Meeting & Agendas

Discussion: Interim has officially been removed from title. William Hayden is now official Director of International Programs. Charlotte Gullick asked if William shared the information that came out of the SWOT and how that was a big moral point. William Hayden responded that he did share the results of the SWOT with Dr. Soliz. The biggest turning point for Dr. Soliz was attending the Institute of International Education Best Practices Conference, where they do their annual awards for internationalizing the campus. Dr. Soliz saw that what International Programs is trying to do at ACC is very far in advance of other community college efforts. IP is right up there with the activities of four year colleges and universities. Charlotte Gullick asked about the number of programs that are officially going. William Hayden responded that six programs are officially going. 1. Italy – Art History 2. Italy – Drawing 3. Italy – Pastry Arts 4. Costa Rica – Spanish III 5. England – Intro to Theatre 6. Barbados – Sustainable Tourism International Visiting Scholar for the 2013-2014 Academic Year 1. Female scholar from Iran 2. She has a PHD is Human Resources Management and she specializes in Women’s Studies and in particular Gender Discrimination in the Workplace. 3. We have set up a host program that will also include her teaching a course in the spring semester, through the Business Studies department, they have a human resources management course that lends itself to international subject matter that is rarely ever taught, and so Charles has offered this course for her to teach in the spring semester. 4. We have looked at the SACS accreditation issue and it is perfectly fine for us to do that under these sorts of circumstances. Charlotte Gullick asked if ACC provides everything for them. William Hayden responded that the scholar gets a fellowship up to $25,000 from the Scholar Rescue Fund and then the host institution matches that both financially and in kind. ACC will provide a combination of financial supplement and the donated use of a two bedroom apartment near Northridge, as our International Visiting Scholar resident. Issues ACC has to work on in order to continue this program. 1. ACC is not accredited to issue DS-2019s, which are necessary for J-1 visas, which are issued to visiting scholars. 2. Fill gaps in relation to the International Student Office to bring up to a more full scale robust support services, in line with what we are trying to do here at International Programs too. Aarhus Business College Delegation Arrives at the End of Month 1. There are a variety of things taking place around the NISOD conference. 2. They will have direct discussions with Dr. Rhodes on developing a partnership. 3. They will attend site visits that Charles Quinn and Linda Smarzik are setting up for them. 4. We are working on a program what would bring 20 Danish students and faculty here to ACC in November. Economic Partnership between City of Austin and London Borough of Hackney 1. Hackney has become what is called a Tech Center, a label that the British Government has applied to it. 2. It is now a blossoming hub of the tech and creative sectors. In the last few years about 700 new tech and creative sectors business have relocated or started in Hackney. 3. There are new initiatives on the part of Hackney Community College to engage the population that has lived in Hackney for a long time. The working class immigrant neighborhoods that aren’t really benefiting from influx of the tech and creative sectors and the gentrification that is going on. 4. IP has had some email communication about partner with them to supplement their programs and work together. 5. Hackney has been sending a delegation for the last three years now, primarily around SXSW, and this last SXSW they had a Hackney House downtown, where they were showcasing everything that is going on in Hackney. 6. IP met last week with the British Cultural Counselor from the UK Embassy who is also the US Director of the British Council and a couple of the other members of the consulate who are involved with trade and investment. 7. Dr. Soliz will meet the Principle of Hackney Community College while he is in London on June 10th and 11th. Juan Molina asked how Hackney Community College’s structure compares to ACC. William Hayden responded that it is smaller, has a single campus, and they serves about 9,000 students. The academics and course structure are very similar to ACC. Actions: William Hayden will send link to Hackney Community College website to IPAC members. Discussion: Internationalizing Courses, Curriculum, and Instruction Grant 1. Two applications received, reviewed, and approved. 2. Shirin Khospour is developing an international humanitarian law module for use across disciplines and by faculty here at ACC. 3. Rennison Lagee, he is developing a social problems in India course that will have a study abroad component where they will do sociology field work in conjugation with service learning with local entities. 4. With the start of the fall semester IP will announce another round of the grant. Action: Working with Public Information and College Marketing to rebrand International Programs and better disseminate information about grant throughout college. William Hayden will do presentations on the grant to the Faculty Senate, Adjunct Association, department meetings, and the General Assembly. Discussion: What was learned from Summer 2013 Study Abroad Program Cycle Two course requirement for specific programs 1. Originally created this way to help students qualify for financial aid. 2. Offering two courses can create problems for single faculty leaders a. Example: Art History I & II for Roberta’s program. Really no reason for students to take Art History I b. Example: England program – only two or three students wanted to take Acting I, the rest wanted to take Intro to Theatre. So, it made sense to cut Marcus from the program and only send Cassandra. 