In an increasingly globalized and networked economy, it is important to help students develop intercultural competence. In this episode, Josh McKeown and Christina Lee join us to discuss how two institutions are working together on a grant-funded collaborative exchange experience involving STEM students and faculty in the U.S., South Korea, and Taiwan.
Josh is the Associate Provost for International Education and Programs and the Director of the Office of International Education and Programs here at SUNY-Oswego. Christina is the Director of Global Education and International Services at Monroe Community College.
Show Notes
Transcript
John: In an increasingly globalized and networked economy, it is important to help students develop intercultural competence. In this episode, we explore how two institutions are working together on a grant-funded collaborative exchange experience involving STEM students and faculty in the U.S., South Korea, and Taiwan.
[MUSIC]
John: Thanks for joining us for Tea for Teaching, an informal discussion of innovative and effective practices in teaching and learning.
Rebecca: This podcast series is hosted by John Kane, an economist…
John: …and Rebecca Mushtare, a graphic designer…
Rebecca: …and features guests doing important research and advocacy work to make higher education more inclusive and supportive of all learners.
[MUSIC]
John: Our guests today are Josh McKeown and Christina Lee. Josh is the Associate Provost for International Education and Programs and the Director of the Office of International Education and Programs here at SUNY-Oswego. Christina is the Director of Global Education and International Services at Monroe Community College. Welcome, Christina, and welcome back, Josh.
Josh: Thank you.
Christina: Thank you.
Rebecca: Today’s teas are:… Christina, are you drinking tea with us today?
Christina: Yes, I always have tea. The tea I’m drinking today is a Korean roasted rice green tea.
Rebecca: Oh, that sounds nice.
Josh: That does sound good.
Rebecca: …having good tea choices today, John. [LAUGHTER]
Josh: I’m having gold blend black tea from Rwanda.
Rebecca: Nice.
John: Very nice. More geographic variety than normal.
Rebecca: Yeah. [LAUGHTER]
John: And today I am drinking a ginger peach green tea.
Rebecca: And I have switched to a Scottish breakfast tea.
Josh: That’s your go to. [LAUGHTER]
Rebecca: It is, although earlier today, I was drinking a Swiss tea, but I drank it all up. [LAUGHTER]
John: We’ve invited you here today to discuss the grant funded international education projects that you have arranged in South Korea and Taiwan. These projects were both funded by the federal IDEAS grant program. Can you tell us a bit about this program?
Josh: Sure, and definitely thank you, John and Rebecca, for having us on the show. We’re really proud of this project. The IDEAS grant program is funded by the United States Department of State, so it’s a federal program, and it’s been in place for nearly a decade, and its main purpose is to broaden and improve access to international education, particularly education abroad, or also called study abroad, for disciplines, students, and parts of the world that have not had as much study abroad activity over the years, and this one, in particular, the Chips and Science Act, it was a special track, actually a higher funding amount, focused particularly on the Chips and Science Act.
Rebecca: Can you tell us a little bit about the nature of the specific projects that you proposed under this grant application?
Josh: Definitely, and I’ll invite my colleague Christina to comment as well on this part, because in order to qualify for this grant, and they’d been around, like I said, for a while, and I’d always seen it, but this was called a consortium grant, so it required a university and a community college to partner together. So I’ll give my perspective, and then Christina can share from the community college perspective. When the grant was announced, I almost couldn’t believe it, because its focus on Chips and Science Act was something I had been thinking about literally for the previous two years. This part of New York State, those of us here in Rochester or in Oswego know this like the back of our hand now, but for other listeners, the investment by micron technology, one of America’s largest semiconductor manufacturers in a industrial site about 20 miles from Oswego is going to literally transform the economy and probably the larger society of Central New York for decades to come. It’s a project of that scale. They’re talking potentially at its peak of, I think, $100 billion of total investment, up to 50,000 new workers, and, of course, all the economic activity. When this was announced two years ago, I had two initial thoughts. The first was, “Wow, this is going to change things.” I live about 10 minutes from that site. But then the second thing I thought was, “Oh, wow, we’re going to be part of the global semiconductor ecosystem.” And in my work, I thought immediately about particularly Taiwan and South Korea, two countries that SUNY Oswego has really well-established university exchange and other partnership agreements with, but we had not worked with those universities about this topic of semiconductor. So that’s what got me interested in this. And shortly after, I met with Christina, who has a long record of international education within SUNY as well, and she agreed to join me in the project.
