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Faculty recognized for international efforts
By JOHN WOOD
Reporter Contributor
Maria S. Horne, associate professor of theatre and dance, and D. Joseph Mook, professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, will receive 2005 Chancellor's Awards for Internationalization to support new UB study abroad programs they are developing for summer 2006.
Horne's award is for a program titled "Theatre, Cultures and Civilization in Romania," a four-week program that is expected to be conducted in July 2006 for 12-15 undergraduate and graduate students. The program in Romania will allow students to participate in the world-renowned International Theatre Institute (ITI), organized by the ITI-UNESCO Chair of Theatre and Culture of Civilizations in Bucharest.
Mook's program, titled "Intensive Engineering Program in Thailand," will be based at Chiang Mai University (CMU), UB's longstanding exchange partner institution and one of the leading universities in Thailand. Some 15-20 engineering students are expected to enroll in the six-week program in May-June 2006. Together with local students at CMU, the UB students will attend English-language engineering classes taught by Mook.
"I am delighted that Professor Horne and Professor Mook are to receive the Chancellor's Award this year," said Stephen C. Dunnett, vice provost for international education. "I congratulate them on these truly innovative programs. They are a great addition to our study abroad offerings. I believe both programs will attract a good number of students both from UB and from other SUNY institutions."
Sandra Flash, director of study abroad programs, noted that UB is able to offer such an impressive portfolio of exchange and study abroad programs thanks to such creative and dedicated faculty members as Horne and Mook.
"Our faculty's commitment to developing and leading exciting new overseas programs has not only greatly enhanced opportunities for students to gain critically important international experiences, but also revolutionized our approach to study abroad through the delivery of short-term, discipline-specific programs," Flash said.
The Chancellor's Award for Internationalization was established last year by the SUNY Office of International Programs (OIP) to support the development of short-term, overseas academic projects in less commonly traveled countries. The award includes a grant of $8,000, which is used to defray the costs of developing and administering the programs, and thereby reducing the cost charged to program participants.
Twelve grants are awarded each year. Last year, UB faculty received three awards, the highest number in SUNY. With two awards in 2005, UB is again first among SUNY institutions in terms of the number of awards received.
The awards are part of SUNY System Administration's long-range plan to internationalize the State University. To that end, OIP created an annual peer-reviewed competition to award grants system-wide for the development and implementation of innovative, study-abroad projects.
The program in Romania, which will be conducted principally in Bucharest and Sinaia, represents a unique opportunity for students to gain hands-on experiences as participants and practitioners in performing arts productions, working with counterparts from many other countries who attend the ITI-UNESCO workshops.
Participants will study the complexity of the international theatre scene during intensive international drama workshops presented by ITI master teachers. Students also will discover the distinctive culture of the Balkans while visiting Bucharest, Northern Moldavia, and Transylvania. Classes will be in English, although students will be encouraged to familiarize themselves with Romanian and other languages utilized by their international peers.
Prior to departure, students will take part in a one-week orientation conducted online. Once in Romania, students will embark on a one-week study tour of the performing arts in Romania and neighboring countries. The final two weeks of the program will be on-site at the International Drama Workshops in Sinaia, Romania.
Horne is an award-winning international master teacher, director, actor, producer and performing arts judge. Her two main areas of research are method acting and international performing arts. During the past two decades, she has presented her artistic and academic work throughout the United States and in more than 20 countries.
Founding director of the UB's International Artistic and Cultural Exchange Program (IACE), Horne has fostered a better cultural understanding at the university by presenting international artists of multicultural background. Horne also provides UB students and faculty with learning and cross-cultural research opportunities abroad by making their participation possible at selected international festivals and residencies.
The engineering program in Thailand will afford students the opportunity not only to take classes with their Thai counterparts, but participate together in organized cultural and recreational activities outside of class, and even live in the same dormitory. Consequently, this program will provide an exceptionally rich opportunity for students to develop a deep understanding of contemporary Thailand and its people, while simultaneously earning credits in required engineering courses.
The program at Chiang Mai builds on the highly successful short-term programs Mook has conducted in Europe. In 2003 he launched an innovative engineering program in Troyes, France, at the Universite de Technologie de Troyes (UTT), a program similar in many ways to the one in Thailand. This program takes UB engineering students immediately after the freshman year for an intensive, five-week study program combining a required engineering course (statics) along with a required general elective course on European history and culture.
Assistant dean for international education in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Mook has published and presented frequently on international engineering education. His leadership in the field was recognized by his election as the chair of the Executive Committee of the Global Engineering Education Exchange (Global-E3), the largest such organization for engineering student exchanges in the world, which includes leading institutions in 19 nations, among them some 35 US member institutions.
Faculty and staff who would like additional information about the Chancellor's Awards for Internationalization or about developing new study abroad programs may contact Flash at 645-3912.