KU News Release

KU to help faculty from Europe, Asia acclimate to American higher education

LAWRENCE — Visiting fellows from Eastern Europe and Central Asia will spend a few days at the University of Kansas before going on to teach at colleges and universities across the United States.

KU is the national site for the Junior Faculty Development Program orientation, which will be Jan. 11-14. The program is designed to help the 66 fellows acclimate to the United States and its higher education system before they go to their host institutions for the semester. Four of the fellows will remain at KU for the spring semester.

Orientation activities include presentations about intercultural conflict, higher education and American society. Participants can also attend social activities such as bowling and folk dancing.

Sponsored by the U.S. State Department, the development program increases access to academic resources and new educational perspectives and promotes the development of a growing network of academics in the United States and countries in the former Soviet Union. Four staff members from the American Councils for International Education, which coordinates the program, will participate along with KU faculty and staff. In addition, Olivia Borecka from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State, will give a presentation on global diplomacy.

KU has hosted fellows since the program began in 1991. This is the university’s first time to host the orientation. Twenty of the fellows attended the Applied English Center for a month before the orientation for language and culture instruction. This is the second year the center has provided that part of the program.

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