Christina: I was really excited when Josh reached out to us to partner on this grant. As a community college, our students don’t often have the opportunity to study abroad, and so building something with SUNY Oswego, who has a very robust and long time sustained study abroad program, was really appealing to me, and also helping us think about partnerships. I think SUNY Oswego has good partnerships in Taiwan and Korea that was also appealing to me. And I’m always thinking about ways to bring global education to our students, whether it’s utilizing virtual internships, virtual exchange, virtual online learning, lecture series, and also grant partnerships for our faculty and to assist with student travel. So I thought this was a really great way to partner with another SUNY school and give opportunities to our students. Rarely will they do a semester abroad, but if we could do a short- term faculty led program out of this grant partnership, I thought that would be important for our students, who often have responsibilities here in Rochester, at home and with work, so I was glad we could do that. Here at MCC we have some unique programs. We’re the only community college with an associate’s degree in precision optics, and we also have a very strong Geospatial Information Systems Technology program. And so I have been really interested in how to incorporate some kind of global exchange with STEM fields in our college. I think it’s important in terms of training technicians in the global industry. I would like an opportunity to find a way so that we can also incorporate understanding of global interdependence on the global economy through, ideally, some kind of exchange that will come out of this program. We’re equipped to do it virtually, which is wonderful. A lot of our classrooms are already Zoom capable. So we do collaborative, online, international learning already. We do some virtual internships. We do some Zoom teaching as well, for students who are interested in our programs but aren’t here in person. But I think this is a great opportunity, again, for us to think about other ways to bring the globe to our college, whether it’s something we do online or whether we do something in person.
Josh: I’ll pick up on what Christina was saying about workforce development. The grant parameters did not tell us, or presumably, the other universities that would have applied for it, they didn’t tell us what they wanted us to do, but we had to somehow satisfy the reviewers’ focus on the Chips and Science Act. But this is where Monroe Community College and SUNY Oswego, I think, were really aligned. And that is, and our President talks about this all the time, that we are going to be one of the institutions in Central New York closest to Micron, but also critical to Micron’s success. But currently this region does not have the workers for that fab. And by the way, I’ll just go take a step back and say I am not a computer scientist. I’m not an engineer. The only thing I knew about chips before this project were Doritos and Lays. [LAUGHTER] When I went to departments to talk about it, I would say it that way, but I’ve learned some things about it, and I’ve learned, including from our summer trip to Korea and our upcoming trip to Taiwan, that the precision that goes into the construction of these fabs, the clean rooms, water treatment, they are really just sites to behold in terms of cleanliness and readiness for work, but they’re also highly technical places, and students need the right experiences, the right education, the right exposure, to get jobs working in these fabs, and so Monroe and SUNY Oswego are really aligned on the need to prepare teachers in the region, to prepare students, and to contribute to Micron’s success. From my lane, though, what excites me about this, and this is where I thought it’s a transformative project for the region, but also whoever that individual student is, who eventually studies abroad in South Korea or Taiwan with us, whether from Monroe, from Oswego, from any other institution, that individual, when they go to work at Micron, I know that they are going to interact with co-workers or supervisors or teammates or vendors and suppliers. Someone in that ecosystem of semiconductor will be from Korea and Taiwan, I know it, because those countries have produced major companies like Samsung, like Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing, TSMC, both of which we have visited or will visit. And I always think about that kid from New York, whether upstate, downstate, that person who is going to go work for Micron or one of the ancillary industries involved in the semiconductor ecosystem, they’re going to have that cultural exposure. They’re going to have that experience. They will have worked, maybe as a research intern in Taiwan or Korea. They will have gone with faculty on a faculty-led experience like Christina was describing, they’re going to have that confidence which study abroad can give you, but particularly that cultural exposure in those two places. So when they enter that team meeting and they’re on a Zoom with people from Taiwan or Korea, they’ll be more prepared. And really, that’s what motivates me.
