The Center for International Education is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 International Faculty Development Awards, which support efforts by full-time faculty members to enhance campus internationalization.

This year’s funds will jumpstart a range of efforts, including the creation of an online learning exchange platform, cultivation of partnerships with institutions in Lithuania and Gujarat–a state in wesetern India, and development of a new faculty-led course for students studying bilingual education in Taiwan.  Find more detailed information about these grants and how to apply here.

2019/2020 International Faculty Development Grant Recipients

Bradley Zodikoff

To further the School of Social Work’s ongoing collaboration with Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) in Japan, Bradley Zodikoff, associate professor of Social Work, and Chrisann Newransky, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, will work with Japanese colleagues to create online course modules that introduce students to social welfare policy and macro social work practice in cross-national context. Specifically, the pilot project will create and evaluate three curricular modules on broad social policy topic areas, to be taught online by Adelphi and KGU faculty to a cohort of students from both institutions. 

Chrisann Newransky

By engaging meaningfully with Japanese counterparts in an online educational environment, Adelphi students will gain a deeper understanding of global perspectives in social policy and social work. Professors Zodikoff and Newransky also hope this effort will stimulate future student interest in Japanese studies and study abroad. Beyond the scope of this pilot, these modules can be used to enhance and create future courses.

For over 25 years, Hanna Kim, Anthropology department chair and associate professor, has conducted anthropological research in Gujarat and the neighbouring states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh in India. 

Hanna Kim

She will use the International Faculty Development Award to explore international partnership opportunities with two prominent universities in a relatively accessible “mega-city” area of Gujarat– Ahmedabad University (AhU) and the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IIT-G).  Specifically, the award will support two faculty to conduct site visits to AhU and IIT-G. Upon their return, they will share their experiences and build a cohort of Adelphi faculty willing to collaborate with Indian faculty from Gujarat. Professor Kim hopes this pilot will generate interest in the region and lead to a future visit to Gujarat by an Adelphi delegation.  Possible outcomes of this study trip would be Adelphi-Gujarat collaborative teaching, research, and publications, as well as an even more long term goal to sustain recurring study abroad opportunities and the international exchange of faculty, students, and graduate students.

Carol S. Cohen

Carol S. Cohen, professor of Social Work, will also use existing scholarly networks–hers in the field of international social, social work with groups and community-based research, to further global engagement at Adelphi.  Specifically, she will leverage the two upcoming International Symposium of the International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG), which will take place in New York in 2020 and Lithuania in 2021, to further institutional connections with Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Lithuania, where she has been collaborating with colleagues for a number of years.  This June, Professor Cohen will welcome a Lithuanian Delegation to Adelphi for a 5-7 day residence. During their visit, a combined group of faculty and students from both institutions will participate in roundtable discussions, lectures, and site visits to local social work organizations. Students working on independent study projects will collaborate and receive faculty guidance, and professionals will connect around common interests. Collaboration will continue in 2021 when Adelphi ambassadors will travel to Lithuania for the next IASWG Symposium.

Ming-Hsuan-Wu

Ming-Hsuan Wu and Diana Schwinge, assistant and associate professors, respectively, in the Ruth S. Ammon School of Education, will use the International Faculty Development Award to develop Adelphi’s first faculty-led course for students majoring in TESOL and bilingual education.  “At a time when US schools are becoming more diverse than ever, it is important for educators to develop a better understanding of how student’s cultural backgrounds and lived experiences mediate their language and academic learning,” write Wu and Schwinge. In January, the faculty will travel to Taiwan to vet program logistics and visit K-12 schools that will likely end up on the course itinerary.  They will also explore partnership opportunities with National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) in Taipei and National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Hsinchu. The course they develop upon their return will build on Professor Wu’s deep knowledge of education and educational issues in Taiwan and Professor Schwinge’s expertise in designing TESOL programs.

2018/2019 International Faculty Development Grant Recipients

 

Kees Leune

Kees Leune, assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, will use grant funding to develop an international institutional partnership with Tilburg University, where he received his Ph.D., and Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS) in the Netherlands. In the coming months, Professor Leune will visit colleagues at both universities and inquire about the possibility of future faculty and student exchanges and research collaborations in the areas of data science, cybersecurity, and scientific computing. He will also vet a future faculty-led study abroad course for computer science students that would include a project-based internships.  In an effort to maximize the short time in-country, students would work on problem sets prior to their arrival and then  present their work to the hosts while in-country.  Upon their return to Garden City, students will submit a written deliverable and/or software-based product. The program will also include exploration of popular cultural sites along with major-related site visits. 

Brian A. Rose

Professor Brian A. Rose of the Department of Theatre will use the International Faculty Development grant to assist with expenses related to his effort to import his successfully produced play, Living Newpaper, to the Edinburgh Fringe Theatre Festival—the largest theatre festival in the world. Living Newspaper tells the true story of the Federal Theatre Project and its creator, Hallie Flanagan Davis, during the Great Depression. Flanagan, the greatest heroine of American theatre history, stood alone against a racist, conservative congress that was determined to stop the free and progressive voice of the Living Newspaper Unit of the Federal Theatre Project. Rose plans to bring a cast of Adelphi alumnae and current students to perform in the summer of 2020.

This summer, Professor Rose will use grant funding to attend the festival and research the complexities of the production importation process, including securing a performance venue, acquiring best practices for marketing the performance, finding affordable lodging for the cast and finalizing budget. Professor Rose will also use grant funds to conduct research in the archives of the Federal Theatre Project in Washington, DC and to purchase elements needed for this and future international performances.

