are spending two semesters as Visiting Scholars. After participating at the August International Workshop/Conference on Philosophy for Children in Mendham, they are working with the IAPC in preparation for creating a similar center in Ukraine.

MSU Co-Sponsors Conferences in China

International Business Conference in Beijing 

(Dean Alan Oppenheim with students at the Beijing conference)

A delegation of MSU faculty and graduate students in the School of Business participated from the Fifth International Conference on Global Business and Economic Development entitled "Managing Global Business in the Internet Age" held in Beijing in June. Organized by MSU’s Dr. Jayachandran and Dr. Lin Guijun, Dean of the School of International Trade and Economics at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, the conference was attended by approximately 400 international scholars and corporate executives. Other sponsors of the conference included the University of Leeds, Rutgers Business School, and universities in Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and Slovakia, as well as corporations such as Motorola and Hewlett Packard.

Numerous MSU faculty presented papers and presided over sessions, including Alan Oppenheim Phillip LeBel, John Wang, Mark Kay, Richard Peterson, Chung-kue Hsu, Eileen Kaplan, Ramesh Narasimhan, A. Seddik Mezziani, Sang-Hoon Kim and James Yang. Alan Oppenheim, Phillip LeBel, Ramesh Narashimhan and James Yang also lectured on the American social security system, income tax law and accounting standards to a group of 170 government officials from the Beijing City Government Department of Finance and Department of Social Security. This program was organized by a city government group that studied at MSU in the spring semester. The same group later honored the MSU group with a reception with Beijing city government officials.

Ten MBA students participating in a summer institute, "Montclair in Beijing", under the leadership of Chung-kue Hsu (Marketing), also attended the conference. See the related article by one of the participants on page 9 below.

FOOD SCIENCE CONFERENCE IN WUXI

The 4th International Conference of Food Science and Technology will be held in Wuxi China, October 17th -20th, 2000. Dr. Cole, along with the Presidents of the University of California at Davis, Wuxi University, Fuzhou University and the National Association of Food Industry in China are Co-Chairs of the conference. John Specchio, (Human Ecology), a professor of food technology at MSU and an Honor Professor of Wuxi University, is one of the organizers along with other international scholars.

Experts in food science and technology from around the world will meet in Wuxi to exchange and advance new ideas and emerging technologies, and to develop international collaborations in all aspects of food science, including food resource and products, food biotechnology, advanced processing and packaging and food and environment.

SPRING 2000 GLOBAL EDUCATION GRANTS

Congratulations to the following faculty members for Conference Presentation Grants awarded in the Spring 2000 competition of the Global Education Center Grants.

Fawzia Afzal Khan (English): to present a paper at the Sixth International Conference of the Arab Women’s Solidarity Organization, held in Cairo in October 2000. Her presentation will be entitled "Crimes of Honor and the Alternative Theater Movement in Pakistan".

Robert Browning (Fine Arts): to participate in the Central European Conferences/Symposia in July 2000 in Turnov, Czech Republic. He is working with leading European metalwork artists.

Barbara Chasin (Sociology): to present a paper at the International Conference on Democratic De-Centralization held in Kerala, India in May 2000.

Elizabeth Emery (French, German, Russian): to present a paper at the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds, England in July 2000. Her paper is entitled "Celebration Medieval Style: Late 19th Century French Interpretations of Life in the Middle Ages."

Ron Hollander (English): to present a paper entitled "We Knew: Teaching the Holocaust Through Period Press" at a conference in Oxford and London on "Remembering for the Future 2000: The Holocaust in an Age of Genocides" in July 2000.

Susana Juniu (HPPERLS): to present a paper entitled "Problems in Describing and Researching Leisure: Cross-cultural and Gender Perspectives" as well as a paper entitled "Immigration, Assimilation and Acculturation: Changes in the Leisure Experience of South American Immigrants", at the 6th World Leisure Congress held in Spain in July 2000.

Stephen Koepp (Biology and Molecular Biology): to participate in the International Diatom Symposium 2000 in Athens in August 2000.