Rebecca: So you’ve talked a bit about why you chose South Korea or Taiwan as partners or locations, and that SUNY Oswego had some prior relationships to lean on there. Can you talk a little bit about what these partnerships actually will look like? What will students be doing in these countries? You’ve hinted at a couple of ideas, Josh.
Josh: For starters, we had to identify faculty who would be good fits for this. SUNY Oswego has a long tradition of education abroad. International education, really back to our founding, to Sheldon himself, but in the last couple of decades, probably anywhere from 15 to 25 SUNY Oswego professors literally bring students with them on international programs abroad, including yourself, Rebecca, you know exactly what I’m talking about. What we set out to do in both institutions was identified faculty who’d be the right fit. Of course, a lot of faculty, whether it’s in art or music or education, participate in international education. But for this, we really focused on two key areas. One was in the STEM fields. So we have faculty in electrical and computer engineering, computer science, and chemistry from Oswego… Christina has her own STEM faculty involved… but also career and technical education, which is going to be a huge aspect to getting the workforce ready for Micron. By the way, that’s what our grant was called, “Getting Ready for Micron.” So we didn’t tell the faculty what type of programs to be involved in, but the proposals that I got in, and it was a competitive process, many faculty applied to go on these trips, but we selected the ones that were really the best fit. They proposed things like, in the career and technical education area, a boot camp exchange, for example. And this comes from our CTE department Professor Ben Ogle, who proposed his work with teachers and trainers in the region. He does what were essentially boot camps to get them prepared to do teaching and training in this field. And what we found, for example, in Korea and will in Taiwan, they have very similar workforce readiness challenges, very similar issues of schooling and preparation, of demography, of having enough young people to take over jobs and careers as the older generation retires. So that’s one example of how this grant is supposed to work. Yes, it’s going to be a great experience for students. They’re going to learn more about the training and education system in Korea or Taiwan, hopefully good for the Korea and Taiwanese counterparts who come here on a type of exchange to learn how we do it, but ultimately it’s serving the regions and the industries as well. So that’s what I see. But there are probably other examples too I could mention.
Christina: The faculty for this program was a faculty in geospatial information technology systems and biology, so they’re both really interested in sustainability in the semiconductor industry, and I really have enjoyed the interdisciplinary teams that we’re bringing between SUNY Oswego and MCC.
Josh: Rebecca, to amplify your question about the partner universities, both in Korea and Taiwan… everybody is super busy, and everyone has so many projects they’re working on… but when we proposed this, and the two universities in Korea, Kyungpook National University, located in Daegu, and the other was Busan National University located in Busan in the south, both are excellent universities, national universities, and we have productive, ongoing exchange student relationships with them. But when we proposed this, bringing a faculty delegation particularly focused on semiconductor, they jumped at it. There was no lack of understanding. They knew exactly what we were trying to do. And in both cases, in Korea, and I suspect we’ll hear the same in Taiwan when we go there, this fits their agendas as well, because, for example, in Korea, just like here, industry works closely with the universities and the public school sector. Ours is called the Chips and Science act. Well, in Korea, they have something called the K-Chips Act. So the idea of using national policy, a little bit of grant funding, and trying to get universities and school systems focused and aligned on a common experience or curriculum that serves this industry, it’s really global. There aren’t that many countries that do this. In the case of South Korea and Taiwan, these are friendly countries, allied countries. They’re places that Americans love to travel to and are free to engage with. And I’ll repeat, this grant was funded by the U.S. Department of State. So there’s obviously a foreign policy goal to this type of project, and I think we all understand, especially in central New York, more and more all the time, that semiconductors really are part of the economy, yes, but also a national security issue. And they view it the same way over there. So we have a lot to learn from each other.
John: From what I’ve seen, the students who are most likely to participate in international education programs are disproportionately from humanities fields, and it’s much less common for students in STEM fields to participate. Is this one of the reasons, perhaps, for focusing on this to bring more STEM students into international education.
Josh: Absolutely, absolutely. In the case of the universities that we’re working with in Korea and Taiwan, again, these relationships were established already, but we had never imagined this type of engagement with them. So again, the disciplines that our faculty represent, electrical and computer engineering, computer science, chemistry from SUNY-Oswego and Christina, I think you have someone from biology coming on the next trip.
