This project is sponsored jointly by the and the and organized by the here at City College.
At City College of San Francisco, we recognize that our state, our city, and
our students’ business and cultural ties to Asia are strong and will continue
to increase in significance. Through this series of monthly seminars
we are seeking to provide an opportunity to help prepare our students for a
world in which association with Asia is commonplace. Our goals are threefold:
- to increase faculty knowledge and understanding of “Asian perspectives;”
- to increase infusion of these perspectives into the curriculum and
- to increase student knowledge of “Asian perspectives.”
The participants are a select group of approximately twenty instructors from a
variety of disciplines. An expert in an area such as Chinese Religion, Japanese
Drama, Economics of Korea, or History of Vietnam is invited to speak to the group
each month. Reading assignments are provided prior to each seminar. Each speaker
provides preparatory readings. Each seminar includes the lecture by the guest,
an interactive discussion led by the speaker, and an opportunity for small peer
group conversations which reinforce the ideas presented by the lecturer and in
the assigned readings. All instructors are expected to revise
their syllabi to include an Asian perspective and to give a brief presentation
in the May seminar describing or exemplifying these changes. For example, a philosophy
instructor may include a unit on Taoism in his introductory philosophy course
or an economics instructor may use various examples from Japan, China, Korea,
and Vietnam when demonstrating basic principles of macro-economics.
We are in the middle of the third year of the project. Six participants from
the first two years of the series are acting as mentors for the instructors
new to the project. An exchange of classroom visits each semester, at least
one in-person contact each month in addition to attendance at the seminars,
email exchanges, and general availability for assistance are expected of the
mentors.
All inquiries are welcome!