JCCC International Profile

International programs are an important part of JCCC’s mission to educate area students about the world in which they live and work. The college has worked since 1980 to develop its curriculum and programs to prepare students to live in an interconnected and interdependent world. JCCC is an active member of the American Council on International and Intercultural Education (ACIIE), the College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS), and the Global College Network (GCN). In the greater Kansas City area the college is an active member of and partner with the International Relations Council, an affiliate of the World Affairs Councils of America. The college supports an office of International Education, an Intercultural Center, and an Intensive English Program.

Curriculum

JCCC’s faculty members teach seventy sections of eight foreign languages each semester and at least seventy courses overall with international and intercultural content. These courses span the departments of Anthropology, Architecture, Art, Business, Communications, Geosciene, Health Care, History, Humanities, Interior Design, Foreign Language, Music, Political Science, Religion, and Sociology. Each of the eight foreign languages (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Russian) have a full two-year curriculum of elementary and intermediate courses and most offer a conversation course as well. JCCC’s foreign language program attracts more than a thousand students each semester and is an extremely vital one that employs six full-time and twenty-seven adjunct faculty members.

Through the College Consortium for International Studies, JCCC students may study in any one of thirty different countries for a semester or a year. Shorter overseas summer and intersession programs are currently offered by JCCC faculty in Italy, Russia, China, Germany, Thailand, Mexico and Argentina. Approximately 150 students participate in these programs each year.

Grants

JCCC’s original international initiative was supported by a Title VIA grant in 1980. From that initiative, international programs have grown in important ways. The college supports a full-time International Education Director, maintains an international travel grants program for faculty and works to enhance its curriculum and its student programs. Recent grants include a NAFSA Cooperative Grant in 1999 for the development of JCCC’s Intercultural Semester program. In 2003, the college (in partnership with the Community College of Philadelphia) received an NEH Exemplary Grant for a two-year program for professional and curriculum development for adjunct faculty on Inter-Cultural Assimilation and Conflict in East Asia. In 2004 JCCC received a CIES grant from the University of Beirut’s Understanding Contemporary Islam program. Another grant from the Fulbright Visiting Specialist Program supported a second Islamic scholar for 2005. These most recent grants have provided the college with the very valuable expertise of two Muslim scholars and have caused us to continue the assessment of shortcomings in our curriculum and our library holdings. The scholars, Dr. Fatma Al-Sayegh and Dr. M. Syafi’i Anwar, generated significant interest in the Muslim world among faculty and students and serve as an important impetus for this application.

International Partnerships

JCCC has six partners in Asia, Europe, and Africa and sponsors faculty exchanges, student programs and curriculum projects each year through these partnerships. Partner institutions include Northwest Polytechnic University in Xi’an, China, Koning Willem I College in the Netherlands, Ecole Nationale des Postes et Telecommunication de KIPE in Guinea, Udmurt State University in Izhevsk, Russia, Chichester College in the United Kingdom and Nagasaki International University in Japan.

Regional Center for the Development of Asian studies

As a Regional Center for the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) of the East West Center and the University of Hawaii, JCCC works to promote Asian studies on its campus and in the community. JCCC hosted an ASDP Regional Workshop on “Traditions of Dissent in Asia” in 2003 and the 2004 ASDP national conference. JCCC faculty members have participated in ASDP summer institutes and field studies with financial support from the college.

Faculty Development

JCCC sends 30 faculty members abroad each year for workshops and institutes designed to increase their knowledge and expertise of other cultures. Faculty members have participated in Fulbright grants, NEH seminars, ASDP field studies and the University of Pennsylvania Japan Seminar among others. JCCC maintains close and cooperative relations with area community colleges, the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri, and with area K-12 schools on issues relating to international education.

Student Programs

Students and faculty from JCCC provide program related service to a rural community in Las Pintos, Mexico each year and gain experience in the realities and challenges of community assistance in a developing country. The college has an active International Club and a Model United Nations Program that provide student opportunities for extra-curricular exposure to international people and issues. The Intercultural Semester allows students to “go global” while remaining in the local community through a program that pairs international and U.S. students, promotes a cluster of international courses, and provides service to the immigrant community of Greater Kansas City. Many of JCCC’s 300 international students speak to K-12 classes and community groups about their cultures through the colleges International Classroom Partnership Program. JCCC receives students through the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) from Russia and the former Soviet Republics and has more than 150 students from the Middle East, Pakistan, and Central and South Asia.