3. Offering only one course with only one faculty leader could lower total program cost. 4. Programs that make sense to take both courses: a. Any foreign language program – language and conversation b. Barbados – all students were required to take both courses. Charlotte Gullick asked if the programs that are executing were robust or barely made the numbers. William Hayden explained that some were robust and some barely made. 1. Art History – 17 students 2. Drawing – 10 students 3. Pastry Arts – 12 students 4. Spanish III – 10 students 5. Intro to Theatre – 7 students Juan Molina asked if there was a way to move away from the mandatory group flights William Hayden explained that they are no longer a requirement. Flight options include: 1. Students completely responsible for own airfare 2. Students can choose from specific designated group flights 3. Mandatory group flight (most likely to be used with destination that have a higher level of risk involved—Arabic II or Russian for example.) Action: Continue discussion on course requirements and flight options with faculty leaders for Summer 2014 cycle. Discussion: Texas Community College Consortium for International Education I have been circulating this concept paper, around to counterparts at other community colleges here in Texas who have programs. The only positive response I have had is from our colleagues at Alamo College. Some of the other major, Dallas, Houston and Lonestar, they are all going through some problems right now. Houston Community College in particular has some big problems on their plate, so those folks are lying real low. But I do know that many of their programs have been canceled because they don’t have the numbers. So, the NISOD conference is coming up at the end of this month, the last day is May 29th, and there is going to be a morning breakfast on International Education, and we are going to present this concept at that point to try and stimulate some conversation. I met with Ron Aqua, who is the president of the Texas International Education Consortium that only includes the 32 public colleges and universities in Texas. They have some resources that we could take advantage of or we could work with them in some things, but I am a little leery of getting too far in bed with them. I think this is workable, feasible idea; I just need to get some feedback from a larger audience outside of ACC particularly that might indicate a willingness to collaborate on something like this. Charlotte Gullick commented that the two achievement and dream leader colleges, El Paso and McLennan Community College seemed pretty engaged. William Hayden responded that they do not have International Programs. There are only 10 community colleges in Texas that actually have something to offer their students, like a faculty led study abroad program. Discussion: Scholarships for Study Abroad Jan Emberson commented that she is very excited about IP trying to establish a $2500 merit bases scholarship, and asked if there is a target date for that. William Hayden commented that the ACC Foundation is taking the lead and that all it means is that they have International Programs on the agenda when speaking with prospective donors. Charlotte Gullick asked about the possibility of increasing the BOT Scholarships from $50,000 to $75,000 and wondered how much each student could get. William Hayden responded that each student could receive $1,000. Charlotte Gullick asked how many were used during this cycle. William Hayden responded that we awarded 37 scholarships. Charlotte Gullick asked if we could increase the amount given to each student. William Hayden responded that we could have the core $50,000, 50 $1,000 scholarships. And then have 10 highly competitive $2,500 scholarships. I am thinking optimistically that we would have more than 6 study abroad programs next year. And so that there would be more students applying for the BOT scholarships, so being able to have more resources for more students to access while developing additional scholarship such as through the foundation, where we can provide something that is separate from the BOT but is also part of the whole package that we can offer the students, that is something that I am hoping we can develop. Discussion: Marketing of International Programs Juan Molina asked if ACC is planning any ads, like TV ads, that mention International Programs. William Hayden responded Brett and her team are working on a marketing plan, we had a meeting recently about that. They are pulling something together so we can look at it this summer, so we can roll it out for the next academic year. I definitely think it is going to improve and build upon what we have been trying to do and be more effective. Catherine Angell commented that her department has the idea of having an event that focused on a certain country, including food, music, etc., every month. William Hayden commented that initiatives like that linking collaborating with Student life would be an excellent way to be able to integrate student services.