Christina: Yeah.
Josh: Hopefully the faculty return from this motivated and active, and are the ones who can really encourage their students, including, to take a full semester exchange if they want to Korea and Taiwan, perhaps knowing that the curriculum are so well aligned, because that’s one of the projects we’re working on to make sure that our engineering curriculum is aligned with the ones in Taiwan, for example, and likewise, their students can come here, and all of that over the course of many years, I hope, will really create a fluid and really mutually advantageous relationship between SUNY-Oswego, Monroe Community College, and the universities that we’re working with in that part of the world.
Christina: One of the things I’m excited for on this trip that we didn’t have in our trip to Korea is that we will have a representative from Micron, from their Virginia office, join us for the entirety of this trip, and we already have a working partnership with him here at MCC, with our workforce development staff and faculty. So I think it’ll be a great opportunity for us, for SUNY Oswego and for us here at MCC to brainstorm with him, to think about ways that we can partner once we’re back in the States, and perhaps think about ways that we can partner at some of these M icron locations globally, just having his knowledge and information on how he builds programs, I think will be great. I’m looking forward to that.
Josh: Yeah, that’s super exciting. So we didn’t tell them this yet. Christina, but when we were in Korea, besides visiting the two universities, one of our partner universities, Kyungpook National, arranged for a day- long visit to an industrial park near the city of Daegu, and we were allowed in for a tour of Samsung semiconductor facility, as well as seeing one of the clean rooms, one of the clean room demos at the university itself. So being allowed into Samsung, I mean, it was one of those places that… remember Christina, we had to check our phones at the door, like very secure place. This industry is really so high tech and proprietary, but they let us in for a great tour. We learned a lot about Samsung and the development of Samsung semiconductor. Similar, we’re going to do the same with TSMC or Taiwan Semiconductor in Taiwan, and Micron itself, because Micron operates a fab, actually, we learned two fabs, in Taiwan, and so we’re going to be able to see a Micron facility as well. So that industry partnership, both here and abroad, it seems to be crucial to the success not only of the industries, but of the universities that work with them. So I totally agree with what Christina says. It’s going to be really exciting for our faculty and for us to see how we can develop international education programs, not only at partner universities, but partnering with industries in all three countries.
Rebecca: You’re expecting for the student experience to start with faculty- led opportunities, where it might be short term opportunities to go to one of these two countries, explore some things with the guidance of a faculty member first, and hoping that grows into longer exchanges. Is that the model that you’re thinking about? or all the things, at the same time? [LAUGHTER]
Josh: You’re right, I think the faculty led opportunity is the most likely, and I say that for a couple of reasons. Again, we have great relationships with the universities in South Korea and Taiwan, similarly in Japan, and other places, but those places are far away, and most of our students do not have direct experience halfway around the world, in places where English is not spoken and cultures are quite different. Even though they’re safe and they’re wonderful places to go and explore, they’re culturally quite different for many students, and so having the faculty leader with that direct experience who can motivate and excite but also provide the trust and guidance necessary, I have a feeling, yes, that’s going to be the most popular. But if someone wants to go for a semester exchange or year long, they’re welcome to. We’ll have that for them as well. I’m not sure, Christina, if your student population would be similar in that sense.
Christina: The best fit for our students here at MCC is really a short-term faculty led program. 10 days is a good fit for the schedule that our students keep, since most of them work part or full time, they have family responsibilities, and so we have been able to use some of our COIL learning to launch some grants into faculty-led short term programs. Both the faculty chosen for this trip have had opportunities to create faculty-led programs. So I am thinking that that would be what I would like to do with SUNY Oswego in partnership, if we could do that. I think our faculty are excited to lead a trip back to Taiwan and Korea with students. So, I’m looking forward to doing that with a combination of, again, some kind of virtual exchange, some COIL, collaborative online international learning.
