The participants in CAORC’s 2019 faculty development seminar to India. Karen Guerrero, Assistant Professor at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College of Arizona State University, was a 2019 participant in the CAORC-AIIS Faculty Development Seminar to India. In this essay, she spells out why experiential, immersive learning opportunities are so essential for good teaching. India changed the way I teach in a way only traveling to a new country can. Exploring off-the-beaten paths f

Preparations for a communal meal served to participants in the Senegal faculty seminar. Photo courtesy Mbye Cham. In this essay, De Anna Reese, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, discusses West Africa’s rich communal traditions of shared food, music, and dance and how they resonate with the strong family traditions of African-American communities. As one who teaches and studies one of the strongest and most enduring institutions in the Black

A traditional Senegalese music performance enjoyed at WARC during the 2019 faculty development seminar. Photo courtesy the author. In this essay, Errol Montes-Pizarro, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal and a mathematics professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, discusses his ongoing research into historical and contemporary trends within Senegalese music and how West African musical traditions can be used to bridge geographic and cu

Across all segments of Indian society, women play critical roles in helping conserve and manage increasingly limited water resources. Janet Armitage, Associate Professor of Sociology at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, was a 2019 participant in the CAORC-AIIS Faculty Development Seminar to India. The seminar’s theme was urban sustainability and, in this essay, Armitage discusses her Indian experiences with women and water and the importance of bridging expert cont

Serendipitous meeting with a circle on the sand dunes at Lac Rose, Senegal. Photo by the author. In this essay, Christine Farias, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, discusses the theme of “circularity” in Senegalese daily life and how it provides a useful lens for studying issues of inclusivity and sustainability. Senegal’s strength is in its social and cultural diversity and religious tolerance. However, it has opened its economy to interna

The Glass House, a central landmark of the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, was built in 1889. Photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim - Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9515661a In this essay, Danny Sexton, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to India, discusses his visit to India’s Lalbagh Botanical Gardens in Bangalore (Bengaluru) and offers reflections on the ever-changing relationship between ourselves, nature, and the built envir

The Great Mosque of Touba in Senegal In this essay, Sobia Saleem, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, writes about her visit to the Great Mosque of Touba and experiencing West Africa’s distinctive Islamic traditions. All photos are courtesy of the author. As an American Muslim participant in the 2019 faculty development seminar to Senegal, I found Islam in West Africa to be quite different from the religion I grew up with and learned in the U

Janet Armitage (left) and Janny Li (right) on a sunrise elephant ride to Amber Fort in Jaipur. In this essay, Janny Li, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to India, discusses the many and sometimes surprising ways in which animals are integrated into the rhythms of everyday life in India’s megacities. I live in Los Angeles. I rarely think about wildlife. Once I saw a mange-ridden coyote eating out of a neighbor’s trashcan and thought I saw a Chupacabra—

Nearly 70 faculty and administrators attended CAORC's workshop at Montgomery College on April 5, Going Global, Growing Global: Fostering International Education and Exchange at Community Colleges. The symposium aimed to support knowledge sharing and networking among community colleges in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Maryland engaged in developing global education, study abroad, and international curriculum development opportunities. In addition to CAORC and MC, pr

CAORC sponsored the panel discussion, Teaching Asia Beyond the Ivory Tower: The American Overseas Research Centers and Broad Educational Engagement, at the 2019 Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, held in Denver on March 23, 2019. The panel featured representatives from several overseas research centers—the American Institute of Indian Studies, Center for Khmer Studies, American Center for Mongolian Studies, and American Institute of Pakistan Studies—who discusse

Sippo Island, Toubakouta, Senegal In this essay, Stephanie Lovett, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, discusses the essential need for teachers to travel and experience places in order to convey the world’s complexities to students. All photos are courtesy of the author. Teachers and researchers live in worlds of words. We plan, we study, we learn, we teach—and however creative we are in our methods, inevitably the heart of our craft is turn

The India Faculty Development Seminar group with Dr. Balasubramaniam “Only when we take a comprehensive and ecosystem approach to our thinking, can we bring about meaningful and sustainable development for all.” —Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Voices from the Grassroots On a gorgeous, warm day in January, along with fifteen other professors from community colleges throughout the United States, I attended a poignant presentation by Dr. R. Balasubramaniam at the Swami Vivekananda Yout

Teaching Asia Beyond the Ivory Tower: The American Overseas Research Centers and Broad Educational Engagement An Association for Asian Studies 2019 Conference Panel Session Saturday, March 23, 2019 | 9:00 – 10:45am Columbine, Tower Building, Terrace Level Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel The American overseas research centers (ORCs) have long played a critical role in supporting American and international scholarly research within Asian area studies, offering a broad range of f

The docks of Liverpool, where England defined its role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade with the Americas and West Africa. In this essay, Ellen Olmstead and Cinder Cooper Barnes, both professors of English at Montgomery College and participants in the 2017 CAORC-WARC Faculty Development Seminar to Senegal, discuss the lasting impacts of their West African experience and the importance of providing study abroad opportunities to community college faculty and students. When Ell

Participants in the 2017 CAORC-WARA Faculty Development Seminar outside La Louisiane hotel in Saint Louis, Senegal. In this essay, Cinder Cooper Barnes, Professor of English at Montgomery College and 2017 participant in the CAORC-WARA Faculty Development Seminar, discusses her encounter with the "signares" in the history of Senegal's slave trade. Community college faculty often teach fifteen hours or five courses a semester and are expected to participate in committees and pe

Diversity, Religion, and Migration in West Africa CAORC-WARC Community College & MSI Faculty Development Seminar Senegal: January 6-22, 2019 CAORC is pleased to be partnering with the West African Research Center (WARC) on an upcoming faculty development seminar in Senegal. To support community colleges and minority-serving institutions, CAORC offers innovative, cost-effective programming that helps faculty and administrators gain the requisite first-hand experience needed t

Exploring Urban Sustainability through India's Cities CAORC-AIIS Community College Faculty Development Seminar India: January 2-18, 2019 CAORC is pleased to be partnering with the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) on an upcoming community college faculty development seminar in India. To support community colleges and minority-serving institutions, CAORC offers innovative, cost-effective programming that helps faculty and administrators gain the requisite first-hand