Fulbright scholar coming to COCC

Published 4:00 am Saturday, February 18, 2006

Central Oregon Community College found out this month that an international scholar will be coming to the area from the Middle East later this year for four weeks to teach at the college and participate in community events.

The scholar is being brought to Central Oregon through the Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program and a Fulbright Visiting Specialists Program called Direct Access to the Muslim World.

According to Karen Aylward, the Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program coordinator, COCC is one of only 20 U.S. institutions that were accepted into the Fulbright program this year.

Now COCC moves on to the next phase – being matched with a scholar.

”I’m hoping that we get a scholar who is very knowledgeable about the history, civilization, people and culture of countries of the Middle East,” Aylward said.

She added that having a scholar from any Middle Eastern nation is a unique opportunity for the college and community.

According to the application, Central Oregon’s rural location and geographic isolation make it harder for residents to gain worldly exposure. While COCC has faculty that can incorporate perspectives on the Middle East in their lessons, it does not have an on-campus specialist, the application stated.

”Given current world events and all of the issues that have to do with the Middle East, the advisory committee for the Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program felt it would be very beneficial to our community to participate in some sort of program that involves issues in the Middle East,” Aylward said.

There is still some time before the college will find out who the scholar is going to be. According to the Council for International Exchange of Scholars Web site, the deadline for overseas scholars to have their applications in is March 1.

Aylward said it may be April before the college learns who the visiting scholar might be.

Both academic and community-based program goals are part of the six-page application that Aylward completed. The goals are still tentative, though, until the college knows more about who the scholar is and what he or she is willing and able to do, Aylward said.

At the academic level, COCC will offer a four-week for-credit seminar put on by the visiting scholar, hopefully during the month of November, according to the application. The class will be available to both COCC and Oregon State University-Cascades Campus students, said Aylward.

Enhancing other classes, such as the cultural geography class offered at COCC, is another opportunity that COCC is trying to take advantage of, teaming the visiting scholar with current faculty to teach the class, according to the application.

The third academic goal put forth in the application is to create a long-term strategy for fulfilling COCCs mission of educating globally minded citizens.

The goal is to help our students and the community connect better with issues locally and (globally), said Ron Paradis, director of college relations at COCC.

Continuing education classes with the visiting scholar will be offered at COCC as part of the community outreach programming, Aylward said.

Bend-La Pine schools are working to provide in-service training and discussion opportunities for interested teachers who wish to be involved with the visiting scholar, according to the application.

(The teachers) will be able to take that experience to their classroom and enrich their lessons, said Doug Nelson, superintendent of the Bend-La Pine School District.

Nelson said he hopes that the scholar will be able to visit high school classes, as well.

Im looking for students to have the same opportunity, Nelson said.

Aylward has more ideas for community events that would center around the visiting scholar, however its too soon to know which ones will be plausible, she said.

Community partners listed on the application are the Bend-La Pine School District, OSU-Cascades, Interfaith Ministries of Central Oregon and High Desert Forum. Being a partner means that the organizations are interested in being involved in the community outreach events with the visiting scholar. Some of them may even coordinate their own events with the scholar, according to Aylward.

Started in 1946 by then Arkansas Sen. J. William Fulbright, the Fulbright Visiting Specialists program has had roughly 267,500 participants, both citizens from the United States and abroad. The program currently operates in more than 150 countries around the world, according to its Web site.

The Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program was established in 1985 by the late Robert W. Chandler Sr. and his wife, Nancy Renne Chandler. The intent of the program is to bring renowned scholars to Central Oregon to present a balanced and broad-based scope of programming with lectures, forums and interactive workshops, according to its Web site.

We should be proud of what Bend has to offer, in terms of COCC and OSU-Cascades, that we were granted one of the 20 scholars nationwide, Aylward said.

Laura Moss can be reached at 541-617-7866 or lmoss@bend bulletin.com.