Josh: That’s a really good point, because a lot of students at SUNY Oswego as well want to study abroad, or want to travel abroad, but cannot for a variety of reasons, including costs, time to graduation, other responsibilities, like Christina says, and that’s a huge issue. We’re proud of the proportion of students that do study abroad, but it’s still quite small. Probably in our best year, it might be 20% of our population, which is really good, but that’s still 80% who don’t. So those students who cannot take part in that experience, we can develop, whether it’s COIL or something like an exposure to that industry. There’s all sorts of things going on in this field that I was not aware of, things like virtual clean rooms and virtual experiences, or just joint projects focused on semiconductor that our students can work on with students from Korea or Taiwan. But for the students who do go, and that’s one of the big main goals and purposes of the grant. I just think about when that person who graduates and is going for a job interview or filling out an application, and they got the opportunity to travel to Taiwan and actually do a research project or a placement, or maybe we’ll get to the point of an internship at Micron or at a semiconductor fab overseas, that that student will have a competitive edge in the job market. They’ll be more prepared for their career, but we want to be a career- ready institution at SUNY Oswego and I know Monroe is the same, and so we feel that these programs will have direct career benefit for students: more likely to get the job, and then, once they’re in the job, and again, they’re more familiar with the global semiconductor ecosystem. And importantly, they’ll have had some exposure to this part of the world that maybe some of their peers won’t, and that’ll help them in their career.
John: And I would think that there would be some advantages, particularly in STEM fields, for relying to a greater extent, perhaps on virtual exchange or for short-term visits, because most STEM majors have very extensive degree requirements that are already difficult to fit into the curriculum. But by doing things virtually or by having short-term visits, I would think that would make it a little bit more feasible for students in majors with more barriers, because of any of these reasons that you’ve mentioned, or just the number of courses required specifically.
Josh: I think that’s why Christina and I got this grant. I mean, we thought really creatively in the proposal, and to its credit, the grant parameters required community college. I think they were thinking that exact way is, how do we get STEM students? How do we get more career oriented students who also have barriers to study abroad, more involved? Again, they didn’t tell us what to do, but we got creative, and we talked to faculty, and again, each professor who’s going had to put a proposal together of what they could imagine doing in terms of the international experience. And yeah, to your point, John, it really forced all of us to be more creative and more inclusive.
Christina: So here at MCC we have a wonderful workforce development program. And I often do think about how our STEM majors can do some kind of global exchange, because their degree requirements follow a very specific pathway. And there are some that I have been able to find where students can do some semester-long or short-term programs. But our college is unique in that we are often training the workforce in sort of technical careers, and so trying to think about how we do that as a global experience is something that this grant has really helped me think about how we can do that. Most of our students have state and federal funding for school, which requires them to stay within their degree required courses. And so I think we’re trying to think creatively how we can create a capstone that will be part of their program, that could also incorporate some kind of short- term exchange.
Josh: Christina mentioned one of her colleagues from Monroe was in geospatial technology. One of our colleagues in the first delegation was in global international studies. There are a lot of angles that you can take with this topic… site selection. I know that was something that the geographer was particularly interested in, is how a site gets chosen. The footprint that Micron is talking about with its fabs, it’s enormous, so people saw how huge the track of land is that they’re using. And of course, it’s close to the lake and there’re wetland issues involved. So there’s a lot to that from the geographic and the sustainability angle, but also from Global Studies. I’m interested in the topic. How is it that United States and Korea and Taiwan, in this case, are all friendly nations, all allies and strongly aligned with each other. How we interact politically, diplomatically, economically, is of interest to me, especially in such a sensitive technology. And I think we know there are some restrictions on this technology export in certain parts of the world, but also the nexus between education institutions, public education, university, higher education and industry, and how that’s managed, and how governments facilitate that. I think we’ve all seen in New York state how the federal government, state government, local county governments have gotten involved with the Micron project. And sure enough, they have similar approaches on this overseas. So even just understanding how societies are getting ready for investment in technologies like this, all that’s fair game, as well as business and logistics, packaging and shipping these things, and controlling that. So there’s a ton of areas that I think we’re going to be able to explore over the course of the years that we’re involved in getting ready for Micron.
Rebecca: I can imagine that the industry alignment piece of this international project’s a bit different than some of the other projects that you’ve worked on in that it brings industry together, international partners, as well as our institutions. Just from what started to unfold, are there some lessons that you’ve learned that you might share with others that are exploring some similar opportunities?
