For more information contact:
Dawn Bratsch-Prince
Associate Dean
Director, LAS International
213 Catt Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011
515.294.1162
deprince@iastate.edu
|
- WLC/ME 484 Technology Globalization, and Culture provides a cross-disciplinary examination of the present and future impact of globalization with a focus on preparing students for leadership roles in diverse professional, social, and cultural contexts. It examines the threats and opportunities inherent in the globalization process as they are perceived by practicing professionals and articulated in debates on globalization.
The course will call for the students to read widely on the topic of globalization and to keep up with related current events. The course will meet twice weekly to interact with on- and off-campus experts concerning various facets of globalization. Student learning will be facilitated through a variety of interactions, including: presentations by leading professionals from business, industry, cultural institutions, and academia who confront the challenges of globalization in both theory and practice, readings and research on global issues, threaded discussions on a thematic focus (weekly), critical analysis of presentations and readings, and student project teams which will identify, research, develop, and present a course project.
Course instructors: Mark Rectanus (mwr@iastate.edu) and James Bernard (bernard@iastate.edu).
For more information and videoclips of presentations by recent speakers, consult the course website at: www3.me.iastate.edu/me484/
Fulbright Scholars
Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills. Sponsored by the United States Department of State, the Fulbright Program provides funding for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary, and secondary schools. In the past decade, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has sent over a dozen of its faculty to teach and conduct collaborative research abroad through the sponsorship of the Fulbright program.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has a long history of Fulbright Scholars engaged in internationally-focused research and teaching.
Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Scholars
Since 1968, the FLTA Program has aimed to strengthen foreign language instruction at U.S. educational institutions by establishing a native speaker presence. The FLTA Program provides an opportunity for young, international teachers of English to refine their teaching skills, increase their English language proficiency and extend their knowledge of the cultures and customs of the United States while engaging in non-degree studies. FLTAs add an energetic and up-to-date cultural component to foreign language classes as well as to student life on U.S. campuses. This interaction makes studying and learning languages much more meaningful and real.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has welcomed to campus LAS Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants since 2006 to teach some of the less-commonly taught languages in the U.S. while providing these graduate assistants with advanced course work in their areas of professional expertise.
Junior Faculty Development Program Scholars
The Junior Faculty Development Program (JFDP), administered through the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, provides international university instructors with a semester-long opportunity to expand their knowledge and expertise in their academic field by attending classes and working with faculty members at universities in the United States. Individuals may apply for fields in the humanities and social sciences. The competition is open to citizens from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and residents of Kosovo.
The primary and distinct goal of the JFDP is to provide university instructors from the places listed above with training in their academic fields. Participants in the JFDP are also encouraged to forge relationships between U.S. universities and their home universities, in order to support ongoing contact and collaboration. JFDP Fellows work closely with faculty mentors from host universities in the United States to develop their knowledge in their fields of study, to gather new academic materials and resources, to garner new educational perspectives, and to enlighten U.S. faculty and students on education and life in their home countries.
Since 2004, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has hosted JFDP scholars in a variety of disciplinary areas and from a diversity of regions.
|
- Pop culture, Russian style
Olga Mesropova has vivid childhood memories of the Soviet Union.
And the memories of television, movies and other popular culture mediums in the communist country are predictable – few choices and heavy governmental censorship.
That all has changed in post-Soviet Russia.
"After the collapse of the Soviet Union Western television programs and other pop culture inundated Russia," says the assistant professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures.
Government censorship ended in the mid-1980s when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. Playboy magazines were soon sold on every street corner. Cosmopolitan became readily available. But that was nothing compared to life in Russia when the old American soap opera "Santa Barbara" was aired on Russian television.
"The streets were virtually empty," Mesropova said, "because everyone was sitting at home watching 'Santa Barbara.'"
Read more about Olga Mesropova.
|
