Showing posts with label Study Abroad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Study Abroad. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

My Dissertation “The National Security Education Program and Its Service Requirement” is Now Available Online

Loyola University of Chicago eCommons made my dissertation available for download yesterday and should you have interest in the National Security Education Program you may find interest in my dissertation.  The suggested citation and link follow:

Comp, David J., “The National Security Education Program and Its Service Requirement: An Exploratory Study of What Areas of Government and for What Duration National Security Education Program Recipients Have Worked” (2013).Dissertations. Paper 509. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/509

Thursday, May 9, 2013

A Note of Thanks to Everyone Who Helped Me with my Dissertation

As this blog posts here on IHEC Blog I am participating in commencement at Loyola University Chicago and will receive my Doctorate in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies, Comparative and International Education.  It was a long nine years to complete this degree and there are many to thank and I wish to specifically thank everyone who helped me with my dissertation and those acknowledgements follow:




THE NATIONAL SECURITY EDUCATION PROGRAM AND ITS SERVICE REQUIREMENT:  AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF WHAT AREAS OF GOVERNMENT AND FOR WHAT DURATION NATIONAL SECURITY EDUCATION PROGRAM RECIPIENTS HAVE WORKED

I would like to acknowledge everyone who has assisted me throughout my doctoral studies over the years.  I would first like to acknowledge my adviser, Dr. Noah Sobe, for agreeing to serve as my adviser and for his patience and feedback during the many courses I took with him and as I completed my dissertation.  Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Robert Roemer and Dr. David Ensminger for agreeing to serve on my dissertation committee.  I truly appreciate all of their time and assistance as I navigated this process!

A very special thanks is due to my friend and colleague Dr. Kevin Gormley at the National Security Education Program for his encouragement dating back to a lunch meeting in Los Angeles in 2009 to our phone conversations and e-mail communications throughout 2010 and 2011 about my project.  This dissertation would not have been possible without Kevin’s support and assistance!  I also wish to thank the many staff members at the National Security Education Program including Dr. Michael Nugent, Judy Collier, Roy Savoy, Katie Davis, Alison Patz, and Stuart Karaffa for their approval of my project, their time in reviewing my survey instrument and providing valuable feedback at our meeting back in November 2010 and their assistance in launching my survey instrument.  I also wish to thank Genie Lomize, Treasurer of the Boren Forum, and Dr. Philip Lyon, Former Executive Director of the Boren Forum, for their support of my dissertation and for Dr. Lyon’s continued support and time to meet at the National Security Education Program Office in November 2010 to review and provide feedback on my survey instrument.  A note of thanks is also due to Christopher Powers, Director of the Boren Awards for International Study at the Institute of International Education for answering my e-mail questions about historical program dates.  I hope that the National Security Education Program, the Boren Awards for International Study and the Boren Forum will find some value in the results of my dissertation.

I also want to thank all of the National Security Education Program Alumni (Boren Scholars and Boren Fellows) who took time out of their busy schedules to complete my survey instrument!

Additional gratitude is offered to many colleagues in the field of international education who provided resources and feedback as I worked on my dissertation.  This list of individuals includes the following:  Dr. Gary Rhodes and Dr. Miloni Gandhi from the Center for Global Education at the University of California, Los Angeles for taking time out of their busy schedules to review and provide feedback on my dissertation proposal and survey instrument; Mickey Slind for sending me her personal collection of primary documents related to the early years of the National Security Education Program (they will always have a home in Bury Book International Education Library & Archive); Elizabeth Mandeville for sending me a valuable  primary document pertaining to the early years of the National Security Education program; Stephanie Kirmer for taking the time out of her schedule to meet with me and provide a statistics tutorial and for lending me one of her publications as I worked on the data analysis portion of my dissertation; Kyle Flynn for helping me better understand the statistical analysis of my results; and, Dr. Louis Berends for his friendship and support throughout our studies and time at Loyola University Chicago and beyond.

Further acknowledgement and thanks is due to my supervisor Christine Gramhofer at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  Her support for time off to work to research and write my dissertation was truly helpful and greatly appreciated!

Thank you to my mother Vicky and Sam, father Jim and Mary Ellen, and my mother and father-in-law Therese y Don Carlos for their encouragement and continued support over the years and their enthusiasm as I neared my goal.

Finally, but most importantly, I wish to thank my wife Ana and children Gabriela, Andrés y Lucas for their patience, assistance, support and faith in me.  The nights away from the family while attending classes and the days and nights away from them while writing my comprehensive exams and, in particular, this dissertation were truly difficult.

I could not have completed my research without the support of all these wonderful people!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Forum on Education Abroad 2013 Annual Conference #Hashtag

In honor of the Forum on Education Abroad officially setting their own annual conference #hashtag of #ForumEA13 thought I would post a Twitter search widget so those not in attendance nor on Twitter can follow the back channel from the conference.  For those of you attending I look forward to our paths crossing!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Inaugural Diversity Abroad Conference - "Changing Landscapes: Strategies and Opportunities For Greater Access" Twitter Backchannel

The inaugural Diversity Abroad conference started today in Chicago and runs through tomorrow.  I wish I could attend but my schedule would not allow for me to attend this conference and the Forum on Education Abroad conference here in Chicago that begins Wednesday and runs through Friday!  Those of you going to the Forum conference I hope our paths cross.

While I couldn't attend the Diversity Abroad conference I received in the mail a copy of Charles Gliozzo's article "The International Education of Minority Students" published in Minority Education in 1980.  My research has found that Gliozzo's article is the first piece of literature in the field focusing on underrepresentation in study abroad so this is a great addition to my Bury Book International Education Library & Archive!