Josh: That’s a great question. I’ll give my take. We’re still right in the middle of this project, so it’s hard to think fully. But I guess the thing that really has stuck out for me, again, not being an engineer, not being really too familiar with the technology behind it, is how open minded people are about this, at least with the partners we’ve chosen and the types of educational exchanges we’re talking about, all fit with their interests to both the universities that we’re meeting with and the industries. It’s like we’re all open minded about this. And my take on this, I’m not sure what Christina’s is, my take is that we all are in the same ecosystem. And you realize very quickly that something as crucial as semiconductors and other industries, I think, like this too, they all kind of rely on each other, and so working with an educational partner in the United States who has relationships in Korea, Taiwan, that makes sense to our industry clearly, and I sense the same from our partners in Korea and Taiwan as well. It’s like we’re eager to share, we’re eager to learn, and we play a crucial role in that as educators.
Christina: So when we were in Korea, I was really impressed by their national priority to make sure that their students are globally educated. And in several of the colleges that I visited there, they made it known that a requirement was for their students to do some kind of global exchange, whether it was studying in a different country, outside of Korea, and then coming back to inform the Korean industry about the global landscape in technology or in whatever field the student was studying. So of course, I think that’s a priority for our students as well, for MCC and SUNY Oswego, but I also am thinking really deeply right now about the importance of global education as a pathway to diplomacy around higher ed institutions, and how important it is for our students and for us as faculty and staff to continue to develop these global relationships across boundaries, so that global education is a strong skill that our students have. I would also like to say that I was really excited that we got this grant together with SUNY Oswego. I think it’s a great partnership, and I’m very happy to be part of it.
Josh: Yeah, me too. Monroe has been a terrific partner, and their technologies and their facilities for training students and workers are really advanced. They’re incredible. One more thing comes to my mind, Rebecca, about this project, is a lot of us in higher education or education in general, probably don’t interact with industry very much. And when I said about being open minded, I found the industrial partners that we’ve worked with in all the countries we visited so far, I’ve learned something amazing every time I talk to them. And I feel that if we’re going to be the type of institution, and I believe both Monroe Community and SUNY Oswego are, but for others out there who very much want their students to graduate and get good jobs and be able to manage student debt and all the things that we’re concerned about in higher education today, there’s nothing like direct interaction with employers. And I agree with Christina, this could apply in other industries as well. This is just semiconductor, but direct interaction with employers and hearing what they’re looking for, and hearing the kinds of issues that they’re dealing with, and in this case, governments explaining it as well. It’s eye opening. And I think it’s good for us. I think it’s good for me, it’s good for higher education overall, to have that exposure and really to maybe check your assumptions about what a university education is going to lead to for students, because a lot of things are changing, and something as crucial as semiconductor industry, it’s really highlighted to me that these folks can’t wait. They really need the right workers and the right fit and the right skill set. And it’s globally competitive, but also globally one ecosystem that they all interact with. It’s fascinating, and very important too.
Christina: One of the priorities here at MCC around global learning is to understand the impact of global processes on the local economy and vice versa. And so I’m hoping that any programs that we bring to MCC will highlight how connected we are to the world, and we have a very global campus, and also educating the students on the importance of understanding the global workforce is something that I think is important for me to highlight in what we do here.
John: So we’ve talked a bit about the benefit to the institution, the benefits to the region, and so forth. But this is a federally funded grant. What are the benefits to the country of the Chips and Science Act, and what was the motivation behind this act?
Josh: So yeah, we take that responsibility very seriously. It is a federal grant, and it allows two institutions, SUNY-Oswego, Monroe Community College and 10 of our faculty colleagues to have this incredible experience. So it is funded by the American people, and we take that responsibility very seriously. For me, I think it’s partly about global competition, making sure that the United States is competitive, remains competitive, in a crucial industry like semiconductors. I think it’s also the federal government, kind of putting its money where its mouth is, to say that we have the best universities in the world. We have the best technical talent, the most innovative creators and founders in the world, and many of them come to the United States from outside and start businesses here. But at the same time, we can’t rest on our laurels, and that there’s a huge sector of society, regional public universities like SUNY- Oswego, community colleges like Monroe, who maybe don’t have that level of research, because that’s not our focus. But yet, we have incredible faculty, incredible facilities, and our students are ambitious, they’re bright, they’re hard working, and they have a place in this global semiconductor industry as well, and it’s our responsibility to get them ready for it. So to me, that’s what it says.
