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Internationalization Collaborative

Community Colleges

Onondaga Community College, SUNY

Onondaga Community College was founded in 1962. The original 500 entering freshmen began their college careers in the fall of 1962 at Midtown Plaza in Syracuse. In 1973, the college moved to its current site on Onondaga Hill. The campus consists of eight buildings on 181 acres and is noted for its hills, wooded terrain, and expansive views of the surrounding countryside.

The college has grown in many ways since it was established. The curricula have been expanded from an original offering of eight programs to more than 50; the faculty has grown to keep pace with enrollment; and the original graduating class of 1962 numbered 177 and now, nearly 1,500 degrees are awarded annually. More than 20,000 students have graduated since 1964 and more than 500,000 citizens have availed themselves of the college’s programs and services. Onondaga Community College students experience success in transferring to four-year colleges, both within and outside the State University of New York system. At the same time, the number of students completing the technological or career-oriented programs equals those planning to earn baccalaureate degrees.

Onondaga Community College is approved by and registered with the New York State Department of Education. It is authorized by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York to award associate in arts, associate in science, and associate in applied science degrees. More than 8,000 students (full and part time) enroll in the college’s credit courses. The college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges.

A globalized Central New York economy, a growing diverse population of immigrants and refugees in the region, and the need to prepare our graduates and other constituents to participate in an increasingly interdependent global community in the 21^st century have been the major forces driving Onondaga Community College’s internationalization efforts.

Overview of Internationalization Efforts

I. Vision and Goals for Internationalization

For a long time, internationally oriented faculty and staff have been involved in several initiatives to promote global awareness. These have included panel discussions, coffee hours, exchanges, and cultural expos. Although these efforts were not originally tied to the overall strategic and operational plans of the college, their impact was still felt among students all the same. In more recent years, however, Onondaga has articulated a vision for internationalizing its curriculum, campus environment, and service to the community.

Led by its president, Debbie L. Sydow, the college has become increasingly aware of the needs and challenges of educating students in an increasingly interdependent global society. She has challenged the Onondaga community to realize that although the core mission of Onondaga is to provide educational opportunities for citizens in Central New York, the context for fulfilling this core mission is globalized. This, therefore, demands a quality of education that is relevant, engaging, and global. Onondaga’s mission statement articulates this global vision:

“Onondaga Community College makes high-quality educational programs and services accessible to our diverse citizenry, empowering individuals to explore and discover their inherent potential and to transform themselves to live, work, and thrive in our global community.” 

The International Education Committee, a leadership team comprising faculty, staff, administrators, and students, coordinates Onondaga’s internationalization efforts, and is supported by designated college budgetary line items.

The goal of Onondaga’s internationalization efforts is “to foster and nurture global awareness and inter-cultural understanding among the college’s constituents including students and employees” through:

II. Progress

Education Abroad

The college’s goal is to encourage students to become interested in the world beyond their immediate community. Study abroad provides unique opportunities for cross-cultural/intercultural learning. Onondaga students utilize the SUNY consortium for study abroad and can study for a semester, the summer, or winter break in countries throughout the world. Onondaga’s study abroad coordinator works with the students to identify the appropriate program for them and facilitates the referral process. The majority of students at Onondaga work and 18 percent have dependent children. In spite of these potential obstacles, several Onondaga students have either studied in or traveled to the Bahamas, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Scotland, Spain, and Venezuela, to mention but a few.

Onondaga is currently working to develop short-term, faculty-led study abroad programs so that more students may be able to participate. The college has recently developed a three-week winter break program to Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands. Students will study the civilization and culture of the area, and have the opportunity to take a Spanish class. In addition, a tropical marine biology class offers a lab during spring break at the Roatan Institute in Honduras. Students have been able to take advantage of this opportunity for the past couple of years. Faculty are encouraged to develop short-term, inexpensive study abroad opportunities that students can better fit into their schedules.