Linda Levine (Spanish/Italian): to present a paper entitled "From San Juan to Sor Juana: Feminist Controversies in the Fiction of Juan Goytisolo" at an international symposium on the Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo, in Montpellier, France in May 2000.

Michael McCormick (Biology): to present a paper and participate in the International Diatom Symposium 2000 in Athens in August 2000.

Byung Min (Management): for a paper presentation at the "Information and Knowledge Management in the 21^st Century" Conference held in Seoul, Korea in June, 2000 , organized by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences and the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society.

Kenneth Olenik (History): to present a paper on Chinese Military History in the Nationalist Period at the Institute of Modern History CASS 2nd International Deng Yandan Conference in September 2000 in China.

Peter Pastor (History): to present a paper entitled"Mihaly Karolyi In America" at the Hungarian American Educators Association conference in Budapest in May 2000.

Kamrouz Pirouz (Economics and Finance): to present a paper entitled "An Evaluation of the Iranian Economy, 1980-1999" at the Third Annual International Conference of American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences conference in Scotland in August 2000.

Gregory Pope (Earth and Environmental Science): to present a paper entitled "Weathering of Granite Megaliths, Alentejo, Portugal" at the Weathering 2000 Conference in Belfast in June 2000.

Ira Sohn (Economics and Finance): to present a paper entitled "Economic and Financial Reform in Uruguay" at the International Trade and Finance Association Conference on Globalization in Montpellier, France in June 2000.

Susana Sotillo (Linguistics): to present a paper entitled: "Talking Political Trash—Cyberchat Discourse of Working Class Towns" at an International Conference on "Text and Talk at Work: Communications in the Professions" held in Belgium in August 2000.

Mark Your Calendars

Fall 2000 Global Education Grant Competition

Full-time faculty and staff may submit proposals by November 10 to the Global Education Center for the Fall 2000 Global Education Grant competition. The grants will support proposals in the following categories: short term travel, technology, internationalization of the curriculum, ongoing conferences, international visitors, new conferences, publications and special events, and presentation of papers at international conferences. Guidelines and application forms will be posted in mid-October, on the Global Education Center web page: www.montclair.edu/pages/globaled/programsfaculty.html A printed version will also be distributed to each department chair. Award announcements will be made December 10.

More Faculty News

Ron Hollander (English) participated in the third "Remembering For The Future 2000" conference at Oxford University in July, with more than 350 Holocaust scholars from around the world.

Hollander’s paper, entitled "We Knew: Teaching the Holocaust Through Period Press", was an outgrowth of his MSU Journalism course in which students examine newspapers, magazines and radio coverage of the 1940’s to determine how much was known by the American public about the Holocaust while it was actually occurring. The class concluded that the public and the U.S. government were actually very knowledgeable but chose to do as little as possible.

Numerous world-class historians attended the conference, such as Sir Martin Gilbert (Churchill's official biographer), Yehuda Bauer of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and Robert Browning ("Ordinary Men" about the German killing squads). Moreover, hundreds of survivors and children of survivors were also present, including Elie Wiesel, who noted that with the death of each survivor "the duty to remember becomes ever more urgent".

Luis Montesinos (Psychology) spent the spring semester in Spain as a Visiting Scholar. He taught a course on Psychological Interventions on Educational Settings for students of Psychopedagogy (mostly schoolteachers)at the School of Education in the University of Granada. He also gave workshops and participated in conferences in his area of expertise, Health Psychology, in other cities in Spain. As part of the exchange scholar program, MSU received Dr. Jose Espada from Spain—see related article on Visiting Scholars below.

Visiting International Scholars at MSU

Vladimir Manakin, Vice Rector of Kirovograd State Pedagogical University in Ukraine, received an IREX grant (International Research Exchange Board) to come to MSU to learn about American university administrative practices and university governance. He will spend ten days at MSU in November, meeting with various administrators and members of the University Senate.

