Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University

Full-Day Schedule for October 12th

Chair and Moderator: Dona Cady, Middlesex Community College

Crossroads: Asian Studies Grants, Research, and Pedagogy at MCC

Dona Cady, Dean of Global Education, Middlesex Community College, Moderator

The potential for Asian Studies infusion into the undergraduate curriculum in liberal education programs often relies on sporadic grants or individual faculty initiatives. For global learning in Asian Studies to transform institutions and students, it must reach a level of full participation to effectively address necessary administrative support, faculty workloads, curriculum, and campus culture (Sturm, 2011).

Through a twenty-three year association with the East-West Center’s Asian Studies Development Program and recent Title VI and The Bridging Cultures grants at Middlesex Community College, we have experienced how interdepartmental collaboration, faculty research, and innovative pedagogy come together to provide measurable evidence of achievement. This busy crossroad unifies general education reform based upon LEAP frameworks, public scholarship, community-based experiential and service learning, with the goal of developing cross-disciplinary knowledge, cultural literacy, and active awareness of individual and collective responsibility.