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Human Capacity DevelopmentThe University: Experience and Qualifications Since its founding in 1855 as the first land grant university in the U.S., Michigan State University has adhered to its original mission: to “strive to discover practical uses for theoretical knowledge, and to speed the diffusion of information to residents of the state, the nation, and the world.” In operational terms, MSU has concentrated on building its strengths in educating and training succeeding generations of researchers both from the U.S. and the world at large. It has sought to establish collaborative links with people and institutions worldwide, broadening its research, academic and service outreach. MSU is recognized as a center of excellence in international development. The academic and professional community at Michigan State is highly diverse and responsive and augments the University’s international goals with a broad array of globally relevant skills and expertise. People from every county in Michigan, every state in the U.S. and 134 countries around the world contribute to the University’s success. Annually, more than 3500 international students and scholars enroll in MSU’s graduate and undergraduate and certificate programs. MSU plays host to hundreds of international visitors every year who come to view campus research facilities, participate in campus life as visiting scholars and specialists, or to meet with MSU colleagues. Hundreds of MSU faculty members are engaged in critical outreach programs in many countries throughout the world, teaching, conducting research or providing technical assistance. For more than 50 years, Michigan State University has been a leader among U.S. universities in international development programs. MSU has had a broad and deepening involvement in conducting technical assistance and research in developing countries, assisting the development of new institutions, and providing training for development tasks. MSU, through its Departments and Institutes and Centers, has also managed projects throughout the world, providing short- and long-term in-country technical assistance, degree and non-degree training programs, and extensive backstopping support from the main campus. The Office of the Dean of International Studies and Programs has overall responsibility for the university’s international initiatives. While historically a majority of MSU’s international development and technical assistance projects have been conducted by faculty in various departments of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, international expertise is increasingly incorporated into all aspects of university life marking MSU as a global university. The Office of Contract and Grant Administration (CGA) holds fiscal audit authority and responsibility for the MSU contractual portfolio with both domestic and international external donors. In fiscal 2006-2007 awards for sponsored projects reached $308 million. To ensure that MSU is aware of, and can comply with the various agency regulations, CGA is organized by funding agency. CGA has a separate group dedicated to administration of international projects. Human Capacity Development MSU faculty expertise is demonstrated in a broad range of development themes, particularly capabilities and development, human rights, technology, capacity development, aid effectiveness, gender. WID Michigan State University’s Women and International Development (WID) Program promotes teaching, research, and action on international development and global transformation as they affect women and gender relations. While WID’s primary focus is the southern hemisphere, the program recognizes that the “South” is a set of relationships rather than a place. Moreover, development and global change bring costs as well as benefits, which are often not shared equitably by men and women of different nations, races, classes, and ethnicities. Established in 1978, MSU’s WID is the longest-standing program of its kind in the nation. WID and MSU’s Center for the Advanced Study of International Development (CASID) are recognized as a National Resource Center by the US Department of Education. More than 300 MSU faculty and graduate students from all colleges are affiliated with WID. The program acts as a catalyst for the scholarly discussion of gender, development, and global change. Under WID a number of specializations are sponsored in the colleges: graduate specialization in gender, justice, and environmental change (GJEC); graduate specialization in international development; and undergraduate majors in global and area studies with a concentration in gender and global change. Graduate fellowships are accessed through WID: Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS) and the Compton-MSU Africa Peace Fellowships. Study abroad opportunities exist through WID as well: diversity and global change undergraduate internships, GJEC internship program, and various gender and development study abroad programs. Environmental and Resource Economics The Economics Department at MSU has an excellent reputation and a long tradition as a training ground for professional economists. The faculty, with more than 40 full-time members, includes numerous nationally and internationally known scholars covering a broad range of interests. (http://grad.msu.edu/ere/home.htm) Environment, Science and Technology A specialization in Sociology, this program focuses on relationships between society and nature: environmental attitudes and cognition, natural resource and risk management, policy and assessment, ideas, constructions and histories of nature, spatial and temporal dynamics of biophysical and sociocultural coevolution, environmental social movement, scientific, technological risk-taking. College of Education At MSU, the Office of International Studies in Education was established in 1984 to promote an international dimension in all aspects of College of Education research, teaching and service. In seeking a comparative understanding of educational policies, institutions and practices, MSU’s goal is to find ways to enhance the learning of children, teachers and other adults in the US while contributing to the worldwide effort of educators to meet the economic, environmental, social, cultural and political challenges of our time. Much attention has been to globalization. The College has become an institution widely recognized for both its work in education in developing countries and for its educational research on what industrialized countries can learn from one another. Currently the College has major projects in a number of key countries: China, Egypt, India and Vietnam. Faculty have done substantial work over the last decade in a growing number of countries: Algeria, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea, Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, South Africa, Thailand, and Zimbabwe. The College’s international experience is enriched by international master’s and doctoral students in education who come from 30-40 countries throughout the world. MSU won the 2004 Goldman Sachs Foundation Higher Education Prize for Excellence in International Education. This higher education award was received by MSU as a “higher education institution that shows exceptional commitment to promoting K-16 international knowledge and skills through its teacher preparation program or through ongoing partnerships with local school to introduce international content.” MSU faculty’s areas of international strength include the following:
Internationalization in professional development for K-12 teachers and administrators Several current initiatives cater to the internationalization of experienced K-12 teachers and administrators. International online teacher resources MSU’s area studies centers have developed an array of free online curricular materials and background resources for K-12 teachers to use (www.isp.msu.edu/resources/web). Three of these websites are region oriented: Exploring Africa from the African Studies Center; LASER, Latin American Schools and Educational Resources from the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Windows on Asia from the Asian Studies Center. The African site was the first to be developed as an initiative under the leadership of John Metzler, Director of Outreach for the African Studies Center. All three sites were developed by faculty experts in consultation with area teachers. In addition to general background information on their respective regions and the countries in them, they provide access to current news and offer a variety of special features. All of them offer curricular materials such as lesson plans for teachers to use in their classrooms. |