Katherine Fiori

Recipient Katherine Fiori, associate professor in the Derner School of Psychology, will use the International Faculty Development grant to further her research collaboration with Dr. Oliver Huxhold, senior research scientist at the Deutches Zentrum fuer Altersfragen (DZA; German Centre of Gerontology) in Berlin.  Drs. Fiori and Huxhold have been researching links between social relationships and health in older adults together for over a decade, and have co-authored several well-cited publications and countless presentations.  Funding from this grant will enable the pair to continue their research face-to-face in Germany and at Adelphi University, with an ultimate goal of submitting a theoretical paper for publication by the end of the summer.  During Dr. Huxhold’s March visit to Adelphi University, he will present his research findings at a university-wide research colloquium, guest lecture in Dr. Fiori’s psychological research class, and speak with Dr. Fiori’s doctoral student workgroup about opportunities to work with DZA data and potentially visit the DZA. This summer, Dr. Fiori will travel to Berlin for a week to continue her work with Dr. Huxhold and present her research at the DZA.

Lahney Preston-Matto

Lahney Preston-Matto, Professor of English, and Michael Matto, Associate Professor of English, received the International Faculty Development grant to scout a Viking sagas iteration of the popular Literary Cities course in Iceland, Norway and Denmark.  Developed by Professor Preston-Matto in 2016, Literary Cities is a bi-yearly course in which students study the literature of a different city or cities during the first half of the spring semester and then travel to the city or cities over spring break.

Michael Matto

Professor Preston-Matto has been teaching classes on Vikings for the past two years in Garden City and Professor Matto is a specialist in the closely-allied Germanic literature of Anglo-Saxon England, making them an ideal pair teach this course.  In addition to vetting program logistics and visiting sites that will likely end up on the course itinerary, including the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo with originals of Viking ships, the faculty will visit the American College of Norway, one of Adelphi’s international institutional partners, to further ongoing collaboration.

2017/2018 International Faculty Development Grant Recipients

 

Katie Laatikainen

Katie Laatikainen, a professor in the Department of Political Science and director of The International Studies Program, together with a faculty member from the School of Business, will visit the University of Tampere in Finland to deepen the proposed international partnership agreement. This project stems from connections Professor Laatikainen forged last year as a visiting professor at the University of Tampere during her sabbatical. With this grant, Laatikainen plans to lay the groundwork for future faculty and student exchange through course mapping and discussions with higher administration. Adelphi was delighted to welcome a delegation from University of Tampere’s School of Management to Garden City during the month of October.

Robert Linne

Professor Robert Linné and Clinical Associate Professor Mary Jean McCarthy from The Ruth S. Ammon School of Education will use grant funds to develop a future faculty-led study abroad course on place-based education, a pedagogy that emphasizes experiential learning outside the classroom.

Mary Jean McCarthy

Linné and McCarthy plan to include local and international case studies in course, introducing nature education sites in Long Island and Tromso, Norway, a leader in environmental place-based education. Grant money will support a site visit to Tromso to meet local partners, conduct site visits to local schools and finalize logistics.

Nicole Rudolph

Nicole Rudolph, associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Culture, will use grant funding to further her research on the design and reception of sustainable urban public housing and bring these concepts to campus through a future course on global eco-housing. With support from the grant, Rudolph will conduct site visits to a number of the Eco-Quartier projects in France and meet with experts on global urban studies and eco-architecture. The course will highlight case studies not only in France but also in Canada and the UK, bringing a comparative approach to the topic of sustainability and urban development.

2016/2017 International Faculty Development Grant Recipients

John Drew

Assistant Professor John Drew in the Department of Communications has dedicated time to researching ways in which food organizations discursively negotiate Latin America’s legacies of Spanish colonialism and ongoing U.S. imperialism, particularly in traditionally extractive agricultural industries.

Now, with this grant, he will explore Nicaragua and evaluate food as a lens to connect local social and environmental justice issues with international ones, such as climate change.  His ultimate goal is to then provide new winter and summer session opportunities to students interested in globalization, digital media, marketing, food studies, social entrepreneurship and political ecology.

Bradley Zodikoff

The School of Social Work’s Chrisann Newransky, Assistant Professor, and Bradley Zodikoff, Associate Professor, will embark on a journey to Japan’s Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) in Nishinomiya City where they will explore social welfare policy, macro social work, and human services with professors at KGU.

Chrisann Newransky

Both Newransky and Zodikoff wish to build a long-term educational relationship with faculty and students at KGU with the intention of sending Adelphi students to study abroad there in the future as well as create a faculty-led program for Summer 2018 that centers on these same topics.

Aaren Freeman

Associate Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies program, Beth Christensen and Associate Professor Aaren Freeman from the Department of Biology not only received the grant but already embarked on their trip to Belize, Central America where they vetted potential snorkeling sites for future students to conduct independent projects concerning the abundance and distribution of marine organisms.

They also assessed the equipment at local field stations that would aid in student projects and even explored various Mayan ruins.  Both Christensen and Freeman will take Adelphi students on a faculty-led trip to a remote field station with the opportunity to conduct independent research projects. The class will also visit ancient Mayan ruins and learn how climate change impacted Mayan culture.


Congratulations to all of the projects chosen to be funded and a great thank you to all professors who submitted applications. These proposals demonstrate how dedicated many of our Adelphi faculty are to a global education for our students and our community. We are very excited to hear about the emerging success of new and upcoming faculty-led programs and look forward to hearing more about each project as the professors return from their respective trips.

 

 

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