EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

2004-2005 FACULTY SENATE

The fifth regular meeting of the 2004/2005 Faculty Senate will be held on

Tuesday, January 25, 2005, at 2:10 in the Mendenhall Student Center Great Room. 

 

FULL AGENDA

  I.           Call to Order

 

II.                      Approval of Minutes

 

               December 7, 2004

 

III.           Special Order of the Day

 

               A.     Roll Call


B.     Announcements

               C.     Steve Ballard, Chancellor

                        Reports on Faculty Employment including Longitudinal Profile of Faculty Tenure Status and

                        Tenure Status of Permanent and Temporary Faculty by Unit

 

               D.     John Lehman, Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies

               E.     Moment in History, Henry Ferrell

 

               F.      Jeff Passe, UNC Faculty Assembly Chair

 

               G.     Catherine Rigsby, Chair of the Faculty

 

H.     Ad Hoc Strategic Planning Committee for International Affairs,
Seodial Deena and Rick Niswander

         Report on the Internationalization Goals for 2009 and a Plan for Achieving Them

         (attachment 1.)

 

               I.       Question Period

 

 IV.         Unfinished Business

 

V.                   Report of Committees

 

                A.    University Curriculum Committee, Timothy Hudson

Curriculum matters contained in the minutes of the December 9, 2004, and January 13, 2005, meetings.

 

                B.    Committee on Committees, Henry Ferrell

1.         Nominees for two delegates and two alternates to the UNC Faculty Assembly (attachment 2).

                        2.         Nominee for alternate position on the Faculty Grievance Committee (attachment 3).

 

C.        Educational Policies and Planning Committee, Charles Hodson

Request to change the name of the Department of Industrial Technology to the Department of Technology Systems.          

 

D.        Academic Standards Committee, George Bailey

1.         Proposed Revised Peer Review Instrument to include Review of Distance Education

Courses (attachment 4).

2.         Proposed Revised Goals of the Liberal Arts Foundations Curriculum (attachment 5).

 

 

VI.                 New Business

 

               Resolution on Graduation with Distinction, Mohammad Tabrizi (attachment 6).

 


______________________________________________

 

Attachment 1.

 

AD HOC STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Report on the Internationalization Goals for 2009 and a Plan for Achieving Them

 

Introduction

Charge 

In January, 2004, Interim Vice Chancellor James LeRoy Smith created the Ad Hoc Strategic Planning Committee for International Affairs and named us as its members.  His charge to us was:

 

“[E]xamine where we are right now with respect to our several international programs: what are our strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.  I then ask you to determine a set of realistic goals that we should achieve by 2009 and to devise a plan of action whereby we can achieve those goals.  In particular, I hope that the Committee will look into such important areas as study abroad opportunities for our students; the size and character of our international student body; our linkages with sister universities overseas; the global interests and experience of our faculty; the internationalization of the curriculum; and indeed possibilities for internationalizing the very fiber of the University.” 

 

Dr. Smith asked that we examine these several topics over Spring Term and that we give to him by May 15, 2004, a report detailing our recommendations.  This document is that report.

 

Our intent is to provide a blueprint whereby, over the next five years, the University might better enable students, faculty, staff, and indeed the wider community to become more aware about the world in which we live.  Our blueprint indicates ways in which the University’s people might gain the knowledge and skills to be effective global citizens.  More to the point our document outlines a series of steps to develop at ECU a truly international campus culture.

 

The Timeliness of Our Report

We are not alone in seeking to internationalize a campus culture.  Since 9/11, colleges and universities throughout the nation have placed high priority on international education.   In preparing our report, we have profited from the thinking and experience of others. In particular we have benefited from the advice of colleagues in the UNC Office of the President and at several of our sister UNC institutions.  Indeed, our Report, like so many others in the University System, is a conscious response to "Strategic Direction 5: Internationalization" that was adopted by the UNC Board of Governors (BOG) in January 2002 and recently reaffirmed in the BOG’s Long-Range Plan 2004-2009.   The aim of that Strategic Direction is to “[p]romote an international perspective throughout the University community to prepare citizens to become leaders in a multi-ethnic and global society."  We are indebted to the Board for its leadership in this important area, and we are grateful for the assistance of the Office of the President in helping us create our ECU response.  In particular, we relied heavily on UNC Senior Vice President Gretchen Bataille's paper, "Internationalization and the University of North Carolina."  

