The Pennsylvania / New Jersey Cluster PA/NJ Cluster Members: Community College of Philadelphia Cluster Leader Camden County College Harrisburg Area Community College
Camden County College Three Campuses: Blackwood Campus -- 320 acres when the college was founded in 1967 City of Camden Campus : College Hall, 1991; Camden Technology Center, 2004 William G. Rohrer Center, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, 2000 Total students: approximately 16,000 per year International Contexts: Vision: To prepare students to live, work, and thrive in the global economy. Associate degree in International and Global Studies designed for people who desire an international perspective and have an interest in foreign languages.
Christopher Gennari Camden County College Assistant Professor of History at Camden County College since 2007. His 2010 Ph.D. in European Military and Political History is from SUNY, Stony Brook; his 1997 BA is from SUNY, Geneseo. He teaches about India, Japan and China, and connections between the Middle East and Asia, in three world history courses at Camden CC. Christopher Gennari is interested in developing an interdisciplinary course that would include literature and music to enhance the understanding of the links between history and culture.
Thomas Murray Camden County College Director of Distance Learning at Camden County College since 2000. He has B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from Tyler School of Art. He teaches a course on film appreciation with a goal of understanding the cultural, social and historical contexts. Thomas Murray is a practicing visual artist and his statement reflects his personal long-standing interest in Japanese and Chinese art. He is preparing to teach a course on Visual Culture and would like to present an Asian Film Series at Camden.
Gerald Williams Camden County College B.A. in literature from Catawba College and a M.A. in Liberal Studies from Rutgers University. He teaches intercultural communication, English-as-a-secondlanguage, and composition courses. He has held various positions in technical publishing firms, and continues to create ancillary materials to accompany college-level textbooks. His interest in Asian cultures lies in reaching his ESL and intercultural communication students to better understand Asian cultures, and through comparison, about American cultures.
Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) Founded in 1964, the original main campus Midtown I was supplemented by Midtown II added in 2007. The Lebanon Campus (1992) houses a Wildwood Center; Gettysburg Center acquired expanded facilities in 1997; The Lancaster Campus opened in Fall 2001 York designated a campus in 2007. International Contexts Center for Global Education Study Abroad Programs (Faculty-led, semesters abroad & global service-learning) International Students, Recruiting and Scholar Services Intercultural & Diversity Curricular Initiatives Global Studies Department -with courses leading to degrees in: International Studies Social Science Social Science Education
Michael Sandy Director of Global Education, Harrisburg Area Community College B.A. in Psychology from Indiana University of PA; Masters of Pubic and International Affairs, Univ. of Pittsburgh. He previously worked for two years for Amizade Global Service-Learning & Volunteer Programs and for the Student Affairs Division at the University of Pittsburgh where he taught courses in Service Learning. Treasurer and Board Member of the Pennsylvania Council for International Education (PaCIE). His first goal was to establish a multidisciplinary Asian Studies Planning Group at HACC to work toward integrating Asian Studies into the curriculum.
Charles Comer Harrisburg Area Community College B.A. in both Art History and Philosophy at Towson State University and M.A. in Philosophy from Kent State University. Courses: Introduction to Philosophy, World Religions, Ethics: Belief in Action; has also taught Courses Taught: Art Appreciation and Art History I at Towson University; Charles Comer developed a course on The Japanese Aesthetic at Towson University He has been interested in the corollaries among Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and western philosophy.
Brian Gurian Harrisburg Area Community College Associate Professor of History, and Department Chair of the Global Studies Department at Harrisburg Area Community College where he has taught since 2002. His degrees include a B.A. from Hunter College, MA in American History from SUNY at Albany and a D.A. in World History from St. John s University. In addition to world history, western civilization and American history courses, he has taught a course on America in Vietnam. Brian Gurian has been interested in the intersections of religion, trade and conflict in Asian history, with particular attention to the Silk Road, Buddhism, and the Vietnam War.
Matthew Harris Harrisburg Area Community College B.A. and M.A. in Humanities from Penn State University. He also has a M.S. in Library Science from Drexel University. He has taught Art, Humanities, English and Media Studies courses, with an interest in world mythology, cinema, graphic novels, and Modern Culture through the Arts. Matthew Harris would like to learn more about the myths and philosophies of Asia; go beyond his current teaching of the concepts behind Manga and street art in Japan, infuse his courses on film with a greater understanding of Asian works, and more broadly to increase his understanding of the connections between art and cultures of Asian society.
