Hickok and Ohl are Heading for Japan as Part of CSU International Faculty Partnership Seminar

BY GAIL MATSUNAGA
From Dateline (May 20, 2004)

Coral M. Ohl

Two faculty members will join 16 CSU colleagues in Tokyo this summer for the International Faculty Partnership Seminar, “Progress and Tradition: Japan and the United States.”

John Hickok, associate librarian, and Coral M. Ohl, professor of communications, are participating in the four-day seminar that will include faculty members from Waseda University.

Begun in 2000 and sponsored by the CSU Academic Council on International Programs, the seminars are designed to provide international experiences for CSU faculty members in diverse disciplines. Attendees participate from their areas of expertise and perspectives.

Hickok anticipates developing a fuller understanding of the university’s international students.

“We have a huge contingent of Japanese students, either as full-time matriculating or ALP (American Language Program) students,” he notes. “How much better it would be for my colleagues and me if we were more familiar with the information-seeking behavior of Japanese students? Not only could we meet their needs, but it will have practical benefits to CSUF.”

For his presentation, Hickok plans to provide training to help Japanese students use library resources here.

“What I like,” says Ohl about the seminar, “is the whole idea of discovery, of intercultural communications.”

Ohl’s motivation for applying for the seminar was, in part, influenced by a graduate student from Japan and her experience teaching international students in Hawaii last summer.

“Hawaii really opened my eyes,” she says. “It’s the whole idea of looking at other ways of teaching, other points of view. It changed my way of teaching. I’m trying to look at people’s backgrounds more, watch their expressions – see how they’re perceiving me and see if there’s another way to get to them.”

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