About CSIU
Bergen Community College's commitment to diversity took shape formally in 1979 with the creation of the Center of International Study, which introduced a global perspective to the college. Then in 1983, as ethnic, cultural, and gender differences were becoming more evident on campus, a comprehensive review of curricula determined ways to make instructional programs more inclusive and sensitive to these differences. The Integration Project included faculty and curriculum development activities to integrate new scholarship on gender, race, ethnicity and class. Efforts grew over the years to include a diversity requirement for transfer programs. Along with curricular innovations, student activities highlighting cultural diversity grew so that the college sponsors an array of cultural heritage celebrations featuring poets, noted speakers, theatrical presentations, and concerts.
Now, however, compelling challenges in our rapidly changing society underscore the need to expand, coordinate, and extend the impact of the college's overall diversity effort.
The Bergen Community College Foundation decided to donate 25% of the net proceeds of its 2000 November Medallion Dinner as a fitting memorial on campus of the tragic 9/11 attack. This generous contribution has helped make the Center for the Study of Intercultural Understanding a reality.
The Center has continued to develop as a recipient of $225,000 from the Bildner Foundation New Jersey Campus Diversity Initiative.
BCC Proposal to the Bildner New Jersey Campus Diversity Initiative
Bergen Community College's goals are guided by a vision that the College will truly be a learning community that values the contributions of all students, faculty, staff, administration, and community.
With students representing 114 different countries, Bergen Community College has made substantial progress toward the development and implementation of learning opportunities, programs and activities that support this vision.
MISSION STATEMENT
Working collaboratively with the entire College and Community, CSIU promotes teaching and learning for intercultural understanding and global awareness in our expandingly diverse society.
To achieve its mission, CSIU seeks to:
- Facilitate and coordination intercultural initiatives and activities.
- Encourage faculty, through discussions on curriculum and teaching, to make students aware of global interdependence.
- Fund and develop pedagogy that engages our students in the critical issues of our day.
- Involve students in community issues that enhance racial, religious, and ethnic understanding.
- Build partnerships on campus and throughout Bergen County that foster harmonious communities as well as appreciation of diverse perspectives that deserve respect.
A Vision:
We envision the Center for the Study of Intercultural Understanding as an essential "home" - a resource, advocate, broker, and convener - for intercultural teaching and learning at Bergen Community College.
- CSIU connects existing intercultural learning experiences on campus.
- CSIU brokers partnerships and alliances among and between members of the campus community, the Bergen County community, and the global educational community (including the United Nations).
- CSIU strives to help BCC members explore and draw from best proven practices to foster innovation.
- CSIU leverages the rich diversity of the College's student populations to create new educational synergy.
- CSIU encourages the exploration and study of cultures, both on campus and abroad.
Perhaps most significantly, CSIU promotes meaningful Dialogue across differences, serving the College as a resource to promote civility, conflict resolution, and ethical decision-making. CSIU's guiding principles are inclusiveness, empathy, and respect - the foundations of Dialogue and a solid basis for intercultural teaching and learning.
CURRENT CSIU INITIATIVES: FALL SEMESTER 2008
Study research on the United Nations' Milennium Development Goals
Publications and video production
Dialogue Sessions
Literary and Art Programs
Educational Tools
High School Outreach
Community Engagement
Specific Initiatives:
A special presentation by Dr. Jon Yasin on Hip-Hop as a form of communicating values
A special presentation and poetry workshop by poet Martin Espada, arranged by Professor Stacey Balkan
A college-wide speech competition on topics from the Millennium Development Goals, run by Professor Jane Phelps
A Diversity Seminar on Human Rights, Citizenship, and Liberal Education, involving twenty faculty members, directed by Dr. Diane Krumrey
A course in Cultural Competency for Police, created by Professor Rich Kuiters
The Conversations Cafe dialogue sessions, run by Professor Cristina Haedo
Professor Michael Lees' Religions of the World forums
The Golden Rule dialogue session
The initial programs of the Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation Center, directed by Dr. Keith Chu
The Intercultural Communication Trainer Corps, directed by Annique Nestmann
Cafe Bergen special music for Native American Week, planned by Professor Andrew Krikun
October 17-19, Stand Up and Take Action! - a part of the global movement to stamp out extreme world poverty
OUR PLURALISTIC SOCIETY
With the changing demographics of Northern New Jersey, and the impact of the world on our economy, educating all students for participation in the growing global community is an institutional imperative. Just as we have embraced computer literacy, so we also need to embrace the educational challenges of our changing, multiethnic county. CSIU believes that this growing diversity on campus can be an educational resource. How we tap this resource is our greatest challenge.
Professor Charles Bordogna,
Project Director, CSIU
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