2008 Woodie Awards
New Singapore program waiting for approval
After being passed in December 2007, the Singapore BA program has been waiting nearly three months for time on the Academic Senate's floor
Caitlin Madrigal
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: News
SSU's Educational Policies Committee (EPC) approved a Sonoma State Global Studies BA program to be offered in Singapore, at their last meeting in December 2007.
Now standing approved by the majority of EPC, all the Singapore program needs is to bring forth the proposal to the Academic Senate and get approval in order to move forward with the plans and action of the proposed program.
According to Les Adler, former Dean of Extended Education, two former CSU faculty members, who are now residing in Singapore and are the directors of a firm called SpringStart Education Group Pte. Ltd, contacted SSU about two years ago to begin discussions about a new program.
These two directors, Dr. Robert Zahary and Dr. Margaret Hartman, and a third director, Michael Pucci, came to invite SSU to collaborate in the establishment of a small-sized private liberal arts program in Singapore.
The SSU Singapore program would have only one major, Global Studies with a concentration in International Economic Development. It would consist of 121 units, including the SSU general education curriculum. The primary objective, according to the Singapore proposal document, is for the program to provide a liberal arts education to students in Southeast Asia and beyond.
SSU students and Singapore program students would also be able to participate in student exchange programs, which would be similar to the study-abroad programs.
"All of last year was spent working with and gaining the support of the relevant academic departments and moving the proposal through the EPC," said Adler. "[The Singapore program] partnership would allow SSU to move beyond our campus boundaries and truly internationalize the University."
The SSU Global Studies Steering Committee will manage the major, since the Singapore program major is planned to mirror the Global Studies major at SSU.
SpringStart set up professor Rheyna Laney, coordinator of the Global Studies major. She was selected to coordinate the academics, curriculum, faculty, quality and assessment, along with working with various departments in SSU to get their feedback on whether or not they would support the new program.
Now standing approved by the majority of EPC, all the Singapore program needs is to bring forth the proposal to the Academic Senate and get approval in order to move forward with the plans and action of the proposed program.
According to Les Adler, former Dean of Extended Education, two former CSU faculty members, who are now residing in Singapore and are the directors of a firm called SpringStart Education Group Pte. Ltd, contacted SSU about two years ago to begin discussions about a new program.
These two directors, Dr. Robert Zahary and Dr. Margaret Hartman, and a third director, Michael Pucci, came to invite SSU to collaborate in the establishment of a small-sized private liberal arts program in Singapore.
The SSU Singapore program would have only one major, Global Studies with a concentration in International Economic Development. It would consist of 121 units, including the SSU general education curriculum. The primary objective, according to the Singapore proposal document, is for the program to provide a liberal arts education to students in Southeast Asia and beyond.
SSU students and Singapore program students would also be able to participate in student exchange programs, which would be similar to the study-abroad programs.
"All of last year was spent working with and gaining the support of the relevant academic departments and moving the proposal through the EPC," said Adler. "[The Singapore program] partnership would allow SSU to move beyond our campus boundaries and truly internationalize the University."
The SSU Global Studies Steering Committee will manage the major, since the Singapore program major is planned to mirror the Global Studies major at SSU.
SpringStart set up professor Rheyna Laney, coordinator of the Global Studies major. She was selected to coordinate the academics, curriculum, faculty, quality and assessment, along with working with various departments in SSU to get their feedback on whether or not they would support the new program.
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