One Monday, April 15, ten visiting scholars from Shanxi Normal University and Tianjin University of Finance and Economics in China presented their research at Rutgers University as the culmination of a certificate program.
This program is a collaboration between the Rutgers Global, through its Global Professional Development and Training Program division, and the Center for Teaching Advancement and Assessment Research (CTAAR), and focuses on enhancing the scholars’ teaching philosophy and strategies, as well as their English proficiency.
Monica Devanas, Director of CTAAR, spoke at the beginning of the presentation saying that it was bittersweet to bid farewell to a wonderful and engaged group of scholars who accomplished so much during their time at Rutgers—and who will bring their new techniques and knowledge back to their own communities.
Each of the visiting scholars created a poster representing their research during the course and then gave a presentation—in English—to their fellow scholars and Rutgers faculty and staff. This presentation portion was a new component to the closing ceremony and the scholars were impressive in their English proficiency after only a few weeks. For many of the scholars, this was their first visit to the United States.
The visiting scholars gave presentations on a wide range of topics. Fan Baiyu spoke of the secrets in the history department syllabus at Rutgers and Huan Yin gave a presentation about redesigning her zoology course based on what she had learned in the program. Another scholar, Kong Rui, spoke about applying Bloom’s taxonomy in teaching literature and noted at the end of her presentation that “Rutgers impressed me deeply.”
Jeff Wang, assistant vice president for global affairs at Rutgers, who has initiated a broad range of Global Professional Development and Training Programs, noted that since 2012 Rutgers has hosted more than 100 Chinese scholars in this joint program with CTAAR. “We are looking to grow the global footprint of Rutgers, mentor and train a broad range of students and academic professionals in non-degree programs, and further expand our interactions with appropriate institutions,” he said.
Eric Garfunkel, vice president of global affairs at Rutgers, congratulated the students on their presentations. “We are grateful that you came to Rutgers to learn new ways to improve your teaching and to strengthen your English proficiency, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors, and we hope your universities continue to interact with us.”