Another avenue for education abroad is through international service learning and projects. In 2001, a sociology professor partnered with Habit for Humanity International to initiate a pilot project for students to fulfill a service-learning requirement by helping build houses for poor communities in Ghana for two weeks. Another professor took Onondaga photography students to Namibia to work on a community photographic project with University of Namibia students. The photographs, which depicted diversity in Namibia from both American and Namibian perspectives, were exhibited at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia, and the Namibian Embassy in Washington, DC, respectively.

Internationalizing the Curriculum

In fall 2005, Onondaga launched an institutional plan to infuse global learning outcomes in all courses and programs. The strategy involves targeting the “Top 25” courses that reach a significant number of students in the college. The identified courses come from different curricula and programs, including humanities, math and sciences, and business studies. We are assessing the degree of international/global content and perspectives in these courses as well as the level of global awareness competence of faculty teaching these targeted courses. The Teaching Center is playing a critical role in this process by providing faculty workshops. Workshops provide training in developing modules to infuse global and international perspectives in existing courses and create new internationalized courses.

The Humanities and Social Science AA degree curriculum/program requires its graduates to demonstrate global awareness. Students may fulfill this degree requirement by selecting from a menu of courses across curriculum with global learning outcomes in content, approaches, and pedagogies. In addition, the Humanities and Social Science curriculum/program has piloted the infusion of global awareness in its courses. This includes incorporating texts that reflect perspectives of other cultures into lectures and readings, incorporating international components into research assignments, and including guest speakers and panels that often feature students from other cultures. Onondaga students have the option to pursue a concentration in International Studies, which includes demonstration of competence in a foreign language and a focus on Latin America, Europe, or international relations. Furthermore, a significant number of internationally oriented courses have been developed:

Curriculum internationalization is also enhanced through co-curricula programming. Like other colleges, Onondaga celebrates International Education Week annually, and brings global/international education experts and practitioners to lecture and offer engaging classroom discussions. International students provide presentations on their cultures and national heritage during International Education Week. The series dubbed “A Taste of . . .” provides ample opportunity for the campus community, particularly students, to taste foods from other cultures, and observe and interact with international students and employees. The annual International Thanksgiving Dinner exposes international students to the history, values, customs, and traditions associated with the American Thanksgiving Dinner celebration. Faculty integrate these co-curricular activities in classroom teaching/learning processes and outcomes.

The new Arts Across Campus (AAC) initiative brings top-notch visual and performing artists from around the world, including internationally acclaimed Ghanaian xylophonist Bernard Woma, and Sandip Burman, a world renowned tabla player who infuses classical Indian music into jazz, vocals, guitar, strings, and woodwind. The music department has acquired native African drums (Atumpan from Ghana), and has formed both African and Latin ensembles that present a series of performances by translating classical music into African and Latin musical idioms. These events bring the college and the Central New York community together.

Foreign Language Study

The college encourages foreign language study. The modern languages department offers instruction in American Sign Language, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Courses prepare students for further study or for professional careers that require foreign language knowledge and cultural competence. Furthermore, successful completion of foreign language courses enables students to fulfill State University of New York’s general education requirements, as well as the teacher certification requirements of New York State’s Department of Education. Humanities and Teacher Preparation graduates are expected to fulfill a foreign language requirement for degree completion. Overall, foreign language study increases students’ awareness and understanding of cultural diversity within and outside the United States through course work, community involvement, and study abroad opportunities.

International Student Recruitment and Services

International students have studied at Onondaga since the college opened in 1962. Onondaga’s international alumni have come from countries, regions, and continents across the world: Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Canada, and South America. Major influxes of students from abroad occurred during the 1980s (USSR) and 1990s (Eastern Europe). Since 2000, the arrival of the Lost Boys from Southern Sudan and other refugees from Africa (and other parts of the world) in the Central New York community was an impetus for institutionalizing international student recruitment and services. The Office of International Students Services (OISS) was established and staffed with full–time personnel and an operational budget in 2001. OISS provides orientation, academic, and integration services for international students. Consistent with its mission and strategic plan, international students contribute to global learning by their mere presence on the Onondaga campus. They share their unique and rich cultural heritage through classroom presentations and co-curricula programming, including the annual International Thanksgiving event where students in Onondaga’s food service/restaurant management program prepare and serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for international students and their families.

