Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

2013-2014 internationalization activities

Fall 2013

• Monday, October 21, the China Cohort, in conjunction the China Focus Department of Education Title VI grant, presents a day of Chinese lectures and culture. Professor Xudong ZHANG, Department of Comparative Literature and Chinese, at New York University, gave two lectures: “The ‘Magic’ as ‘Real’ in Mo Yan’s Fictional Representation of Contemporary China: Reading The Republic of Wine and Death Are Wearing Me Out” and “The Conundrum of Chinese Identity in the Age of Globalization or, On Cultural and Economic Framing of Political Constitution“. Following Professor Zhang’s talk, Chris McNally spoke on “Sino-Capitalism: Understanding China’s International Reemergence and Its Global Implications“.
• On Tuesday, October 22, University of Oregon Film Professor Sangita Gopal spoke at Cascade Campus on contemporary Korean Cinema with a talk entitled “Nation and Beyond in Asian Cinema”.
• At Rock Creek Campus, Dean of Students Narce Rodriguez spoke about her international life from the U.S. to Mexico and back again.
• As part of our ongoing series on showcasing the international lives of our faculty and staff, on Wednesday, November 13, Roberto Suarez, student outreach specialist at Cascade Campus, spoke about Puerto Rico, his life in his homeland, his entrance into the United States and the complexity of identity.
• On Thursday November 14, as part of PCC’s International Week, Bryan Hull facilitated a panel discussion with veterans Josh Padelsky and Dave Stratford on their international lives as veterans.
• On Friday, November 22, the PCC team won the World Affairs International Trivia Contest! Team members included Marlene Eid, Sylvania Campus Linda Gerber, Bryan Hull, John and Tina Sparks, Bonnie Starkey, David Stout and Jane Zunkel.

Winter 2014

• Friday, January 24, from 10am-12 noon, the internationalization initiative hosted a mini-workshop entitled “Shaping the Intro to Global Studies Course”. This event was attended by over 30 staff and faculty, who gave their feedback on what a global focus award might consist of, who might take such a course, etc.
• On January 29, at Southeast Campus, Campus President Jessica Howard, ABE instructor Esther Loanzon and ESOL instructor Eszter Vegh spoke on a panel about their international lives.
• On Wednesday, February 19, 2014, as part of our on-going series on showcasing the international lives of our faculty and staff, Marlene Eid, a Palestinian American psychology and Women Studies instructor at PCC spoke about growing up in Jerusalem from 1-2pm in the SY PAC Lobby. As well, a panel of Southeast Campus faculty and staff, Jessica Howard, campus president, Esther Loanzon, ABE instructor and Eszter Vegh, ENNL/ESOL instructor, discussed their international journeys on March 5, 2014 at Southeast Campus, SCOM 322.
• Internationalization initiative steering committee member, Salomeh Moadab, attended the annual conference of the Community Colleges for International Development.
• On March 6 and 7 at both Rock Creek and Cascade campuses, Dr. Rula Quawas spoke on a variety of topics including, “Pioneering the Women’s Movement in Jordan” and for faculty and staff a special session entitled “Communicating with and supporting Arab Women and the Arab Community”.
• From March onward, the Bridge published a series of “Letters from Mauritania” about life and culture in this African country. This correspondence was organized by Nicole Morales, ESOL instructor from Southeast Campus, working there and Tony Greiner, Cascade Librarian.

Spring 2014

• On Monday April 21, at Cascade Campus, Professor Ming-Bao Yue spoke on three short stories by women: “The Isle of Wang’an” by Zhong Ling, “Mother Fish” by Xi Xi and “I Am Not A Cat” by Tang Min. In addition, on The Global Crossroads, she spoke of her life and her thoughts on the importance of the humanities.
• Wednesday, April 23 at the Rock Creek Event Center, journalist Todd Miller spoke on the increasing militarization of the U.S.-Mexican Border. The event was in conjunction with a book tour – for his new publication, Border Patrol Nation.
• On Wednesday, at Sylvania Campus, May 14 from 2-3pm, Senegalese visual artist Amadou Kan-si presented a slide talk of his work with a workshop that followed entitled “Our Orange is Yellow and Sometimes Green Too”.
• On Tuesday May 20 12-2pm University of Oregon Professors Martinez and Woods screened the documentary “Keep Your Eyes on Guatemala: From Silence to Memory” and spoke on the history of the civil war in Guatemala.
• On Wednesday, May 21, in the Sylvania PAC Lobby, the Oregon Korean Performing Arts performed as part of PCC’s Annual Asian Studies Focus Award Ceremony.
• After a year of work, the Study Abroad work group invited faculty to participate in a feedback workshop on Friday, May 23, 2014, at the Downtown Center, Rose Room. Participants were asked to give input on how study abroad will look at PCC.