 

Our report is timely in other respects as well.  We write just as ECU is developing its next Five-Year Plan covering the period 2004 to 2009.  Indeed, our document is designed to form an important part of the Five-Year Plan for the Division of Academic Affairs.   We seek to elaborate on several of the goals cited in the Academic Affairs Strategic Plan of February, 2004, notably: AA#2 “Expand opportunities for ECU students to study abroad”; AA#4 “Investigate and support development of international education and global initiatives”; AA#15 “Foster and develop diversity through effective hiring and student recruitment”; AA#16 ”Expand and diversify ECU’s international student population”; and AA#17 “Expand undergraduate and graduate D[istance] E[ducation] offerings.”

 

The document was also written with an eye toward defining a more useful role for the ECU Office of International Affairs (OIA).  The Office is now at a crossroads.  Particularly over the past few years it has been buffeted a great deal; some have even suggested that it has lost its sense of direction.   It is time that we examine and redefine its role in the internationalization process, clearly identifying those tasks which are and are not the responsibility of the OIA.  Equipped with a better understanding of the Office’s role, we can more intelligently begin the search for a permanent Director of International Affairs.  It is our hope that

 

within the next five years the OIA will be so successful and international affairs so important a campus activity that the Director of the Office will merit the title of Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

 

The Meaning of Internationalization. 

We define internationalization in the same way as does UNESCO, the International Association of Universities, and many campuses including our sister University in Greensboro.   Internationalization is "a range of activities, policies, and services that integrate an international and intercultural dimension into the teaching, research, and service functions of the institution." [Jane Knight, "Internationalization: Management Strategies and Issues," International Education Magazine, IX, 1 (1993), pp. 6, 21, and 22].   This definition gives clear indication that the international aspects of the university can no longer be compartmentalized into discrete departments, centers, and programs.  Rather, internationalization must touch on all aspects of the campus and inform its several functions.  Internationalization should permeate, in the words of Dr. Smith’s charge, “the very fiber of the University.”

 

The Purpose and Structure of this Document. 

The purpose of this document is to outline a series of goals to be achieved by the year 2009.  We recommend that these goals be interpreted within the context of the University Plan, 2004-09.  For each goal we outline a series of strategies for its achievement, and then a set of benchmarks by which progress toward achievement might be measured.

 

Five Goals for 2009

 

Goal One: To Incorporate International Education into the University's Mission Statement. 

No doubt in response to the BOG’s Strategic Direction 5, over half of the institutions in the UNC System now include some reference in their Mission Statements to international education or global awareness.  Unfortunately, ECU is not among those institutions, and that should be corrected forthwith.  ECU’s Mission Statement needs to indicate briefly but clearly that the University is committed to international education, and that internationalization is an institutional goal. 

 

Strategy.  To accomplish this objective, we recommend that:

¨      International education be included in the Mission Statement.  The Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs should request the ECU Advisory Committee for International Programs to review the current Mission Statement and make recommendations of appropriate wording to be incorporated in it.   Benchmark:  This task should be completed by May, 2005.

 

Goal Two: To Expand and Diversify Overseas Opportunities for ECU Students. 

While ECU may be justly proud of its numerous summer study abroad programs, the University’s semester and year-long study abroad options are another story.  Over the past five years we have witnessed a steady decline in the number of ECU students participating in academic year abroad programs, particularly student exchange programs.  That is particularly disturbing because UNC institutions—as a result of their extremely low in-state tuition and fees—are admirably positioned to offer extremely cost-effective student swap programs.  Other institutions in the System capitalize upon that advantage, and we should as well.  Getting our numbers up is clearly the responsibility of the Office of International Affairs, and this ought to be top priority for that office.

 

Strategies.  We recommend several strategies to achieve this goal:

¨      Increase twenty-fold the number of ECU students participating in international swap programs.   That is not as ambitious a goal as it sounds because we start from such a low base.  This year (2003-04), only fifteen ECU students went overseas on student swap arrangements.  It would be ambitious but not unrealistic to increase that number to 300 by 2009.  Other UNC institutions much smaller than ECU regularly send overseas over that number every year, and indeed five years ago ECU itself sent almost 40 students annually on international exchange.  We need to get back on track.  Benchmarks: The Office of International Affairs, working with faculty, the administration, and development will increase the numbers of students going on study abroad by 60 in each of the five years, 2004-09 so that by 2009 300 students will be on academic term and academic year study abroad.

