International Brown Bag featuring Japan and Belize this month

FREDONIA, N.Y. — January 27, 2009 — SUNY Fredonia has announced a series of five presentations designed to share their teaching and research experiences of Fredonia faculty members who have recently traveled abroad.

All five presentations are free and open to all students, faculty and the campus community. They will all take place in the Fenton Hall English Reading Room of Fenton Hall, Room 127, from 12:00-12:50 p.m. Dubbed the “International Brown Bag” series, attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch, and refreshments will be provided.

Monday, Feb 2: "Olympian Efforts: Japanese Education from Nagano to Nagoya"
Dr. Cheryl Drout, Chair of the Department of Psychology. Dr. Drout will discuss her recent Fulbright Scholar Award at Aichi University of Education (AUE) in Kariya, Japan, and her experiences of living in central Japan in from April through August of 2008. The Kariya area is alive with the history of the Tokaido Road, which connected Tokyo and Kyoto. She will share her insights into Japanese education reforms and culture.

Drout team taught Intercultural Communication with Professor Hiro Kitano of AUE and also team taught a senior-level English class with Professor Anthony Robbins of AUE. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she gave a presentation to the Chubu Fulbright Alumni Association on student centered learning at Nanzan University in Nagoya. She also conducted research while in Japan, visiting a number of elementary and junior high schools, interviewing teachers and distributing surveys. Her project examines teachers’ attitudes toward Japanese education reforms underway since 2002. She continues to analyze her data with her students at Fredonia and also collaborates on this project with her research associate from AUE, Yasuhiko Nakano, Professor of Educational Psychology.

The remaining slate of presentations is as follows:

• Monday, February 23: “The Belize International Service Learning Project”
Ellie Reddy, College of Education

Language, Learning and Leadership Instructor Ellie Reddy will discuss this project which involved a group of SUNY Fredonia students that traveled to Belize during J-term to volunteer in the inner city schools of Belize City.

• Monday, March 9: “The Gambia Experience”
Dr. Mira Berkley and Dr. Barbara Mallette, School of Education

This session will describe a cultural immersion experience in the western African country as the Republic of The Gambia. This past December, Drs. Berkley and Mallette traveled with a group of students and tutors from the University of Plymouth in England to what is commonly referred to as simply “The Gambia.” At slightly less than twice the size of the state of Delaware, it is the smallest country in Africa and is less than 48 km wide at its widest point.

• Monday, April 20: “Over the Great Blue”
Sarah Schwab and Jenna Letersky, Department of English

Sarah and Jenna, two master’s candidates within the Department of English, will discuss studying abroad in London in 2008 and the historical, emotional and physical effects of the experience.

• Monday, May 4: “Youth Filmmaking Project in Turkey”
Dr. Ted Schwalbe, Chair of the Department of Communication

Fredonia Communication faculty Nefin Dinc and Ted Schwalbe are working on a project funded by the U.S. State Department to teach 72 students in Turkey how to discuss important social issues through the medium of video. Some of the Turkish students will visit the Fredonia campus next fall to perform editing work on these video projects.

For more information on any of these presentations, please contact series organizer, Dr. Ted Schwalbe, at 716-673-3410 or Schwalbe@fredonia.edu.