SMC Receives Federal Grant for International Education
Bolstering its ambitious global citizenship efforts, SMC has received a two-year federal grant totaling nearly $180,000 that will be used to develop a comprehensive international studies program.
|
The Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul was on the SMC contingent’s itinerary |
The U.S. Department of Education grant is for $88,500 in 2009-10 and is expected to total $89,986 in 2010-11.
Specifically, the funding comes under the department’s Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program, which provides grants to strengthen and improve undergraduate instruction in international studies and foreign languages.
“We’re very pleased to have received this grant, which will help tremendously as we continue our comprehensive efforts to enhance global awareness reflected in the curriculum and campus environment as part of the Santa Monica College experience,” said Dean of International Studies Kelley Brayton.
The grant comes in the third year of SMC’s global citizenship initiative, a pioneering crusade that seeks to foster in students an understanding of international, intercultural and ecological issues, as well as an understanding of economic factors and human rights and environmental issues. The initiative distinguishes itself from other colleges and universities, however, by going beyond an international studies program and incorporating volunteer work and the cultivation of a sense of global responsibility, college officials say.
In the 2 /12 years since the global citizenship initiative was launched, the college has taken major steps toward realizing its goal.
The college has added a global citizenship requirement (one class) for students to receive an Associate of Arts degree. It has strengthened its Study Abroad program and, through the Associated Students, provided scholarships for low-income students to participate in these overseas study trips. It launched a Global Connections and other internationally themed lecture series. And it has sent SMC faculty and other employees to several countries to study international, cultural and global environmental issues.
Brayton said that while much has been accomplished already, the grant money will allow the college to expand its global citizenship initiative, particularly with the goal of establishing Study Abroad programs in China and Turkey.
|