 

¨      Enlarge the endowment to provide travel grants for study abroad participants.  To achieve the numbers indicated in the previous paragraph the OIA should have a larger endowment, at least $2 million more than we have now, that would provide travel funds to enable more students to go on study abroad.  The creation of such an endowment is quite feasible as has been shown by the success of our sister institutions in the UNC system in raising sizeable funds for this purpose.  Indeed we already have in place the Rivers Endowment and the funding in the EC Scholars program that is now earmarked to support Study Abroad. But we need more resources.  Benchmarks:  In close cooperation with University Development and as part of the upcoming Centennial Capital Campaign, OIA should aim to raise an average of $400,000 in each of the next five years.

 

¨      Expand our linkages with overseas universities.  The mechanism that enables most international student swaps is the bilateral exchange agreement.  At one time or other, ECU had 40 such agreements with partners all over the world.  By the end of 2003, we were down to only five active agreements.   If we are to be successful in sending students (and indeed faculty as well) overseas, we should plan over the next five years to establish at least five new and active agreements each year so that we have at least 30 new agreements by 2009.  Benchmarks:   ECU should negotiate and sign five new bilateral student exchange agreements with overseas partners in each of the next five years.

 

¨      Initiate exchange programs with new countries and regions.  There has been an unfortunate tendency at ECU (as well as at many other institutions) simply to respond to initial student demand rather than to build new interests.  Thus, ECU has over the years sent a disproportionate number of students to such places as Australia and the United Kingdom.  But the world is a bigger place and we need to exert some leadership to entice students (perhaps with the offer of additional Rivers or other scholarship money) to take the less-well-traveled paths to such destinations as Brazil, China, Japan, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.  Benchmarks:  Of the five new bilateral agreements to be signed each year from 2004-2009, at least two should be with institutions outside Western Europe.

 

¨      Increase participation in ISEP and the UNC-EP.   While we recommend that priority be placed upon the expansion of our bilateral student exchange programs, we ought also to take full advantage of two important student swap programs in which ECU participates.   One is the International Student Exchange Program, or ISEP; the other is the University of North Carolina Exchange Program, or UNC-EP.  Both are tuition and fee (and in ISEP’s case room and board as well) swap programs.  Thus they are comparable in cost to bilateral programs.  Our participation in these programs has been in steady decline over the last five years: this year, we sent only three students on the UNC-EP program, and one on ISEP.  We should reverse this decline and resolve to send at least ten students per year on each program in each of the next five years.  Benchmarks:  Over the period 2004-09, ECU will send each year ten students overseas on ISEP and the UNC-EP.

 

¨      Create new, cost-effective, study abroad options.  While the heart of ECU’s study abroad program will remain the exchange program, we should not rely solely on that mechanism alone.  For example, the ECU Department of Foreign Languages relies on our participation in the cost-effective Consortium programs organized by UNC-Wilmington and UNC-Charlotte to get its language students to, respectively, France and Spain.  Programs like these should continue, and perhaps we might look to other, equally economical--although non-exchange--options for groups of ECU students to study abroad.  For example, we might send our students to Mexico in cooperation with the North Carolina Center for International Understanding, a unit of the UNC System.  We recommend the development of two new such programs by 2009.  Benchmarks: ECU will create one new, cost-effective, non-exchange training site by 2006, and another by 2008.

 

¨      Expand summer abroad options.  The bright spot in ECU study abroad has been the vibrancy of our summer programs.  Last summer (2003), 176 students went overseas on a dozen programs.  The success of those programs was primarily due to the enthusiasm and dedication of the 16 ECU faculty members who organized and led them, sometimes in the face of bureaucratic hurdles that would discourage lesser spirits.  While we do recommend that considerable attention be paid to our student swap programs—because that is where the needs are most critical—we hardly wish to leave the impression that our emphasis in that area implies a diminished interest in summer programs.  There is a place for each in ECU study abroad; they are not in competition.  The need to get more ECU students overseas is so great that we should employ and expand all opportunities.  Benchmarks:  Increase the number of summer study abroad programs by two in each of the next five years so that an additional ten will be added by 2009 as to increase overall student participation to 250.

