Integrating global issues into community college curricula

2017–18 EPIC Fellows Colin Schatz, Antonella Vitale, and Kali Rippel (Las Positas College) with SPICE Director Gary Mukai 2017–18 EPIC Fellows Colin Schatz, Antonella Vitale, and Kali Rippel (Las Positas College) with SPICE Director Gary Mukai

During the 2017–18 academic year, SPICE’s Jonas Edman worked with six community college instructors from Las Positas College and Foothill College on their plans for integrating global issues into their classrooms. These six instructors were among ten Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC) Fellows to work collaboratively with colleagues at Stanford on projects aimed at internationalizing course curricula and producing innovative curricular materials for use in community college classrooms.

On May 19, 2018, an EPIC Symposium, “Integrating Global Issues into Community College Curricula,” was held at Stanford University that featured presentations by the EPIC Fellows as well as presentations from Stanford faculty. Community college faculty and administrators from across California gathered at Stanford University to discuss ways to prepare students for a world that is increasingly interconnected.

The six EPIC Fellows, with whom Edman worked, and their presentation topics are:

  • Brian Evans, Foothill College: The Latin American Lost Decade
  • Ann Hight, Las Positas College: Using Global Lifestyles as a Platform to Teach Gene Expression and Longevity
  • Natasha Mancuso, Foothill College: Using Online Games to Teach Business and Marketing from a Global Perspective
  • Kali Rippel, Las Positas College: Internationalizing the Research Project Using Wikipedia
  • Colin Schatz, Las Positas College: Globalized and Inclusive: Redesigning a Community College Honors Program
  • Antonella Vitale, Las Positas College: Global Voices in American History

Since 2010, Stanford Global Studies (SGS) has partnered with community colleges through innovative projects such as the Stanford Human Rights Education Initiative (SHREI) and EPIC to bring together faculty and administrators committed to developing global and international studies. Fellows join a growing network of EPIC alumni from across the state who are developing innovative programs to internationalize curricula. SPICE as well as Stanford’s Lacuna Stories have been working with SGS National Resource Centers—Center for East Asian Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies—on these efforts.