
CAORC-AIIS FACULTY DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR
Exploring Urban and Agricultural India
India



Seminar Overview
To support community colleges, CAORC offers fully-funded overseas seminars that help faculty and administrators gain the requisite first-hand experience needed to develop and improve international courses, curricula, and teaching materials.
This seminar, administered by CAORC in collaboration with its member center in India, the American Institute of Indian Studies, funds participation in a two-week seminar that will include visits to Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jaipur, and Jodhpur to understand the varying economic, cultural, and social pressures confronting emerging cities as more and more Indians migrate to urban areas in search of work and opportunity. As towns grow into cities and as cities morph into megacities, what can be done to ensure that demands for quality economic opportunities and decent standards of living are met while preserving cultural sites and traditions?
In addition to examining the challenges and opportunities created by India’s rapid urban development, participants will gain first-hand experience—through specialist-led site visits and cultural excursions—of India’s fascinating history, culture, languages, religions, and contemporary society. Throughout the program, participants will learn from and have the opportunity to partner with university faculty engaged in international collaboration and exchanges, community leaders, and Non-Governmental Organizations working on various development projects in India.
Seminar dates: January 2 - January 21, 2025
Meet the AIIS Seminar Leaders

Professor Amar Sawhney
Professor, Miami-Dade College

Jessica R. Barnes
Associate Teaching Professor, Northern Arizona University
Eligibility
The program is open to full-time or part-time faculty and administrators at U.S. community colleges. The program is open to faculty in all fields, at all academic ranks, and from any academic or administrative department.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens at the time of application and must hold a valid, current U.S. passport that does not expire within six months of the last date of the program.
Applicants may apply to more than one seminar. Each application will be reviewed individually.
Previous Overseas Faculty Development Seminar awardees are requested to observe a one-year waiting period before applying for another program. For example, a January 2025 participant would next be eligible to apply in January 2026, and participate in Summer 2026.
Program Expectations
As an outcome of the Overseas Faculty Development Seminar program, participants are required to develop and implement a project on their campus. Details and examples of these projects will be shared with awardees during pre-departure orientation. Projects should be implemented within one year of the conclusion of the program, at which time participants will be asked to submit a project report and share curriculum and/or documentation of the project for inclusion on CAORC's Open Educational Resources site.
Application Process
Applications can be accessed via CAORC's SM Apply application portal. You must sign up for an account to access the seminar application. This will allow you to save and return to your application before submitting. Please save your login/password information for future applications.
In addition to providing basic personal and professional information, applicants are required to respond to four essay questions (up to 500 words each):
In addition, applicants are required to:
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Upload a current cv/resume (maximum of 2 pages)
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Request a letter of support from a department chair, academic division head, or academic dean at your college or institution. You will be able to send a link to your recommender via the online grant portal, SM Apply, by entering their contact details, which will trigger the system into sending an automated email. Your recommender will then be able to upload their letter. Recommendation letters will be confidential in the system.In their letter, the recommender should address the following questions/points:
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Please tell us why you support the applicant’s participation in the CAORC faculty development seminar. From your perspective, how will they benefit professionally from the program?
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Please describe the applicant’s engagement with your institution’s internationalization efforts and how their participation in the seminar might benefit students, colleagues, and the broader campus community.
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Please discuss the applicant’s collegiality, teamwork, and professionalism. How have they demonstrated the ability to cooperate, work, and share with others to achieve goals and positive outcomes?
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It is advisable to enter your recommender's contact details into the recommendation letter section of the application as soon as possible (and click 'mark as complete') so that they have sufficient time to complete and upload their letter. The applicant is responsible for checking in with their recommender to ensure the letter is submitted by the recommender deadline. CAORC is not able to reach out to recommenders on behalf of the applicant.
Opening date for applications: March 12, 2024
Application deadline: July 9, 2024 at 5:00pm ET
Recommendation letter deadline: July 31, 2024 at 5:00pm ET
Notification of award decisions: September 6, 2024
If you have questions, please email: fellowships@caorc.org.
Funding for this program is provided to CAORC through a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, with additional financial assistance from the following U.S. National Resource Centers in South Asian Studies: Cornell University, Syracuse University, University of Washington, and University of Wisconsin, Madison.
This program is no longer accepting applications, please join our mailing list for updates to the Overseas Faculty Development Seminars and other CAORC opportunities