 

¨      Establish new internship and service learning opportunities overseas. We recommend that a new kind of overseas experience—internships in overseas companies and service learning in international organizations—be added to the store of student opportunities.  To be sure the establishment of such a new program is fraught with difficulty: placement of our students in internships and service learning positions is hard enough in the United States, let alone overseas.  But for some programs—international business is one, the MAIS is another—international internships are a necessity.  Benchmarks: From 2004-09, we should place five ECU students per year in internships in overseas environments. 

 

Goal Three:  To Increase and Diversify ECU’s International Student Population.

The number of international students on the ECU campus remains embarrassingly small.  In Fall Term, 2003, we counted 188 international students (degree-seeking and exchange)—a mere .85% of our total student enrollment of 22,000.  To give a little comparison, among our 15 peer institutions, the average international student population is around 850, representing an average of 4.6% of total enrollment (please see Appendix I).  If 4.6% of ECU’s current enrollment were international students, we would have an international student population of just over 1,000.  Getting to such a number will take some time, but surely we can get at least half way there over the next five years.  Numbers alone are not the whole story, of course.  We should also take steps to diversify our foreign student population and make better use of it as an educational resource.  The campus unit that should lead the recruitment (and retention) effort is the Office of International Affairs.  It should bear the primary responsibility for implementing all of the following strategies.

 

Strategies.  To accomplish these objectives we propose to:

¨      Increase the number of degree-seeking international students to 500.   In Fall Term, 2003, ECU had 159 degree-seeking international students: 50 undergraduates and 109 graduate students.  The main reason why our numbers are so low is that, hitherto, we have been reactive rather than proactive in international student recruitment.  We recommend a change in that approach and ask that the Office of International Affairs, in close cooperation with the Undergraduate Admissions and the Graduate School, embark on an ambitious and vigorous marketing and recruitment campaign.   Benchmarks:  The degree-seeking international student population should be increased to 199 by Fall Term 2004; 259 by Fall Term 2005; 336 by Fall Term 2006; 420, Fall Term 2007; and 500 by Fall Term 2008.

 

¨      Increase the Number of International Exchange Students on the ECU campus.   As indicated in the section on study abroad, we advocate an expansion of ECU’s various international student swap programs such that 300 ECU students will be participants by 2009.  One of the great benefits of such swap programs is that they bring to our campus an equal number of international exchange students.  Thus, in expanding our swap programs for ECU students, we improve our international student numbers as well.  Benchmarks:  The number of international exchange students coming to ECU should increase by 60 in each of the next five years until 300 are enrolled by 2009.

 

¨      Create an Intensive English Language Program on the ECU Campus.   To assist in recruitment, we need an Intensive English Language Program (IELP).  We recommend that a reputable IELP (such as the INTERLINK Language Centers that operates on five U.S. campuses including UNC-Greensboro) be invited to set up and run our program.  The benefits would be many: an experienced IELP can help in our recruitment efforts; in connection with it we can offer such attractive options as the institutional TOEFL and conditional admissions; and the program would add at least 35 students to our international student population.   Benchmarks:  Open an Intensive English Language Program on the ECU campus by Fall Term 2005, and assist its growth so that by 2009 it would enroll at least 35 students.

 

¨      Diversify the international student body.  We ought not to be obsessed with numbers alone.  We should also be concerned with the diversification of our international student body.  Of the 159 degree-seeking international students enrolled in Fall Term 2003, 62 (39%) came from only two countries: China and India.  Likewise, 80% of our incoming exchange students are from Europe.  We lag in student representation from the Caribbean and Central and South America, and host only a handful of students from the Middle East and Africa.  While much of this picture is determined by economic and political circumstances beyond our control, we could still take steps—for example, by implementing the proposed Graduate School Support Plan--to provide financial aid to needy international students.  We should aim to increase to 100 by 2009 the number of international students coming from less-represented world areas.  Benchmarks:  In each of the five years 2004-09 increase by 20 per year the number of students from the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Middle East, and Africa.