International Exchange and Strategic Partnerships

Onondaga was introduced to the University of Namibia (UNAM) by Onondaga President Debbie Sydow. In Summer 2000, Sydow had visited UNAM through a partnership between UNAM and her former college. She renewed contacts with UNAM friends and colleagues when she became president of Onondaga. In November 2000, a Namibian delegation visited Onondaga, and a three-year memorandum of understanding was signed. The Onondaga-UNAM partnership seeks to promote student exchange, workforce development, developmental math, and service learning. Since then, faculty and student exchanges have occurred. For example, in January 2001, an Onondaga delegation visited UNAM. In May 2002, Onondaga photography students visited Namibia and worked with UNAM students on a community photographic project. In December 2002, Onondaga celebrated “A Taste of Namibia” and was addressed by Leonard Iipumbu, Namibian ambassador to the United States. Most recently, in May 2005, two Human Services professors from Onondaga traveled to Namibia to dialogue with UNAM faculty on collaborative research and practical solutions to the HIV-AIDS crisis in Namibia. Through this strategic partnership with Onondaga, UNAM—a relatively new university—is able to fulfill its core mission of meeting national human resource needs in Namibia through high-quality teaching, research, consultancy, and community service. In return, Onondaga is opening doors for its students and employees, including faculty, staff, and administrators, to enrich their intercultural experiences in an effort to promote global learning outcomes. We hope to use lessons learned from this partnership to guide us to pursue other strategic partnerships.

III. Successful Strategies

Strategy No. 1: Onondaga’s commitment to internationalization is articulated at two levels:

• Institutional mission—Onondaga is dedicated to making higher education accessible to a diverse citizenry, and to prepare its graduates to thrive in an increasingly interdependent global community.
• Strategic planning—Curricular and co-curricular programs that emphasize global learning are key components of Onondaga’s strategic plan, Framework for Success, 2003–2008, and are being supported with internal and external grants. The plan to infuse global learning outcomes in the “Top 25” courses stemmed from this plan.

Strategy No. 2: Onondaga has established partnerships and collaborations with institutions in the United States and abroad that enhance international learning. Onondaga students have taken advantage of study and travel abroad opportunities in the SUNY study abroad consortium. Membership in prestigious organizations such as Community Colleges for International Development, National Association of Foreign Student Advisors, and many others, provide many opportunities to exchange ideas and maximize resources. A partnership with the University of Namibia has increased global awareness and cross-cultural understanding among employees, administrators, and students of the two institutions.

Strategy No. 3: Internationalization has been faculty-driven and led with institutional support. An international vision that was cast more than 20 years ago by a few Onondaga faculty to internationalize their courses through curricular and co-curricular activities has yielded great results over time. Faculty continue to provide leadership in internationalization efforts. Aligning internationalization with the college’s vision and mission has given a new impetus for faculty development, curriculum internationalization, co-curricula programming, and educational abroad opportunities. Faculty efforts have been (re)affirmed and supported by college administrators under the leadership of Sydow. Internationalization envisioning, planning, and coordination are integrated into the overall college strategic/master plan, and are supported by allocated budgetary funds for the promotion of international education programs through the Office of the Vice President for Student and Academic Services.

IV. Future Plans

Onondaga’s future is intricately tied to the internationalization process: preparing graduates to become global citizens. Therefore, Onondaga will continue to pursue its internationalization goals through a comprehensive plan with the following objectives in coming years:

Please direct questions about this page to:
beth_burris@ace.nche.edu
This page last updated on 6/14/06