on the Siena Heights campus in Adrian.
From the
Heights
3. Business seminars in Dalian for Chinese officials. These would be intensive
2-3 week courses on such topics as
banking, public policy administration,
accounting or information technology.
Siena Heights would provide faculty and
issue certificates upon completion of the
coursework.
12
tudents, faculty and alumni will all
benefit from a joint venture now
developing between Siena Heights
and China’s Jilin University.
The new partnership will involve study
abroad opportunities for Siena Heights
students, teaching opportunities in China for
Siena faculty and travel options for alumni.
The program also aims to bring Chinese
students to Siena Heights for periods of one
or two years.
Over the past three years, SHU President
Rick Artman and Deans Robert Gordon and
Kevin Kucera have traveled to China several
times to meet with Chinese education and
business officials. Former SHU President
Louis Vaccaro, who has 20 years’ experience coordinating international cultural and
educational exchanges, has helped the University arrange appointments with Chinese
colleagues and officials.
China is, in many ways, a natural connection for Siena Heights. During his tenure as
president (1977-85), Dr. Vaccaro recruited
a number of Chinese students. The Chi
sisters, Jane ‘82/MA and Margaret ‘82/MA,
were the first Chinese students to attend;
their nephews, Jacob ‘85 and Maurice ‘84
Chi, also are distinguished alumni. Jacob,
a talented musician, is conductor of the
Pueblo Colorado Symphony. Maurice is a
financial analyst for a world-wide financial
service corporation in Boston. Other Chinese students followed the Chis.
Jilin University, among the largest universities in China with about 43,000 students,
has campuses in several locations. The
partnership links Siena Heights with the
Jilin campus in Dalian, a beautiful coastal
city of about three million people sometimes
referred to as the “Hawaii” of China. The
Dalian campus is built on a mountainside
overlooking the Yellow Sea.
Siena Heights hopes to finalize four joint
programs with Jilin:
1. Summer study and travel in Dalian for
SHU students, faculty, staff and alumni.
This aspect of the partnership begins this
summer, with a two-week program in
China led by Doug Miller ‘75, associate professor of theatre and speech. The
group will travel to Beijing, Shanghai,
and Dalian, with visits to sites such as
Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall
as well as an introduction to Chinese
culture, language, economy and history.
This program is envisioned as becoming
somewhat like Siena’s semester abroad
program in Mexico.
2. An exchange program for SHU faculty
and Chinese students. Siena is exploring the possibility of sending instructors
to teach in Dalian in a five year program
that could lead to a baccalaureate degree
for the Chinese students. Siena would
supply instructors for a year of intensive
English followed by two years of general
education and liberal arts courses. Ideally, the Chinese students would complete
the final two years of the degree program
4. Semester programs at Siena Heights
for Chinese business people. The
proposal is for Chinese corporations to
sponsor small groups of three to five
employees who would study on-campus
in Adrian for one or two semesters.
Siena also is exploring study abroad opportunities in Shanghai, which is rapidly becoming the financial capital of the world.
Through a relationship with Shanghai International Studies University, Siena students
with a particular interest in international
business could study and work in internships
in Shanghai. Opportunities for the student
teaching experience also are being explored
with educational partners in Shanghai.
Following his visit to Dalian earlier this
year, President Artman commented on
the warmth of the Chinese people
and “their interest in higher education and
the opportunity for improving their quality of life through education and a market
economy.” Building on Siena’s Mexico
program, the University is pursuing study
programs in several regions of the world.
“Surely the best avenues for peace will
be the free exchange of ideas and people
from east to west and west to east,” Artman said.■