 

¨      Make better use of international students as an educational resource.  The reason we want more international students on our campus is not for tuition dollars.  Rather, it is because of the tremendous educational opportunity that they present to our students, faculty, and community.  Up until recently, however, ECU has not done a very good job in deriving educational benefit from its international students.  We applaud recent efforts to reverse things: the new Honors/International Students’ dormitory that will open in fall 2005; the Office of International Affairs’ weekly gatherings of international and American students that started last fall; the international festival held in April 2004.  But we can do more. We could, for instance, utilize foreign students as language informants; create programs of outreach into the local schools and into New North Carolinian immigrant groups; and make better use of our international graduates who could assist in recruitment activities overseas.  Benchmarks: In each year, 2004 to 2009, add one new international-student learning program.


Goal Four: To Internationalize the ECU Faculty and Staff. 

Faculty members who have spent time overseas invariably incorporate an international perspective into their teaching and research.  Such faculty members also become firm advocates for internationalization throughout the University and enthusiastic volunteers for all kinds of international projects.  If internationalization is an institutional priority, it is crucial to invest in the faculty.   As is indicated below, the Office of International Affairs should bear the responsibility for implementing some of the following strategies while other campus bodies should take the lead with respect to the others.

 

Strategies.  We recommend several strategies for internationalizing the faculty:

¨      Provide intramural support for faculty to get international experience.  The University must provide opportunity for faculty to acquire international experience.   Indeed, international contacts by our faculty would increase ECU’s visibility that, among other things, would aid in international student recruitment.  At the very least, there should be a budget within the Office of International Affairs that would enable faculty to travel overseas to inspect study abroad sites, to explore international linkage possibilities, to attend professional meetings in other countries, etc.  An annual budget of, say, $50,000 would enable 50 faculty members to go overseas each year.    Benchmarks: In each of the five years 2004-08, OIA should support 50 faculty members going overseas so that by 2009 upwards of 250 faculty members will have had the opportunity to gain international experience.

 

¨      Triple the number of ECU faculty members receiving Fulbright and other such awards.   While short visits are better than nothing, the best kind of international exposure is an extended period of work and residence abroad; and there are several fellowship opportunities (Fulbright, NATO, NSF, DAAD, Rotary, etc.) that can provide support for such in-depth experiences.  On average, ECU faculty receive only three such awards per year.  We should triple that number by 2009.  To get there, we should encourage and reward participation in such programs, and reduce the bureaucratic impediments that too often deter faculty from pursuing—or even accepting--such awards.  The OIA, working with ECU’s Fulbright Committee, should take the lead in promoting Fulbright and similar programs.  Benchmarks: In each of the years 2004-09, OIA should aim to increase the number of Fulbright and similar grants to faculty by one to two per year, until by 2009 we average at least nine such awards annually.

 

¨      Establish an international faculty swap program.   While it is always pleasant to receive a Fulbright award, external funding is not a sine qua non for faculty exchange.   Much can be done simply by rechanneling existing resources.  In this regard, ECU should institute by this coming year (2004-05) a faculty exchange program whereby our faculty may swap places for an academic term or year with colleagues in universities overseas.  Each would retain his or her regular salary and benefits while on exchange; thus the lion’s share of the costs of the program would be covered by existing resources.  Once the program is up and running (in academic year 2005-06) we should aim to have three ECU faculty on faculty swaps each year.  OIA should bear the responsibility for creating and conducting this program.  Benchmarks:   Establish the faculty swap program in AY 2004-05, and do three swaps per year thereafter, thus providing a total of twelve such exchanges by 2009.

 

¨      Increase the number and make better use of international visiting scholars.  One added benefit of a faculty swap program is that it would bring to campus more visiting scholars that have expertise in regions where our resources are thin. This year (2003-04), ECU plays host to 13 visiting scholars from overseas.  We should increase the number of such scholars by 100% (to 26) by the year 2009.  Equally important, we should develop programs to make better use of these faculty members as an educational resource by asking them—as a condition of our hosting them--to make presentations to ECU and Eastern North Carolina organizations, meet with faculty and student groups, etc., to inform our community about their home countries and regions.  That is particularly true of the Rivers Visiting Professorship.  It should be revitalized by making it adhere more closely to the original intent of the program.  We call on the OIA to organize these efforts.  Benchmarks:  In each of the five years 2004-09, we should increase the number of visiting scholars on the ECU campus by two to three per year, until by 2009 26 are resident on campus.

