MINUTES FOR ASIA COUNCIL MEETING

December 8, 2006

Macon State College

A. HOUSEKEEPING

The meeting was called to order by the Council Chair, Dan Paracka (Kennesaw State University) at 1:20 PM, following a group lunch at the Shahenshah restaurant. Also present were Jonathan Leightner (Augusta State University), Tom Preston (Gainesville State College), Tom Howard (Armstrong Atlantic State University), Salli Vargis (Georgia Perimeter College), Tracie Provost (Middle Georgia College), Eric Kendrick (Georgia Perimeter College), ReLiang Tsang and Charu Goyle (Board of Regents, Office of International Education), Xubo Wang and Eric Sun (Macon State College), Dezsö Benedek (University of Georgia), Salli Vargas (Georgia Perimeter College), Baogang Guo (Dalton State College), William Madden (Georgia Perimeter College), and Tom Dolan (Columbus State University).

The minutes of the September 15, 2006, meeting were approved.

B. TRACY HARRINGTON AWARD

ReLiang Tsang presented Baogang Guo with the Tracy Harrington Award for Inter-Institutional Collaboration in International Education.

C. UPDATE FROM BOARD OF REGENTS OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

Charu Goyle and ReLiang Tsang discussed some recent developments:

1) The Study Abroad Handbook is now available online at www.usg.edu/oie/facstaff/policies/study_abroad_hbook.pdf

2) Internationalizing the Curriculum grants. Four finalists have been chosen: -Georgia Perimeter College, North Georgia College and State University,

Georgia College and State University, and Columbus State University

3) Proposals for study abroad programs are now being accepted. These would be for changes to existing programs and applications for new programs with any future start date.

4) A business manual for study abroad programs is in preparation.

5) There will be a spring workshop on study abroad; working title is “mental health issues and study abroad.” Date, place and exact title to be announced.

D. STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS

1) China -- Baogang Guo reported that the 2007 general studies program, to be led by him and Wilson Huang (Valdosta), is on track with 20 students and 5 faculty members signed up.

2) India – Salli Vargas reported that the summer 2007 program to be led by her and Farley Richmond (UGA), has been shorted to five weeks instead of six, and is thus somewhat cheaper at $3800. They have added political science to the list of subjects to be covered. They are currently recruiting students and hoping for a total of 8.

3) Japan -- Eric Kendrick reported that Japan: Culture and Society, for summer 2007, has added literature and art courses to its offerings. It will be a hybrid course, with 3 weeks of material in Japan and the remainder on-line when the students have returned. Twenty students can participate.

4) Armstrong Atlantic State University – Tom Howard reported that both of its Asia programs are on track, with 15 for Thailand and 9 for China.

5) The 6 week Chinese Language Program at Yangzhou has been scheduled to follow on the heels of the General Studies program so that the joint option of participating in both programs and qualifying for a Freeman-Asia scholarship will continue to be available. In addition, KSU is offering several other discipline specific programs to China, India and Thailand.

E. HUMANITAD FOUNDATION’s Mandarin language program at Huangshan University. Dezsö Benedek introduced himself first. He started study-abroad programs at UGA 18 years ago. In time UGA went its own way and excluded students from other system campuses because it was able to fill them internally, which is one reason for UGA’s low level of participation in the Asia Council. He then introduced the Huangshan University program, which covers a full academic year. Two problems he had seen in study abroad programs in large cities were that (1) students tended to hang out with Australians and other non-Chinese, and (2) that they suffered from the air pollution of large Chinese cities. The Huangshan program would deal with the first problem by putting students in home-stays with families who speak little or no English. The second problem would be abated by the fact that the university is located in Anhui Province, away from big cities in an area with little air pollution. The program can take 10 students from the University System of Georgia; these students should not be raw beginners in Chinese language studies. Student internships are available with the World Heritage Foundation. The cost of the program would be the same as what students would pay in tuition at home.

F. 2007 FACULTY DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR

Eric Kendrick reported that “Change and Continuity: The Impact of Modernization and Globalization on South Korea and China,” which he is doing with Baogang Guo, has 5 applications so far. A minimum of 14 is needed for the program to make. There was discussion of whether spouses or people who are not USG faculty can join the group if that would bring the number up to the minimum. The Office of International Education will check on this. The original deadline of December 15 was also discussed, and as a result the deadline was extended to January 15.

G. USG CERTIFICATE IN ASIAN STUDIES. SURVEY OF USG INSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVES IN ASIAN STUDIES.

Following up on our discussion at the 9/15/06 meeting, Eric Kendrick passed around a list of items for a comprehensive survey of current Asian studies activities in the USG. Members of the Asia Council are requested to return information about their institutions to Eric by January 31, 2007.

H. GEORGIA CONSORTIUM

William Madden announced the next Georgia Consortium symposium, scheduled for March 16, 2007, at the Georgia Perimeter College campus in Clarkston. There will be two new awards for faculty who have made contributions to international programs at their universalities, one for junior members (those with no more than 7 years of full-time teaching experience but at least three at a Georgia Consortium member institution) and one for senior members (those with more than 7 years of full-time teaching experience and at least 5 at a Georgia Consortium member institution). Details are available at http://www.gacis.org/award.html.

I. OTHER BUSINESS/ NEXT MEETING

Mention was made of the Georgia Association of International Educators. www.gaie.org and their conference in February 2007.

The next meeting was set for Saturday, March 31, 10:00 – 11:30 AM at Georgia State University in Atlanta. The meeting will be followed by orientation sessions for students enrolled for the China trip led by Baogang Guo.

Submitted by Thomas F. Howard