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Summer 2012 International Connections 


Several ILS faculty have been busy this summer making connections with international visitors or traveling to conduct research in other countries. Below are a few highlights from Drs. Liu, Okobi, Brown, and CS Kim.


July 17th Lecture to Visiting Students


 

A group of about 30 freshmen from Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea, visited Harvard, MIT, Yale, University of Maryland, and Southern. Students were studying in a range of disciplinary areas from the sciences to the humanities and interdisciplinary areas such as biomedical technology. Many of the students are considering studying in the United States as part of their undergraduate or graduate studies. While at Southern Dr. Mary E. Brown gave a lecture on 'Succeeding in America' in which she presented research on  economic and occupational mobility, comparisons of value systems of Korea and the United States, discussed precursors to success, and practical applications in defining success of the individual within a group versus the success of the [cultural] group. Dr. Chang Suk Kim, department chairperson, also gave a presentation on interdisciplinary opportunities and considerations. The trip was funded by Kyung Hee University. 


Research in Kenya

 


 

Dr. Elsie Okobi spent a month traveling with American Friends of Kenya,(AFK) a non-profit organization based in Connecticut. The group collects and donates library books and materials for schools and public libraries in Kenya, There are three groups within the AFK volunteers, Library Group, responsible for helping organize the donated books and training teachers and librarians to set up and run the libraries., a medical team that provides health screening and training nurses and mid-wives in maternal health and infant care  and an education group responsible for helping the teachers develop instructional materials.

Dr. Okobi was part of the library group, and visited several libraries including the newest academic library in the Jomo Kenyatta University, Kenya National Library in Nairobi and Kisumu. She conducted an Internet workshop for the librarians in Kisumu. AFK started setting up resource sharing among the various libraries that were getting books and materials; the network of libraries has grown and makes it possible for the library materials to be distributed among many more regional and satellite libraries. More on the resource sharing when I get back.

Pictured above in one village is a group of school children.

 


Work at the Ben Enwonwu Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria 

 


Dr. Elsie Okobi traveled July-August to The Ben Enwonwu Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria to do fieldwork in collecting and organizing the works of Ben Enwonwu (1917-1994), hailed as the most important artist of the 20th century, in order to prepare a book proposal for a catalog based on the images collected. She will also work with staff at the Foundation to train them in cataloging of the images of the works for a digital collection. This research is funded under a CSUS Research Grant.

 

Above, Anyanwu or The Awakening (1955), one of Ben Enwonwu's greatest works. The Federal Government of Nigeria presented this work to the United Nations on October 5, 1966 in support of world peace.

 

June 9th Workshop with Visiting University officials and professors


On June 9th, following greetings from Dr. Chang Suk Kim, department chairperson, Dr. Yan Liu held a workshop for about 20 scholars and officials visiting from China. The group, the Chinese Delegates on Distance Learning, came from different cities or provinces of China's Radio and TV Universities. 

The Chinese Distance Learning Delegation group has been visiting Southern since 2003. Chinese educators realized that universities and colleges in the United States have established a very effective and advanced distance learning and on-line education system. The Master of Library Science degree at Southern Connecticut State University has gained rich experiences in this area which it has been sharing. The Delegation was especially interested in visiting Southern to discuss with us:

  • General information on Southern Connecticut State University;
  • On-line students enrollment, courses establishment, examinations,
  • degree offer;
  • Our appraisal and evaluation standard on distance learning;
  • The prospect of possible cooperation with Chinese institutions on
  • distance learning.