 

¨      Provide awards that encourage faculty excellence in international education.  Right after the institution endorses internationalization in its Mission Statement, we ask that it then establish annual awards to honor faculty who have contributed significantly in the international arena.  We are thinking of perhaps a Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in International Education, and perhaps even separate awards for teaching and for research.  That would be a clear message to faculty that ECU is committed to the globalization effort.  Benchmarks:  Beginning in 2005,   ECU should annually award one internationally-related award in teaching and another in research.

 

¨      Consider evidence of global awareness as a factor in hiring new faculty.  One cost-effective way to increase faculty awareness of international matters is to include evidence of it as one of the factors considered in new faculty hiring.  In allocating positions, administrators should give attention to world regions (e.g., Middle and South America and the Middle East) in which faculty expertise is thin.  In some fields evidence of international expertise might be a key criterion.  In others, it might be used more subtly, such as a determining factor when all other things seem equal.   However the criterion is applied, we urge departments and search committees to take an awareness of international matters into account in their future hiring, and even to advertise position openings in overseas publications.  Benchmark: We ask that this proposal be discussed in the Deans Council sometime during Academic Year 2004-05, and if there is agreement on our recommendation, we ask that the Council work towards its implementation as soon thereafter as practicable.

 

¨      Consider international experience as one criterion in promotion and tenure decisions.   We recommend that–should a candidate choose to cite it in his or her dossier--international experience become one of the evidences of quality (within of course the traditional categories of Research, Teaching, and Service) that determine promotion and tenure. We ask the Faculty Senate (or some other body deemed appropriate by Senate leadership) to study the feasibility of this recommendation; and, if the recommendation is accepted, we ask that units and departments be encouraged to implement it. Benchmark: During 2004-05, we ask the Senate to review the proposal that international experience be considered in the process of determining promotion and tenure.

 

¨      Increase the number of externally-funded international projects to five.  Some enterprising ECU faculty have had considerable success in applying for federal grants to support international programs (notably the several programs supporting exchanges with Russia and Eastern Europe, and those funding exchanges with Japan).  But we can do better.   ECU should aim to have, by 2009, at least five different, federally-funded, international projects with a combined dollar value of at least $1 million.   While the Office of International Affairs and the Office of Sponsored Research can and should be supportive of this effort, the pursuit and execution of such grants, as well as the reaping of benefits from successful applications, should remain faculty prerogatives.  Benchmarks:  In each of the years from 2004-09, ECU faculty should aim to receive at least one new federal grant in support of the international activities.

 

¨      Establish an international staff swap program.  The process of internationalizing ECU ought not to neglect the ECU staff--the people who house our international students, deal with foreign credit and credentials, expedite faculty travel requests, etc.   As they are very much part of the institution’s internationalization effort, we should provide them with a program, administered by the OIA, to gain an international perspective.   Likewise, it would be very useful for staff from our overseas partners, who deal with ECU faculty and students on a regular basis, to become acquainted with how we do things in Greenville.  Benchmarks:  By Spring Term 2005, and in cooperation with our overseas partners, OIA should have in place a staff swap program involving at least two key staff members each way each year, so that by 2009 eight ECU staff members will have participated in the program.

 

Goal Five: To Promote More Global Awareness through the ECU Curriculum.

It would be wonderful if all ECU students could study abroad for a semester or a full academic year, but the reality is that for the foreseeable future the great majority of our students will not have that experience.  For them, it is primarily the curriculum offered at the home campus in Greenville that will provide that global awareness so necessary in the twenty-first century.  While the current ECU curriculum has much strength in international education, it can and ought to be improved.  That improvement should build on existing strengths, while simultaneously expanding proactively into other areas, especially non-western ones that have been relatively neglected or marginalized. The overall goal is to provide ECU students with a balanced curriculum addressing the diversity of the world, traditional and modern.   As the Office of International Affairs is an administrative unit, it would be improper for it to play a leadership role in curricular change and development.  Rather, as the curriculum is a faculty concern, we look to the faculty to achieve this goal.