Erich Mistrick, the Head of the Department of Ethic and Civic Education in the Faculty of Education at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, will visit MSU October 19 – November 2. He is the coordinator of several international and Slovakian projects on art education, civic education and multicultural education, and has lectured extensively in Finland and Sweden as well as India, the UK and the US. His primary interests are in aesthetics, aesthetic education, methodology of the humanities, education for citizenship and in establishing holistic faculty inservice programs. While at MSU, he will be meeting with faculty from the College of Education and Human Services and the School of the Arts. Nancy Tumposky (Curriculum and Teaching), who is going on a Fulbright to Comenius in Spring 2001, is organizing Dr. Mistrick’s schedule at MSU. Dr. Mistrick will present a Tea and Talk on October 26 on "Teacher Training for Multi-ethnic Societies."

Murakozy Lazlo, Director of the Institute of Economics and Business Administration at Debrecen University in Hungary, will be on campus November 16. He will speak on "Transition Process in Hungary" to the Business School faculty, and do a Tea and Talk the same day on Hungary and the European Union. Marina Cunningham recently visited the University of Debrecen to explore the possibility of establishing a linkage with MSU.

Xu Xin, a professor with the School of Foreign Studies and Director of the Center for Judaic Studies at Nanjing University, will be an International Visiting Faculty at MSU for the spring semester. A specialist on Kaifeng Jewry, Xu Xin established the Judaic Studies Center in Nanjing, edited the Chinese translation of the Encyclopedia Judaica, and is the author of Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng, as well as numerous articles. He is the recipient of many awards and is a member of the International Nominating Panel of Gitelson Meyerowitz Peace Award and Lectureship at the Hebrew University.

He was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies, the Simon Weisenthal Center in Los Angeles and Hebrew Union College. During the spring semester, he will teach a course on Chinese Civilization for the History Department and on "China and the Jewish Diasporas" for the English Department. He will also conduct seminars for faculty and students.

Xu Xin is the first International Visiting Scholar to spend a semester at MSU under the new International Visiting Scholar and Exchange Program, established by the Provost’s office. Sally McWilliams (English) will be teaching American Literature at Nanjing University as an exchange professor during spring 2001.

A delegation from Shanghai Teachers University will visit MSU in early December, headed by Vice President Tao Benyi. STU and MSU have a partnership agreement. A summer institute is being planned at STU for 2001.

Two internationally recognized artist/educators from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia, visit the campus as Artists-in-Residence October 3 – November 6. Jozef Bajus heads the Department of Textiles at the Academy, while Milos Boda is a multi-media specialist in the Sculpture Department. Both Bajus and Boda have extensive exhibition records. Their visit to Montclair is hosted by the Department of Fine Arts and funded by the Global Education Center Grants.

While at MSU, Professors Bajus and Boda will be teaching candidates in the M.F.A. program, conducting seminars and critiquing graduate students. In addition, Professors Bajus and Boda will be involved in developing bodies of their own work, which will be exhibited in the University Gallery from November 6 – December 15. Further details involving their activities at MSU may be obtained from Patricia Lay, the Coordinator of the M.F.A. Program.

Fan, 1993, paper, threads and metal. By Jozef Bajus

RECENT VISITORS

George Mathew visited MSU in September as a guest of the Department of Anthropology and gave a Tea and Talk presentation on Democracy in India. Dr. Mathew has written several papers on problems of local government in India, innovative methods of education, and problems of caste and religious conflict. He is the author of seven books, including most recently Panchayati Raj ("local self-government"): From Legislation to Movement. He has also served as a consultant for The World Bank and The Asia Society.

Jose Pedro Espada was a Visiting Scholar from the Universidad of Murcia in Spain. This was his second visit to Montclair where he has been working with Luis Montesinos (Psychology) on several projects, as well as writing papers and preparing conferences. Espada participated as a guest lecturer in the course "Behavior Modification", addressing cognitive-behavioral intervention in posttraumatic stress. During his stay Dr. Espada also visited several centers in the area that treat HIV patients and substance abuse clients.

