CAORC-WARC FACULTY DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR
Diversity, Religion, and Migration in West Africa
Senegal: January 6–23, 2020
Application Deadline: September 30, 2019
About the Award
CAORC recognizes the immediate and growing need for professors at U.S. community colleges and minority-serving institutions to provide a global perspective to their students. These administrators and faculty understand the value of developing “internationalized” learning environments that both broaden their students’ cultural horizons and foster critical thinking, communication, and leadership skills for an increasingly interconnected world.
To support community colleges and minority-serving institutions, CAORC offers fully-funded overseas seminars that help faculty and administrators gain the requisite first-hand experience needed to develop and improve international curricula.
This award program, administered by CAORC in collaboration with its member center in Dakar, Senegal, the West African Research Center, funds participation in a two-week capacity building workshop in Dakar that will also include visits to Toubacouta and Saint-Louis.
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.
Round-trip travel, accommodations, and meals will be provided for the seminar.
Seminar Overview: "Diversity, Religion, and Migration"
This seminar, based in Senegal’s capital city of Dakar but also visiting the historic towns of Toubacouta and Saint-Louis, will grapple with the complexities of diversity, religion, and migration in contemporary West Africa. As these issues attract greater attention across the globe, it is critical that American educators be able to interpret them for students eager to understand the rapid changes taking place in both the larger world and their own communities.
This two-week seminar geared towards faculty at U.S. community colleges and minority-serving institutions will feature lectures, panels, film screenings, and discussions on the history, culture, economy, and political life of Senegal, with a special emphasis on the country’s spiritual diversity and interreligious dialogue and tolerance. In addition, the seminar will explore the region’s growing transnational movements and their impact on society and especially young people. Click here to view the preliminary program itinerary.
Eligibility and Program Expectations
Participants must be faculty members of a community college or minority-serving institution and must be available to participate for the duration of the seminar. At the conclusion of the program, participants will be required to develop new or improved course materials about Senegal that can be openly shared on CAORC’s website and social media to enhance U.S. teaching on West Africa. In addition, participants should demonstrate how they will improve knowledge and awareness of Senegal on their campuses and in their local communities, such as through workshops, open houses, or information sessions. Finally, participants may be asked to attend a funded follow-on workshop in the U.S. to reflect on program achievements, lessons learned, and future collaborations.
Please refer to the Department of Education for a complete listing of minority-serving institutions. A useful directory of MSIs can also be found at the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions. Read and follow the instructions carefully prior to submitting your application.
PLEASE NOTE: Interested faculty may only apply to one of the available 2020 seminar opportunities; in addition, previously awarded CAORC seminar participants must wait at least two years before applying for a new award.
The application deadline for this Seminar was September 30, 2019.