Caption: Visiting professors from Japan’s Osaka University are being mentored by College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics professors this month. Pictured, back row, Minetaka Sugiyama and Atsushi Okazawa; front row, Takaharu Nagatomi, Nobutaka Fujieda, Yasuyuki Ozeki.
International Professor Exchange
Japanese Scientists Observe, Learn From Fullerton Counterparts
Five scientists from Osaka University’s Division of Advanced Science and Biotechnology are visiting Cal State Fullerton through March 19 to learn from and observe their American counterparts in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Campus faculty members are mentoring their Japanese counterparts in efforts to help them enhance their teaching skills in English, as well as providing opportunities for observation of instructional techniques used in Cal State Fullerton undergraduate and graduate-level classes.
The Osaka Faculty Development Program, delivered by University Extended Education in collaboration with the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, began in 2009. It is but one of several such programs that have been offered on campus to help expand the English and teaching skills of faculty members from throughout Asia.
This spring’s program involves the departments of Physics, Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biological Science, in which mentor professors have been matched with the visiting Osaka professors.
Osaka participants and their faculty mentors are: Ionel Tifrea, associate professor of physics, with Takaharu Nagatomi; Greg Childers, associate professor of physics, with Yasuyuki Ozeki; Laura Arce, lecturer in biological science, and Melanie A. Sacco, assistant professor of biological science, with Atsushi Okazawa; Marcelo E. Tolmasky, professor of biological science, with Minetaka Sugiyama; Christopher R. Meyer, chair and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Madeline E. Rasche, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, with Nobutaka Fujieda.
Other campus faculty involved in the program include: Victoria B. Costa, director of science education; Anne M. Houtman, associate professor of biological science; Kathryn Angus, lecturer in reading; and American Language Program lecturers Bruce Rubin and Cindy Bertea.
“The Osaka Faculty Development Program fulfills this mission and goes beyond extending the reach of the university to create relationships between the university’s faculty and their international counterparts,” said Melem Sharpe-Kwon, University Extended Education program developer. “This is a truly academic program that involves the collaboration of research and teaching faculty to share their experiences and successes in the pursuit of teaching excellence. It also provides opportunities for self-reflection and growth for both international faculty participants, CSUF faculty members and students.”
Additionally, Kumamoto University in Japan has sent eight visiting faculty members and one administrative staff member to campus to observe undergraduate and graduate classes in the colleges of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Humanities and Social Sciences, Engineering and Computer Science, and Education. The main objective for Kumamoto faculty members, who will be on campus through March 19, is to strengthen their teaching in English, Sharpe-Kwon said.
March 10, 2011