Christina: One of the things that I have been thinking about as some federal grants have ceased, is how important it is for our students, who are often employed regionally. And I think it’s similar at SUNY-Oswego that students are employed regionally after their education about providing more opportunities to students through any grant agency so that they can have a better understanding of the world, the globe, how their work here is impacted by things happening around the world, and the interdependence of our community, our industries, our workforce. And I’m also like, I’ll say before, the diplomacy aspect is really important to me in terms of creating partnerships around the world. And also, I know this is an interest of Josh’s as well, but that intercultural understanding when we are working in partnership, whether it’s in a collaborative base in the classroom, or if we’re working across industries. I think that intercultural knowledge, that understanding with intercultural communication, all of that, is really important in the work we do around global education, and really important that these grant opportunities that we get help support that sort of worldview.
Josh: Yeah, preparation… definitely agree.
Rebecca: So, we always wrap up by asking: “What’s next?”
Josh: Oh, I know, this is my third time on the show, and I always think to myself that next time, I’m going to prepare and have a better answer. [LAUGHTER] But no, I love the spontaneity of it. Two things are, for me, what’s next, and by the way, I would like to say that I’ve worked in international higher education for over 30 years now. I think this is the highlight of my career, this project, because it ties in so many things that are important to me, the intercultural development that Christina spoke about, crossing borders in general, and how challenging that can be for students and for institutions to do it safely and productively, but also the importance of it, the importance of the project overall, for the reasons we’ve spoken about. So I think about two things about what’s next, developing really innovative and strong education abroad experiences that result from this. We talked a little bit about faculty-led short-term programs, and a little bit about COIL exchange, but I’ll view this as being truly successful and transformational when SUNY-Oswego students are doing internships in Taiwanese semiconductor companies, and we are hosting visiting faculty from Korea and Taiwan on our campuses, and they’re teaching seminars and courses on this topic. What I’m trying to say is when the level of relationship is that deep and that fundamental in this industry, but in the meantime, we got to build one step at a time. The other thing I’m thinking about is, where else we do this? The countries we chose for this grant are ones that SUNY Oswego had good partnerships with, but there are other places in the world too that are crucial in this industry. Japan is a leader in this. There are companies in the Netherlands and Germany that are very strong. All of these places, we have partnerships. So it’s possible that we can even expand this further.
Christina: So I think the what’s next for me is that I’m always thinking about ways for our community college to partner with other institutions, and also thinking about how our students can have a global perspective, a world view in anything they’re doing here, whether they are working in the semiconductor industry, in nursing, as a GIS technology systems student, sustainability. I think all of those things are important for me to think about. How our students, even if they remain local, if they remain in our region, that they will enhance what they’re doing with a world perspective. So I’m excited to bring an opportunity to the students with these partnerships that we create with SUNY-Oswego and in Taiwan and Korea, and really excited to bring that perspective here to MCC.
Josh: And Christina, we’ve been so focused on our international outlook on this project. I think Monroe Community College and SUNY-Oswego are going to work a lot more closely together in this field. I don’t think we quite know, and that’s not necessarily our responsibility to do that, you and me, but I see our two institutions really gelling well with this project, and as the workforce needs of the region continue to grow and get more sophisticated, I think this project will help even beyond our offices.
Christina: I think that’s true. I’m really looking forward to that
Rebecca: Well, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing some insights into your project.
Josh: Thank you for having us, and I appreciate this program. I’m a regular listener, and I always learn something. I hope we shared something of value today, too.
Christina: Thank you so much for having us on this podcast, and thank you to SUNY-Oswego for this partnership.
John: Well, thank you. This is a wonderful program, and it’s one that perhaps many other institutions should consider participating in.
Josh: Thank you.
[MUSIC]
John: If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast service. To continue the conversation, join us on our Tea for Teaching Facebook page.
Rebecca: You can find show notes, transcripts and other materials on teaforteaching.com. Music by Michael Gary Brewer.
[MUSIC]