If you are not on Twitter and you want to follow the backchannel from the Diversity Abroad conference I have embedded the #DiversityConf13 hashtag!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Book of Interest: Student Learning Abroad: What Our Students Are Learning, What They're Not, and What We Can Do About It

I'm long overdue in posting about a new (June 2012) and interesting book entitled Student Learning Abroad: What Our Students Are Learning, What They're Not, and What We Can Do About It (Stylus Publishing, LLC) that many IHEC Blog readers may find of interest.  This post is not a review but more of an informational post about the book.

This thought provoking book challenges international educators and study abroad stakeholders on how and what students are actually learning while studying abroad.  The Table of Contents and the link to learn more follows:

Editors by Michael Vande Berg, R. Michael Paige and Kris Hemming Lou


Table of Contents:
PREFACE
PART ONE: SETTING THE SCENE
1) Student Learning Abroad: Paradigms and Assumptions—Michael Vande Berg, R. Michael Paige, and Kris Hemming Lou
2) Intervening in Student Learning Abroad: Recent Research—R. Michael Paige and Michael Vande Berg

PART TWO: FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING
3) Using Experiential Theory to Promote Learning and Development in Programs of Education Abroad—Angela Passarelli and David Kolb
4) The Brain, Learning, and Study Abroad—James Zull
5) Paradigmatic Assumptions of Intercultural Learning—Milton Bennett
6) The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI): A New Frontier in Assessment and Development of Intercultural Competence—Mitchell Hammer
7) What Happens When We Take Stage Development Theory Seriously?—Douglas Stuart
8) Anthropology, Intercultural Communication, and Study Abroad—Bruce La Brack and Laura Bathurst
9) The Psychology of Student Learning Abroad—Victor Savicki
10) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Support of Student-Centered Learning Abroad—Jennifer Meta Robinson

PART THREE: PROGRAM APPLICATIONS: INTERVENING IN STUDENT LEARNING
11) Shifting the Locus of Intercultural Learning: Intervening Prior to and After Student Learning Abroad—Laura Bathurst and Bruce La Brack
12) Maximizing Study Abroad—R. Michael Paige
13) Facilitating Intercultural Learning Abroad—Kris Lou and Gabriele Bosley
14) Developing a Global Learning and Living Community: A Case Study of Intercultural Experiences on The Scholar Ship—Adriana Medina-López-Portillo and Riikka Salonen
15) An Experiment in Developing Teaching and Learning: CIEE’s Seminar on Living and Learning Abroad—Michael Vande Berg, Meghan Quinn, and Catherine Menyhart
16) Beyond Immersion: The AUCP Experiment in Holistic Intervention—Lilli Engle and John Engle

CONCLUSION
17) Intervening for Student Learning Abroad: Key Insights—Kris Hemming Lou, R. Michael Paige, and Michael Vande Berg

You can learn more about and purchase Student Learning Abroad via the Stylus website.

I'll be adding Student Learning Abroad to my Bury Book International Education Library & Archive as soon as I obtain a copy!

Disclaimers:  I receive no compensation for posting about "Student Learning Abroad: What Our Students Are Learning, What They're Not, and What We Can Do About It" nor will I receive any compensation from sales of this resource.  Just posting because I think it is a valuable resource for the field.  Picture of book cover posted wtih editor approval.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

will.i.am Announces Grant 100,000 Strong Foundation to Send Boyle Heights Students to China

Entertainer and philanthropist will.i.am last Thursday announced a major grant from the 100,000 Strong Foundation to his i.am.boyle heights center to create new opportunities for area students to learn Mandarin and study in China.

The $100,000 contribution is part of an ongoing effort by the 100,000 Strong Foundation - launched by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last month - to strengthen the US-China relationship by expanding and diversifying the number of Americans studying Mandarin and studying in China. will.i.amannounced the 100,000 Strong Foundation gift along with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and students from the Boyle Heights neighborhood of LA at the i.am.angel Foundation's 2013 TRANS4M conference at the California Science Center.

"The partnership between i.am.boyle heights and the 100,000 Strong Foundation will give kids from my neighborhood the opportunity of a lifetime," will.i.am said. "Learning Mandarin and studying in China can be transformative. I am so grateful to the 100,000 Strong Foundation for helping open doors for these bright and talented young people."

Over the next two summers, the 100,000 Strong Foundation gift will send at least 10 students from Theodore Roosevelt High School to China through Americans Promoting Study Abroad (APSA). It will also help create an after-school Mandarin language program at the i.am.boyle heights center.

"We are thrilled to be working with will.i.am and the i.am.angel Foundation to create new opportunities for Boyle Heights students to learn Mandarin and study abroad," said Carola McGiffert, president of the 100,000 Strong Foundation. "The 100,000 Strong Foundation knows that the future of the US-China relationship rests with our students. They are the leaders of tomorrow who will solve our greatest global challenges."

Said Mayor Villaraigosa: "The city of LA is proud to be a partner of the 100,000 Strong Foundation and to help carry out its very important mission. And as a Boyle Heights native, today's announcement is particularly special. The opportunities created through 100,000 Strong and i.am.angel will arm these students with the cultural understanding, language skills and global experiences to chart our future."

The 100,000 Strong Foundation works with the Confucius Institute at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), which will provide Mandarin language and martial arts classes two days a week starting in September and will offer additional opportunities for Boyle Heights students to study in China under the Chinese government's Bridge Scholarship program.