Coppin State University News October 8, 2010 Coppin State—Now a Global University Since its inception as an urban institution, Coppin State University presidents have touted the school’s indissoluble relationship with neighborhood leaders and the surrounding community. Current Coppin President Reginald S. Avery is expanding Coppin’s mission from just “local” to “local and “global”. With the creation of two leading-edge departments, multiple international partnerships, philanthropic efforts on a global scale, faculty and student exchanges and faculty conferences abroad, Dr. Avery is remaining true to Coppin’s rich history with the community, while preparing the Coppin family for a globalized economy. Institute for Local to Global Community Engagement – This innovative department was formed in the summer of 2009 with Dr. York Bradshaw of South Carolina as its head. The professor turned administrator and his small staff foster big opportunities for community members to communicate with people from around the world. The institute’s stand out responsibilities include leading global classroom programs for middle and high schoolers to interact with students from other countries, primarily South Africa, and administering the Coppin Heights-Rosemont Family Computer Center, which allows residents in Coppin’s neighborhood to gain access and education to broadband computers. Dr. Bradshaw says the opportunity to connect “local” people to global opportunities, makes his department special. “We believe the local affects the global and the global affects the local,” he said. As for future goals of the Local to Global Institute, Dr. Bradshaw wants to educate more non-profits, more service groups, more churches and more Baltimore-based businesses. He’s also aiming for schools to incorporate more international-focused units into core teachings. “I would like to see us engage more schools in a way that embeds global issues in the curriculum,” he said. “When such issues become part of the curriculum, then students and teachers will automatically think ‘local to global,’ and that will be exciting.” “Educating and connecting people, that is really what we are all about,” he added. The Institute for Local to Global Community Engagement is located in HHSB room 315. The Institute will relocate to the President’s Suite on the second floor of HHSB in November. Reach the office by calling 410-951-1288. Office of International Programs – During University Day on August 16, 2010, Dr. Reginald S. Avery announced the formation of a department that will spearhead opportunities for Coppin students to study abroad at paces they never have before, foster relationships with universities around the globe, support international forums on campus and urge Coppin faculty to take advantage of opportunities overseas. Coppin’s Office of International Programs (OIP) will open officially in October 2010 as part of the Institute for Local to Global Community Engagement, and will move to HHSB in November. Dr. Douglas Reardon, associate professor and global studies coordinator, will serve as director. In his ten years at Coppin, Reardon has sent multiple students abroad for international study and has aided faculty-led programs that most recently have traveled to London, Paris, Egypt and Jordan. One Coppin junior spent her summer 2010 at sea, traveling to Italy, Greece and other countries in the Mediterranean Sea, while taking classes. “Coppin has been trying to internationalize curriculum at least since the 1970’s,” said Dr. Reardon. “About four years ago, we really began to systematically address the need to create new opportunities for our students to study overseas and explore linkages with overseas institutions. Those initial steps blossomed and the Office of International Programs arises from those successes.” While promoting study abroad, OIP will also assist with Coppin’s growing number of global partnerships that include those with South Korea, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Kenya, Barbados and Egypt. The OIP will also encourage faculty research overseas, sponsor various informational forums and host exciting international events like an international art exhibition scheduled for November and an international women’s literary symposium scheduled for next year. “I am excited that all the work that my colleagues are doing is coming to fruition and I’m flattered to even be a part of these efforts,” Dr. Reardon said. “I can’t stress enough how vital this is going to be to our school in the years ahead—to have international opportunities for our students.” And Dr. Reardon says the biggest reward for directing the new office will be the opportunity to change students’ lives. “I still get a real charge out of the student aspect of it…it’s a vicarious kind of thing,” he said. “At the end of the day, getting a postcard from a student abroad makes everything worthwhile.” Nwadike in Nigeria— Since serving two years as a senior specialist for the Fulbright Program, Dr. Fellina Nwadike of Coppin’s Visual and Performing Arts Department has certified over 300 Nigerian professionals in conflict resolution and peace building. Last summer, Dr. Nwadike was commissioned to spread her peace building at Covenant University in Lagos, Nigeria. Over a span of three months, she taught faculty members and community leaders how to negotiate, mediate, litigate and reconcile differences. During Dr. Nwadike’s training sessions, participants studied alternatives to disputes and conflict resolution, conducted research and presented findings. Upon completion, pupils were awarded certificates. “This world is a vacuum because we have so many attitudes and cultures; we have so many people with different shapes and colors and we all have to learn how to work together with good governance,” said Dr. Nwadike. Those who worked with her in the summer have begun training various ministries and communities in an effort Dr. Nwadike hopes will spread throughout the continent and world. Her first conflict resolution project began in October of 2008, when she traveled to the Sokoto and Abuja cities in Nigeria to train professors, lawyers and judges. Her powerful words of peace caught the attention of the greater community and she spent months traveling the entire nation and training all that would listen. Dr. Nwadike and her admirable efforts have been featured in multiple Nigerian newspapers, the popular Nigerian African Independent Television, and Ray Radio station. During interviews, she addressed some of the violent conflicts committed locally and globally in the country. Dr. Nwadike, a native of eastern Nigeria, earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations from Norfolk State University, a master’s in speech communications and rhetoric studies from California State University, and an EdD in organizational leadership development from the University of San Francisco. She joined the Coppin family in 1995. After completing a certificate program in conflict resolution at a Vermont-based school for international training in 2000, Dr. Nwadike discovered her passion for peace making and decided to share that knowledge with the world. “I feel good about (the impact I have made), but there is more work to be completed in that country,” she said. “Just like President Obama has said, Nigeria has to resolve their problems in order to attract global businesses. We need to change some of our deceptive behaviors and learn to work ‘honestly’ together and not separately because this world is shrinking.” Dr. Nwadike’s Fulbright Senior Specialist program stretches for 5 years. Her next mission will send her back overseas to an undisclosed location in December. Coppin State University’s faculty members continue to engage in global development with efforts such as the faculty conference at the University of Barbados scheduled for October; Humanities Professor, Dr. K. Zauditu-Selassie’s Fulbright Scholar Award to Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa; and the faculty and student exchanges with Akhbar Elyom Academy in Egypt led by Dr. El-Haggan. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org www.hbculibraries.org 404.592.4820 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/meeting-form.html for the October 24-26, 2010 HBCU Library Alliance 4th Membership Meeting and the "Conference on Advocacy" pre-conference in Montgomery, AL. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.