Community College of Philadelphia (Cluster Leader)
Community College of Philadelphia Overview College Overview Center City Main Campus Three Regional Centers North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia Northwest Philadelphia 2011 36,000 students Largest entry point for minorities into higher education in Pennsylvania International Initiatives ASDP Regional Center since 1998 Center for International Understanding since 2009 Recipient of four U.S. Department of Education Title VI grants on Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and a BIE (Business) grant focused on China. NEH Exemplary Grant
CCP: Student-Faculty International Fellowship Program Sample Study Abroad Programs Cambodia 2012 Hong Kong and Beijing: Culinary Arts/Hospitality Management 2011 Religious Diversity in India 2009 Art and Literature: Shanghai and Beijing (with ASDP logistical support) 2009 Istanbul (five years, 2008-2012) Three-year Strategic Planning Study Abroad is integrated with faculty development, enhanced courses, and cocurricular activities such as lectures and performances; Vietnam Site Visit 2013; Study Abroad Winter 2013-4 India Faculty Workshop 2013; Study Abroad 2013-14 Cambodia Winter 2013-2014 Japan and/or China Spring 2014 or 2015.
Community College of Philadelphia Center for International Understanding Faculty Workshops Abroad Hiroshima Workshop under the auspices of the Hiroshima Peace Cultural Foundation 2011 Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhu 2009 Crossroads in Fukuoka, Japan with the Japan Studies Association 2007 Istanbul, Turkey 2006 Cairo, Egypt 2003 Hiroshima, Japan with JSA and ASDP 2001 Merida, Mexico
An Asian Studies Development Program Regional Center since 1998 On the campus of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, May 2011, with our host, ASDP Alum, Greg Moore. A Title VI Business and International Education Faculty Workshop in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Wuhu: China and the Global Economy
Community College of Philadelphia ASDP/NEH Participants: Fay Beauchamp, English Department Sarah Iepson, Art Department Michael Stern, Architecture, Design and Construction
Fay Beauchamp Director, Center for International Understanding Professor, English Department Community College of Philadelphia B.A. Carleton College; M.A. Univ. of Chicago; Ph.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania Teaches Humanities 101 with East West Connections with a focus on China; Hum. 102 with a focus on Japan; Hum. 120: Chinese Culture and Civilization; English 98. Director or Co-Director of four multi-year U.S. Education Title VI grants Co-Director, NEH Exemplary Grant: Cultural Assimilation and Conflict/China. 2003, 2004 Member, Senior Advisory Board, Education About Asia which has published Fay s articles on Japanese and Chinese literature Oral Tradition published an article on a 9 th Century Cinderella story told by a minority group living in both China and Vietnam. Author of
Sarah Iepson Assistant Professor, Art Department Community College Of Philadelphia Degrees in Art History include a B.A. from Wayne State University, an M.A. from Temple University, and she currently completing her Ph.D. dissertation at Temple University. Sarah teaches Visual Communications and a full range of Art History courses. In interdisciplinary Humanities 101, her nonwestern component focuses on The Ramayana. She has been an active in international initiatives at CCP including co-leading a study abroad program in Merida, Mexico for six years and participating in CCP s faculty development workshop in Istanbul.
Michael Stern Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Design and Construction Community College Of Philadelphia His B.A. and Masters in Architecture are from the University of Pennsylvania. His Courses taught include introduction to architectural design, the history of architecture, and interior design. He was a participant in a three-week seminar conducted by the Japan Studies Association (JSA) in 2010, and subsequently gave two papers at JSA national conferences. Studied non-western architecture and cultures during his recent sabbatical, he spent a month in northern India and a month traveling through Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Plans to integrate Asian studies more rigorously in History of Architecture and Design Studios.
Goals for the PA / NJ Cluster 1. Coordinate with the community colleges in the Baltimore cluster and share activities and resources where possible by forming a Super- Cluster. 2. Have Camden CC and Harrisburg Area CC work together to organize an Asian Film Festival attracting and recognizing new films. 3. Supplement NEH-Funded activities with Lecture Series and/or Curriculum Development at each community college. 4. Explore opening Study Abroad or Faculty Development Workshops Abroad to students and faculty in the Super-Cluster. 5. Community College of Philadelphia will share knowledge about resources such as the University of PA East Asia National Resource Center, (Also see slides about Education About Asia, and the NEH/ASDP 2003-2004 China and Japan course units.)