 

Strategies. To internationalize the curriculum we propose the following courses of action:

¨      Create within Academic Affairs a Committee on International Curricular Initiatives (CICI).     If progress in globalizing the curriculum is to be made, the effort needs a structure and strong leadership; and for reasons just stated, it would be improper for the OIA to lead the charge.  We therefore suggest the establishment of a Committee on International Curricular Initiatives, or CICI.  The Committee should include faculty with recognized international expertise.  It should report to Academic Affairs and be designed to work on curriculum development in international education, particularly as it cuts across departmental, school and college lines.  It would also take leadership in seeking external funding for international education initiatives.  It is essential that the Chair of the Committee be a respected member of the ECU faculty, hold senior rank, receive sufficient released time, and have adequate administrative support.  He or she would work with dean-appointed, international education coordinators located in each of the Colleges.  Their task would be to coordinate the efforts of their respective Colleges to internationalize the curriculum with the overall, University-wide effort. Further work of the new Committee, its Chair and the coordinators is described in the following strategies.  Benchmarks:  By December, 2004, Academic Affairs should create a Committee on International Curricular Initiatives, provide the Chair of that Committee with resources to implement its recommendations, and identify international coordinators for each of the Colleges. 

 

¨      Broaden ECU’s offerings in international interdisciplinary programs.   One of CICI’s most important tasks will be to encourage the creation of   interdisciplinary programs focusing on hitherto-neglected world areas--Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East--and the expansion of the existing program in Russian Studies and the recently-approved interdisciplinary minor in Asian Studies.  Where feasible, each program should have a director and draw on faculty expertise from throughout the University.  As far as possible, those programs should be established or expanded with external funding and the CICI should assist them in questing after appropriate grants.  Benchmarks: Working with faculty groups the CICI will seek external support such that, by 2009, at least two new area studies programs are established and existing programs are significantly expanded. 

 

¨      Integrate and expand the teaching of foreign languages and cultures.  We recommend that academic departments and programs be encouraged to incorporate foreign language and cultural studies courses taught by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, working responsively with the curricular needs of those department and programs. We also urge that departments and programs be encouraged to incorporate internationally-related courses offered throughout the University, as well as study abroad opportunities, into their curricula.   In turn, we recommend that the Department of Foreign Languages expand or establish course offerings in less-commonly-taught languages such as Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.  In particular we urge the Department to work with UNC System-wide efforts now underway to teach the less-commonly-taught languages through Distance Education and inter-institutional registration. Benchmarks: By 2009, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures should expand or establish course offerings in less-commonly-taught languages utilizing distance education instruction and other means now being developed in the UNC System.

 

¨      Increase the overall number of internationally-related courses.   An important goal of CICI will be to increase the number of courses that have a significant international component.  An immediate problem in implementing this recommendation is that there are not now any clear criteria as to what constitutes an international or global course.  One of the first tasks of CICI, working with the coordinators and through them with the departments and the faculty, is to come up with such criteria.  Once they are established, CICI should go through the current catalog and identify those courses that meet the criteria.  CICI should then work with faculty so that the total number of internationally-related courses may be increased.    Benchmarks:  By May, 2005, CICI will draw up criteria to identify internationally-related courses, make an inventory of such courses in the catalog, and--beginning in fall, 2005—work with the College coordinators to increase the number.

 

¨      Internationalize the general education requirements.  We recommend that the CICI work with appropriate Faculty Senate committees, such as the Academic Standards Committee, to incorporate an international dimension into the revised general education program.  We additionally recommend that the University add a meaningful international education requirement into its future general education program.  This task will be greatly furthered once the CICI has completed its task of identifying internationally-related courses in the ECU curriculum as many of those could then be marked as courses that might satisfy such a general education requirement.  Benchmark:  As soon as is practicable, this international education requirement should be approved such that by 2009 it is in effect.

 

¨      Expand the programs in International Studies.  We recommend that the undergraduate international studies minor be expanded and upgraded to a major, and that an integrated five-year B.A./M.A. program in international studies be created. We also recommend that two new concentrations for the MAIS (International Affairs Administration and Security Studies) be established by 2006, and that enrollment in the MAIS program be increased by actively recruiting more international students into the program.   Benchmarks: The relevant program directors, assisted by