Fall 2000 Tea and Talk Schedule

Sept. 21 at 4:00
George Mathew on "Democracy in India: Empowering Local Communities"

Oct. 11 at 3:30
Melinda Meyer on "Return to Life:
Using Art Therapy for Bosnian War Victims"

Oct. 26 at 3:30
Erich Mistrich on "Training Teachers for a Multi-Ethnic Society: The Slovakian Experience"

Nov. 1at 1:30
Vesselina Kouzmanova-Bodjakova on "Bulgarian Monasteries as Centers of Learning and Change: From Ancient to Current Times"

Nov. 8 at 3:30
Kao Chien-hui on "Contemporary Asian Art: Reflections of Chinese Cultural Identity Conflicts

Nov. 16 at 3:30
Murakozy Lazlo on "Hungary and the European Union: The Impact on Social and Economic Structures"

Space is limited. Please call 655-4185 to confirm reservation of a seat.

Fall 2000 Art Forum

Lectures on International Themes

Thursdays, 2:00 - 3:50 pm, Calcia Auditorium, Room 135. For further information contact Patricia Lay, Coordinator, Fine Arts (x 7294).

Sept. 28: Khadda Madani and Bara Diokhane are guest speakers for the exhibition "Survey of Contemporary African Art" at the University Art Gallery Sept. 11 to Oct. 20. Khadda Madani is a painter/fashion designer and Bara Diokhane is a lawyer and legal adviser to the United Nations Development Program, and is the author of a series of cultural studies on Senegal’s contemporary art. He will talk about Mor Faye, a master artist from Senegal known for his paintings about apartheid.

Oct. 5: Milos Boda and Jozef Bajus are internationally recognized artist/educators from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia. Bajus heads the Department of Textiles at the Academy and Boda is a multi-media specialist in the Sculpture Department. This lecture will focus on their own work and the work of other contemporary artists in Slovakia.

Oct. 12: Luis Camnitzer is an artist from Uruguay who has lived in the U.S. since 1964. He is the author of New Art of Cuba and in 1998 received the Latin American Art Critic Award of the Argentinean Art Critics Association. Presently he is the chair of the Visual Arts Department at College at Old Westbury, SUNY.

Oct. 26: Martin Benjamin’s photographs have been exhibited nationwide, in Europe and in The Peoples Republic of China. His most recent work is an extensive photographic series about the People’s Republic of China.

Nov. 9: Iranian-American filmmaker Farhad Zamani studied film as an undergraduate at MSU before earning his M.A. from Columbia University's School of the Arts. He has made a number of short films which have been screened at various film festivals around the U.S. and Europe. He will be speaking about and showing clips from his latest film, the documentary GOOGOOSH: Iran's Daughter, which marks his feature-length directorial debut.

International and Exchange Students at MSU

MSU is pleased to receive thirteen exchange students for one or two semesters of study, as part of exchange agreements with their home universities. The students hail from six countries, including four from France, three from Australia, two from Austria, and one each from Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. The Japanese student, Hidenori Hashimoto, is from Fukui University, and is attending MSU as the result of the agreement signed by Dr. Cole in Japan last spring. There are two Austrian students at MSU through the on-going Montclair-Graz sister city program.

Fall 2000 brought about 170 new matriculating international students to campus from 70 countries, bringing the total to more than 800 matriculated international students at MSU, representing more than 95 countries.

More International Events Around Campus

Multicultural Food Festival

Tuesday October 24 12-2 in the Student Center Ballrooms:

Support international students at MSU: Come sample delicious food from around the world at the annual Multicultural Food Festival sponsored by the International Student Organization.

Become A Host to An International Student or Scholar

MSU Faculty and Staff are invited to become a "home away from home" by hosting one or two international students or scholars for Thanksgiving dinner, an occasional weekend outing, or other family-oriented events. Help one of our students while enriching your own family’s international experience. The Global Education Center will match you with a student or students of similar interests.

Call 655-4185 for further information.

Globalnews is published each semester by the Global Education Center of Montclair State University. MSU faculty and staff may send us information about international grants, projects or visiting scholars. We will be happy to include your news in the next issue.

To contact the Globalnews Editor:

You can reach the editor at 973-655-4185 or email simonW@mail.montclair.edu.

You can reach the director of the Global Education Center at 973-655-7566 or email cunninghamM@mail.montclair.edu.