University Receives Fulbright China Study Project Funding


California State University, Stanislaus has received funding for a Fulbright China Study Project that will give area educators the opportunity to study there for a month in 2004.

The travel/study program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, will allow 12 American educators to spend four weeks in the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces of China, developing instructional units about China’s cultural diversity. Linda Bunney-Sarhad, Director of the CSU Stanislaus Office of Global Affairs, said targeted participants will be teacher educators, K-12 teachers and K-12 teacher candidates.

Bunney-Sarhad said that in a dramatic and colorful way, the two selected Chinese provinces parallel the ethnic diversity of Central California, from which most CSU Stanislaus participants will come. Participants will not only be able to learn of the historic roots of one of Central California’s large ethnic groups, the Hmong (Miao), but also make comparisons between how the groups interact with the dominant society in China and in California.

Participants will hear lectures from local professors and community leaders. Each participant also will study conversational Chinese and Tai-chi chuan and will visit historic sites, landmarks and villages.

Professors at the Yunnan University for Nationalities and at Guizhou University for Nationalities will serve as local hosts, sharing teaching responsibilities with CSU Stanislaus professor Dr. Kou Yang, a specialist in Hmong culture.

“The program will be an important step forward in a new institutional partnership between our campus and the Guizhou University for Nationalities,” Bunney-Sarhad said. “This is one more opportunity we can provide to deepen the global experience of faculty, teachers and students.”
The program will take place in summer 2004, giving program staff an opportunity to complete recruitment of participants, arrangements for travel and orientation of the travelers during the next academic year. Teacher educators, student teachers and current K-12 teachers who are interested in the program should contact the Office of Global Affairs at CSU Stanislaus.

Contact: Linda Bunney-Sarhad, Director of Global Affairs, (209) 667-3117