The Council for American Overseas Research Centers has announced the 2024 awards for faculty to participate in an Overseas Faculty Development Seminar in Mongolia. Fourteen faculty members from US community colleges and minority-serving institutions have been selected to participate in 'Climate Change and Public Health: What does Climate Change Mean for the People of Mongolia?' in May 2024 through June 2024. This seminar, administered by CAORC in collaboration with its member center in Mongolia, the American Center for Mongolian Studies, funds participation in a two-week seminar in Mongolia focused on issues related to Climate Change and Public Health that will include stays in the urban capital Ulaanbaatar, the rural communities at Kharkhorin, the historic capital of the Mongol Empire, Erdene Zuu Monastery, the oldest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, and a visit to Hustai National Park, home to the rare and endangered Przewalski’s horses. Mongolia, with its vast landscapes, shares similarities to rural parts of the United States and other countries, where limited infrastructure and a dispersed population that lives on the land must contend with a lack of access to health resources and a rapidly changing climate. Mongolia’s average temperatures had already risen more than 2°C and rainfall declined by 7% before 2015, leading to challenges for people in both rural and urban areas. This course will focus on how climate change is already impacting public health and life in both urban centers and rural communities in Mongolia.
The Overseas Faculty Development Seminars are fully-funded overseas seminars that help faculty and administrators at US community colleges and minority-serving institutions gain international experience with the aim of developing and improving international courses, curricula, and teaching materials at their home institutions. Awarded participants for these seminars receive round-trip travel, accommodations, and meals for the duration of the two-week seminar. CAORC seminars are run in partnership with participating Overseas Research Centers (ORCs) and are generously supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Additional Overseas Faculty Development Seminars are planned for January 2025 to Bangladesh, India, and Senegal, and Summer 2025 seminars will be announced in July 2024. Learn more by visiting the OFDS page at caorc.org.
The 2024 awardees are:
Shamili Ajgaonkar, Professor, STEM – Biology
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL
Ashley Carter, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences
California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Sarah Cervone, Assistant Professor, Humanities
Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL
Ryan Chaney, Assistant Professor, Behavioral Sciences
Kingsborough Community College, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY
Desmond Delk, Associate Professor, Health, Physical Education, and Recreation
Langston University, Langston, OK
Christine Farias, Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Social Sciences, Human Services & Criminal Justice, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, NY
Khursheed Ichhaporia, Assistant Professor, Biology
Oakton College, Des Plaines, IL
David Jennings, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences
Paradise Valley Community College, Phoenix, AZ
Maria del Carmen Paniagua Quinones, Professor, Mathematics
Ivy Tech Community College, Bloomington, IN
Erin Seedorf, Associate Professor, Health Professions
Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver, CO
Nona Shipman, Staff/Administrator, One World One Water Center
Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver, CO
Allan Stevens, Professor, Biology
Snow College, Ephraim, UT
Margo Stoddard, Assistant Professor, Natural Sciences
Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL
Christopher Tong, Associate Professor, Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD
The Overseas Faculty Development Seminar to Mongolia is carried out in Partnership with the American Center for Mongolian Studies and is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