Areas of Interest for Distinguished Lecturer Identified by the PA/NJ Cluster in July 2012 1) Speaking to the contemporary period 2) Humanities linked with political/social issues such as human rights or women s roles. 3) Strong interest in Chinese film 4) Interest in Chinese modern and contemporary literature related to issues of thinking through diversity 5) Many faculty are interested in developing interdisciplinary courses with geographical and historical breadth. 6) We decided we needed a speaker s series to even begin to respond to the many requests. Faculty wanted to know more about Japan and Southeast Asia as well as China, but that s for the full three years.
Fay s Individual Project Post NEH/ASDP Seminar: The July 2012 Seminar stimulated me to work toward a book Women in Asian Literature: Sita and Her Sisters. The content would bridge the cultures of South, Southeast, and East Asia and reflect how literature transforms and diversifies over time and space. Some of the seminar participants seemed to want materials designed to integrate literature by and about women into interdisciplinary courses needing a cross-cultural Asian component. My aim would be to provide contexts and analysis of some of the best known and most beautifully written texts from South, Southeast, and East Asia. Sita has remained the most revered, popular and controversial heroine in South and Southeast Asia for the past 2500 years. Her latent political power leads to jealousy, exile, defiance of authority, rescue, and revelation of divine status. This story-line drives the Hindu Ramayana and a Buddhist Jataka tale told and re-imagined through art, dance, theater, and poetry, in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Java and Bali. Transformed and secularized, the story motifs appear in a very popular Chinese poem about Yang Guifei accused of causing a revolution; poem is quoted and re-visioned in Murasaki s The Tale of Genji. Of particular interest for courses making East-West connections, the conclusion analyzes the Zhuang ninth century narrative of the world s first recorded Cinderella, and also compares Murasaki s Akashi Chapter from The Tale of Genji and Shakespeare s The Tempest.
Sarah Iepson s Plans (Updated after the Bridging Cultures Seminar) I am planning to integrate a new Eastern module into my Humanities 101: Cultural Traditions course. This module will include a section called "Eastern Religion, Eastern Philosophy, or Neither?" and will deal with the complexities of Buddhist and Confucian practice, among others. The module will work through this topic through literature, art, religious and philosophic texts, cultural standards, and practice. I also plan to review the Asian Art History course that is currently in our college's course catalog, but has never been run due to low enrollment. I would like to reorganize the course in such a way that it attracts students and opens them up to a new and unique course opportunity.
Michael Stern s Plans (Updated after the Bridging Cultures Seminar) Planning a long-range project: East West: Architectural Encounters which looks at architecture as a cultural bridge, particularly when looking at the flow of ideas between the cultures of East Asia and the world. The first step is organizing images and concepts according to latitude, rather than chronology, with hopes on producing an exhibit of photographs that would also be used as a teaching aid. Will review existing architectural history classes to identify modules that can be enhanced, especially those on East Asia.
Matt Harris, HACC, has volunteered to set up a website for the Super-cluster including the Pa/NJ and Baltimore Community Colleges. Matt writes: The goal of the super-cluster private website is to foster a space for sharing resources among the community colleges included in the super-cluster. The site will allow users to share documents and lectures, keep a unified event calendar, and create a common area for all things related to the super-cluster. This can also include video and audio files and even html modules to use in individual classes.
Resources for Faculty Revising Courses to include Asia: Published by the Association of Asian Studies, EAA dedicated an issue on Reconsidering Hiroshima/ Nagasaki after 60 Years in 2006 with many ASDP contributors. Back issues of all EAA articles through 2009 are now free online through www.asian-studies.org/eaa
Japan China China Japan Japan Resources for faculty: see web.jcc.edu/gallery/neh A Workshop Schedule CHINA ASDP-ARC WORKSHOP FOR ADJUNCT FACULTY: 2003-2004 INTER-CULTURAL ASSIMILATION AND CONFLICT: CHINA AND ASIA FUNDED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES HOSTED BY COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA PROGRAM AND STAFF FOR 2003 WORKSHOP