Internationalization Mini-grants
Report: 2005-2006

There were 27 applications for internationalization mini grants in fiscal year 2005-06. Total funds available were $18,000 and proposals in past years were typically funded at the level up to $1,000. This year, a three-member committee (Kim Brown, Christina Luther, Judy Van Dyck) reviewed proposals and funded 18 applications. The funded proposals are briefly described below:

1. Richard White, Assistant Professor, Toulon School of Urban Studies and Planning
$1,000 awarded to explore opportunities for linkage between PSU's undergraduate Community Development major and community partners in Nicaragua as part of a proposed 3-course sequence in international community development, culminating in community development fieldwork in Nicaragua.

2. Jeffrey Hartnett, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture
$500 awarded to publish a booklet tentatively titled "Compare and Contrast: Chinese Urbanization". This booklet will function as a graphic tool that places Chinese urbanization conditions side-by-side-and-at-the-same-time-scale with commonly known Western examples, thus leading to a new and worthwhile appreciation of the scale and speed of China's contemporary urbanization.

3. Marek Elzanowski, Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
$500 awarded to support ongoing research on the mathematical modeling of continuous distributions of defects in solids, through supporting the writing of a monograph based on research developed jointly with Dr. Marcelo Epstein from the University of Calgary and Dr. Gareth Parry of the University of Nottingham.

4. Susan Davis Lenski, Professor, Graduate School of Education
$1,000 awarded to build on PSU's relationship with the Guatemalan Reading Association and the Ministry of Education in Guatemala, by using the grant to revise and publish materials to be used as content for a presentation at the 2007 Guatemalan Reading Association Conference, which supports efforts to improve literacy through more effective teacher training.

5. Chunfei Li, Assistant Professor, and David Cushman, Graduate Student, Department of Physics
$1,000 awarded to partially fund travel to Tohoku University in Japan, to use annealing facilities to process Zr-based amorphous alloys under controlled conditions. The annealed materials will then be observed at PSU using its electron microscopy center, thereby bringing the frontier of amorphous alloy study to PSU and to advertise PSU's efforts in developing the electron microscope internationally, as well as providing primary date for future proposals.

6. Patrice Hudson, Program Administrator, International Studies Program/Canadian Studies Program
$1,000 awarded to develop and present an exhibition of paintings by Kathy Hooper from New Brunswick, Canada, on the theme of concern for the alienated and dispossessed of society today. The exhibition aims to introduce PSU and the general community to work that is significant in New Brunswick and to promote Canada as a culturally significant country to visit and to study, and to encourage PSU students to consider Canada as a meritorious study abroad location.

7. Peter Moeck, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics
$1,000 awarded to support crystallographic education and research world-wide through developing an open-access internet database with interactive 3-dimensional crystal visualization, called the Nano-Crystallography Database (NCD). The award will be used to fund a student to write crystallographic entries into a free database which can be used by students in developing countries who do not have access to expensive three-dimensional models of crystal structures.

8. Susanne Steinmann, Assistant Professor, Geography/International Studies Department
$1,500 awarded for initial research in Morocco to assess the feasibility of developing a long-term international community-based learning partnership between PSU and Al Akhawayn University (AUI) in Ifrane, Morocco. The grant will be used to identify specific strengths, mutual needs, and skills necessary to activate and sustain community-based research and curriculum transformation for social change in diverse contexts.

9. Ethan Johnson, Assistant Professor, Black Studies Department
$500 awarded to develop a course that explores and examines the relationship between race, nation and identity in Latin America, and also to initiate and build relationships with university representatives in Latin America to develop and implement an overseas study program that focuses on the issues of racial and cultural identity in Latin America.

10. Linda George, Associate Professor, Environmental Sciences and Resources/ Chemistry, and Stephanie Farquhar
$1,200 awarded to improve the quality of data collection and analysis about knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions about air pollution and its health effects in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The results of this collaboratively designed survey instrument will be used to support governmental policy development in Chiang Mai of alternative community-based strategies to reduce the burning of organic waste.

11. Suzanne Feeney, Associate Professor, Institute for Nonprofit Management
$1,300 awarded to develop a new course concerning the development, organizational structures and social impact of micro-finance models and schemes founded by women in India. In addition to a course developed for 2007, a short stay study abroad program to Pune, Maharashtra is envisioned.

12. Carol Hasenberg, Instructor, Civil Engineering Department
$1,000 awarded to support a project undertaken by a student chapter of Engineers without Borders, who will fulfill the requirements of a senior capstone class by designing, implementing and assessing the results of a project to make improvements to pumping, plumbing, water storage, and irrigation systems for two eldercare facilities in Nicaragua which have been the focus of a PSU Institute on Aging study program.
13. Kathie Godfrey, Instructor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
$1,000 awarded to support foreign language instructors' efforts to teach culture in the language classroom by designing an assessment tool to be used to measure cultural learning about foreign language students at PSU. The money will also be used to measure the outcomes of PSU's internationalization initiative, by surveying students involved in international education experiences such as study abroad and language immersion programs.

14. Barbara Tint, Professor, International Studies Department
$1,000 awarded for a multi-level project that includes research, community-based programming, curricular development, international collaboration, and the beginning of a long-term cross-institution partnership with the Peace and Conflict Resolution Institute of the United Nations University of Peace in San Jose, Cost Rica.

15. Angela Zagarella-Chodosh, Instructor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
$1,000 awarded to develop and implement an Italian course that will broaden understanding of Italy's culture and the events that have helped to shape what is Italy today, and which will engage increasing numbers of Italian heritage, music, art, and history students already enrolled in language courses. Special emphasis is on exploring the life and culture of the city of Bologna and region of Emilia Romagna, to highlight PSU's new partnership with the Portland-Bologna Sister City Association.

16. Swapna Mukhopadhyay, Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Graduate School of Education
$1,300 awarded to invite two leading scholars from South Africa to assist in developing a study abroad opportunity for practicing and future teachers, based on collaboration with the University of Western Cape and the University of Kwazulu-Natal. In addition to on-line components, the course will require a two-week visit to South African schools followed by weekly seminars.

17. Marcus Ingle, Professor, and Mila X. Le, Coordinator, Executive Leadership Institute, College of Urban and Public Affairs
$1,200 awarded to develop an innovative short-term education abroad program in Vietnam to foster global engagement and awareness. The two-week program will feature experiential learning around PSU's on-going environmental sustainability projects in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, as well as stewardship in the world famous Ha Long Bay area.

18. Manya Wubbold, Instructor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and Mark Wubbold, Administrator, FLL Dept/Finance and Admin/ Grad School of Ed
$1,000 awarded to develop a second site and course for a community-based learning study abroad program called Connecting Educational Communities, in Iquitos, Peru with educational partners from the Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana. The grant will support a visit to reconnoiter, visit potential project sites, set up housing and transportation, and to verify the physical and academic resources of the Peruvian partners.