Saratoga News | August 7, 2002

August 7, 2002 Saratoga, California Since 1955

Grant to expand college's global education program

By Mandy Major

Community colleges have long battled with universities for recognition and status, yet West Valley College has done fairly well in establishing itself. And it just might have something new to boast about in the near future with a recent grant intended to expand its global education programs.

This $53,000 grant is the newest in a total of roughly $16 million that the grant department has raised this year.

The grant funds a new, globally oriented project titled "Global Perspectives: Internationalizing the Curriculum of the 21st Century" that will hopefully be the beginning of a widespread revitalization of current classes and outreach programs.

"The idea for the program began a year ago," explains Fred Prochaska, dean of sponsored research and grants, "but it was definitely fueled onward by the events of Sept. 11."

The Sept. 11 events kick-started public support of the proposed program, which will apply the theme of internationalizing via several outlets.

"We will include specific classes about globalization but also infuse globalization and diversity elements across the board," said Prochaska.

West Valley College will also increase the frequency of guest speakers and cultural events, which they began doing this spring by hosting the Afghan Women's Coalition from Fremont to talk to faculty and students about the plight of women in Afghanistan.

The need for expansion in globally oriented education is very important, particularly for diverse Santa Clara County, where more than a quarter of residents are immigrants.

The new West Valley-Mission College District chancellor, Stan Arterberry, finds this point crucial in updating the college's programs. "It is so important within the Silicon Valley, and California in general, to teach our students integrated education. They need this to be competitive and to have a broader understanding of the world, especially after Sept. 11, which only exposed our need for such understanding."

There will also be a focus on the effects of globalization and capitalism, Prochaska noted. "We will try to show that there have been positive effects, such as fostering connectivity and raising economic status in many countries ... but also that there is a negative side, with questions of exploitation and manufacturing issues," he said.

Despite the sizable amount of money the grants department received for the program, it will likely not be enough. When the grant is officially given, the college must provide matching funds. However, even this combined amount does not equal the expected costs, which hover at more than $100,000 annually.

"There is a lot of talk about globalization education, but not much money to back it up," Prochaska says. "There is a lot of commitment and a large amount of dedicated students and faculty, so I think the concept is here to stay, but I hope we have continued support."

Efforts sponsored by the grant will begin in August of this year and continue through June of 2003. The grant only lasts one year, but the college hopes to encourage enough outside funds to keep the program as a permanent fixture.

The proposed changes sponsored by the grant are fourfold and relatively straightforward.

The first focus is to develop staff efforts on global perspectives. This will be achieved by sponsoring speakers and community events and arranging for faculty and staff opportunities to attend conferences addressing global issues and immigrant concerns.

Second, grant money will be used to establish a curriculum with a global perspective in mind. This will be developed through workshops on internationalizing curriculum and working with the academic senate to reevaluate the cultural diversity requirements for transfer and graduation.

The third focal point is on bolstering student awareness and knowledge. This will be accomplished by creative partnerships with community agencies serving immigrant and refugee populations, linking native English speakers with immigrant and international students through the International Partners Program as well as expanding international volunteering opportunities.

Last, the program aims to provide enhanced services for local immigrants and refugees, such as hosting bilingual counseling services through the adult reentry program, expanding current Iranian outreach services, and enlarging the reentry program.

Many faculty members have personally invested time in seeing the proposal through, and the administration has a positive outlook at present.

"Hopefully this global education will help open and broaden our perspective," Arterberry said, "and we can begin to start focusing on unity, not diversity. That at some point we can recognize and emphasize the likeness that we all share ... the one thing that we all have in common, which is our humanity within the global world."