Discussion: William had asked me to put together something that would bring the International Student Office into the 21st century. So, I put in some items, some current challenges, that I think most people don’t really say, that is very restrictive. 1. ACC’s ESL program is not accredited, so we cannot admit International Students to initially study ESL and then create a bridge program and then go into studies. a. Three private ESL agencies i. Astin Academy ii. Texas Consortium for International Education: House of Tutors iii. University of Texas b. Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission has granted 8,000 scholarships in the next two years. c. Jordan recently announced that they are creating 8,000 scholarships for their students to come over to the US to study. d. If we could get ours up and going so we could be accredited so we could admit these students, because the perfect system is to then bridge them over into community college and then move on to a university. 2. Create an International Services Institute that houses International Programs, an Intensive English Institute, and the International Students Office, because they are very interconnected. 3. Get J-1 designation a. We have F-1 and M-1 designation for students to get visas to come over and study, but J-1 is move comprehensive, it can be faculty, scholars, sponsored students, au pairs, physicians, very comprehensive, we can have visiting faculty as well. b. We have to have at least 5 participants per year, or we lose that designation, so if we really want to do that we have to build some of the programming. Juan Molina asked who at ACC would need to be involved in order to get our ESL program accredited. Carol Duss responded that the ESL Department would need to begin that process but they are unsure of where to start. Charlotte Gullick commented on the second to the last item, “Create a separate budget for the ISO to avoid fiscal conflict” and then the second point “office currently has to request funding from Student Life.” That seems like a really practical separation to do immediately; to have more agility or nimbleness with the funding, what is the process for that? Carol Duss responded that she has asked her supervisor, the Director of Admissions, and been turned down. We are restricted base on our reporting structured. If we weren\'t considered part of admission, but maybe a separate entity, or combined with International Programming, or an International Center, I think it would make things a lot more practical for us. William Hayden commented that under the current structure, the International Student Office is not really able to provide comprehensive student services for International Students, not able to engage in recruitment. Carol Duss responded that we do no recruiting, we have no budget. Catherine Angell mentioned that One of the things that interested me most as department chair is the last one about the cultural awareness training and about F-1 students not being able to drop below 12 hours. Once in a while, I will get a thing to resolve between the faculty member and the student, and the student has a grade of 20, and they say, I can’t be dropped or I’ll be deported, I can’t be dropped. And the faculty will come in and say the student has a 20 on these exams, is not progressing, is not learning, my policy on the syllabus is that if they are not progressing they will be dropped, and I have to mediate this. I have called you a couple of time about this too, and it is real hard. Carol Duss responded that with our institutional policy as it is, I don’t interfere, because it is just the way it is. But, I will say at most institutions, they put a lock on it, they do not allow F-1 students to be dropped, and the students fail the class, they do, they fail the class, and that is preferable, at least for immigration purposes anyways. Until a student is suspended, they are maintaining their status, while they are in the U.S., if they fail a class, it is not good for their GPA, but as far as immigration is concerned, they are maintaining their 12 hours. So, that is where we have that conundrum between the faculty and immigration. Every last day of drop, for a week solid, we are negotiating, it is your decision, but yes, this is right, if that student drops below 12 hours, they are out of status, and they have to either, they can leave the country and making a new entry, or they can file for reinstatement, and reinstatement costs around $500, and is not necessarily approved by immigration. Catherine Angell commented that I would like my department to become more involved with the international students, because it would be really great, like if there are French speaking students, Arabic speaking students, Russian speaking students that could interact with our students that are learning. Carol Duss also mentioned ACC Deaf Studies program and the problems with testing for TOEFL on a deaf student. Action: William Hayden will make sure Dr. Soliz sees the Strengthening the Functions of the International Student Office one-sheet.