Fight Ignorance, Exercising Caution!

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BCCSP, Building Bridges, Community College Transfer Initiative, International Education, Internationalization, Transfer Students

I rarely eat at the campus cafeteria, it is a crowded place with many people that I would love to talk to for hours, hours that I cannot afford to spend in the cafeteria. However, on occasion, I do venture into this quicksand trap. Today was one such day. I was there with a purpose. Along with a few other volunteers, I was distributing free cake that boasted the International Education Week 2010 logo and telling students about the various events that would be taking place on campus as part of this week. When I was done with the promotional gig, I pulled up a chair next to some good friends. Half of them international students, and the other half transfer students from community colleges.

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Making the Most of International Education Week

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Bucknell, Higher Education, International Education, Internationalization

The State Department has been designating one week in November as International Education Week (IEW) for the past few years. This year the dates for International Education Week are from the 15th to the 19th of November. Institutions (educational and otherwise) across the United States are observing IEW by organizing various events. A list of these events can be found on the State Department’s website (linked above).

Bucknell University is celebrating International Education Week 2010 with renewed vigor this year as well. The Office of International Education and International Student Services are collaborating with other departments to present the most complete picture possible of the importance of international education.

For me, the planning of this year’s IEW events at Bucknell has been an interesting journey to say the least. While there are many programs being presented to the relatively small campus community, it remains to be seen to what degree the students, faculty, and staff will participate in these. One strategy that the two offices have employed this year is to rely heavily on existing energies within student organizations and academic departments to drive the programming efforts. For example, the four International Movie Nights are each sponsored by a different student organization, and the International Education Week Photo Contest is being run in collaboration with the Peer International Educators group. Having these partnerships has allowed the organizing offices to use their limited resources more efficiently.

I am looking forward to being a part of this year’s IEW at Bucknell and cannot wait to report on the level of student engagement throughout the week. I hope that on November 20th, I will be able to say that the efforts to internationalize Bucknell, and US higher education institutions in general, are clearly justified.

Check out Bucknell University’s International Education Week page on facebook!

Helicopter Parenting: A First Class Thing…

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Bucknell, Community College Transfer Initiative, Community Colleges, Elitism, Helicopter Parents, Millennial Generation, Socioeconomic Status

The term ‘helicopter parenting‘ is not new. In fact, for those in the field of student affairs, this term is part of daily life. However, the term is often used in conjunction with the closely affiliated term ‘millennial generation‘. While the terms represent popular phenomenon, they are by no means universal. The qualities associated with parents that hover, and their children – the millennial generation – are also closely associated with the socioeconomic class of the families that these parents and children are part of.

In her new book, Parenting Out of Control: Anxious Parents in Uncertain Times  (New York University Press), Margaret K. Nelson explores the roots of helicopter parenting, or “parenting out of control,” finding a strong correlation between parental involvement and social class.

An interesting interview with the author can be found on the Inside Higher Ed blog. I am also very curious to find out what advantages, if any, do first-generation students have in terms of learning and development because of the absence of helicopter parents. This is something I will try to explore to some extent in my study of the Community College Transfer Initiative at Bucknell University.