N E W F A C E S I N O I S P

Kimberly Valenti has worked in international

education for about 10 years . She lived in Italy and

worked with business students on English skills , then

worked in both ESL and university admissions in

Boston before moving to Seattle . She now works on the

ISSS team to recruit prospective international students ,

both those coming from abroad and those transferring

from within the U .S . Kimberly enjoys reading , yoga ,

traveling around the world , and exploring new hiking

trails with her husband and two dogs .

NEWSLETTER FOR

THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES & PROGRAMS

AT

CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Kimberly

THE GLOBAL

GAZETTE

OFF ICE OF INTERNAT IONAL STUDIES & PROGRAMS |  OISP   | PAGE 1

OISP Launches VirtualWorldCat Initiative

Fulbright ScholarProgram Webinar

VOL 2 JUNE 2020 ISSUE 2

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Virtual Recruiting

International Cafe &

Cultural ConversationsGo Virtual

The Magic OfAUAP Goes Online

UESL

Goes Online

PAGE  6

Contact Us

Joseph

Joseph Rainwater-Cummings, originally from the state

of Georgia, is the new AUAP Student Services Coordinator.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Modern Language from

Clemson University where he studied Japanese, American

Sign Language, German and Mandarin. He has lived in

Japan and Australia and earned a Masters Degree in Parks,

Recreations & Tourism Management. Joe's partner works

as a Psychologist at CWU's student counseling clinic and

both are enjoying their experiences in Ellensburg.

Fulbright Scholar Program WebinarThe Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers approximately 470 teaching, research or combination teaching/researchawards in over 125 countries.  On Friday, May 15, 2020, the Office of International Studies hosted a webinar to raiseawareness of this program.  It also provided an outlet for CWU faculty and staff to connect with Elvin Delgado and JohnBowen, CWU faculty members who were awarded through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program previously, as well as SarahCauser, an Outreach and Recruitment Specialist with the Institute of International Education (IIE). Delgado and Bowen shared details regarding to the application process and timeline they followed, as well as highlightsof their time abroad and research outcomes, and shared advice for their peers on how to submit a successfulapplication.  As Bowen just returned from his time in Myanmar earlier this spring, his experience was fresh in his mindand he had many stories and pictures to share.  The application process and experience for the two awardees variedgreatly, so having them both serve as panelists sharing their personal experiences was very meaningful.   The application deadline for the 2021-2022 competition is September 15, 2020.  Regional and discipline-focusedwebinars are held every Wednesday from 2-3 PM EST.  CWU faculty and staff interested in applying for opportunitiesavailable through the Fulbright Scholar program can reach out to Rachel Gordon, International Partnerships Managerwithin the Office of International Studies and Program for more information and for contact information forrepresentatives within IIE and the Fulbright program.

While long an interest of Interim Associate Provost for

Extended Learning & Outreach and Executive Director

of International Studies & Programs Ediz Kaykayoglu,

the COVID-19 pandemic spurred OISP to accelerate

launching international virtual exchange, an initiative it

has dubbed Virtual WorldCats. Virtual exchange utilizes

technology to facilitate interaction and learning

between CWU students and students abroad, without

requiring travel. With assistance from OISP, several

CWU faculty leapt at the opportunity to incorporate

virtual exchange into their Spring Quarter classes,

despite short timelines.

Profs. Rose Romfo and Nicole Rehorst, adjunct faculty

in the College of Education & Professional Studies and

instructors in the Asia University America Program, are

jointly collaborating with a colleague at CWU partner

Tokyo Gakugei University (TGU), an Education-focused

institution in Japan. Across their three sections of EDBL

401 Teaching Linguistically Diverse Students and ELEM

443 Teaching in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms, 11

CWU students are paired one-on-one with a student

from TGU, and each pairing is required to meet at least

once a fortnight via video-conference for guided

discussion on education topics, with questions designed

to tease out potential culturally influenced differences

in philosophy. For instance, students’ first meeting

focused on lesson planning, with prompts including

“What are three things you think every lesson plan

should include?” and “How strictly should teachers

follow their lesson plans?” After each meeting, students

are required to answer a short 4-question reflection

survey.

Though it is still relatively early—at the time of writing,

the students are only in the midst of their second required

discussion, Romfo says she can see the CWU students are

benefiting significantly from the experience. Among many

others, Romfo has noticed students developing active

listening skills and greater patience, “consciously thinking

about how to get their point across clearly and concisely

while using strategies they've learned from class…like using

easier words & synonyms [or] rephrasing”, and increasing

their “knowledge and appreciation of a different culture”.

She goes on to say, “For some students, the things they've

learned through small talk with their partner may have

been of greater educational value than the questions we

posed that were more closely tied to their majors or future

careers…” One CWU student even has elected to meet with

his TGU partner, a Physical Education major, more

frequently, in part so that she can teach him yoga.

Additional faculty in the Departments of Communication

and World Languages & Cultures have partnered with

institutions in Turkey, Russia and South Korea. Laura

Randolph, a student in Prof. Booyoun Kim’s KRN 153

Elementary Korean III class this term and a participant in

virtual language exchange, states, “I'm really nervous to

participate but I also know that it is a great opportunity to

learn. I am really interested in connecting with someone

from a completely different culture and background.”

Furthermore, Laura is planning to study in Korea next year.

In thinking about how her virtual exchange experience at

CWU will connect with her year abroad, she says, “…[I]t will

also be nice to have already had contact with someone

there so that when I get to Kookmin I will already know

someone and adjusting will be a little bit easier.

STUDY ABROAD & EXCHANGE PROGRAM | SAEP | PAGE 2

@cwustudyabroad@cwuabroad@CWUAbroad

OISP Launches Virtual WorldCat Initiative

Given our current inability to travel domestically or internationally, CWU has amped uprecruitment efforts via online engagement. CWU has hosted webinars for EducationUSA SaudiArabia and EducationUSA Pakistan, international high schools in China and Lebanon, and hasparticipated in virtual college fairs in China, Canada and India, as well as a digital marketingcampaign in Vietnam.

To reach international transfer students, we host weekly virtual drop-in hours, major informationsessions (ITAM, Hospitality Management, Business and Liberal Studies), and participate inCommunity College transfer virtual events.

CWU has also implemented a phone call outreach campaign for newly admitted students andapplicants to be sure that they are on the right track throughout the admissions process, alongwith planning virtual welcome sessions to increase engagement.

In addition, CWU is sending newsletters to our community college, international high school andagent networks to keep everyone up-to-date on changes and events happening.

We hope to travel again soon, but for now we are happy to meet students and parents virtually toexplore their options for studying at CWU.

Our long standing and popular conversational programs International Café and

Cultural Conversations went virtual this quarter via Zoom. The first two virtual Cultural Conversations saw around 35 participants come

together to hear from our guest speakers. Yunus Timurtas, our Program

Coordinator Assistant spoke of his experiences as an international student who

transferred to CWU this fall. He spoke of Turkey, shared stories of his past and

hopes for his future, and answered people's questions. Steve Cook, the

Associate Director of Education Abroad shared about his times living abroad

from an American perspective.  He spoke of important moments in time, such as

living in Krakow when Pope John Paul II—who was born nearby, was educated in

the city and had been the Archbishop there—passed away in 2005.

The Department of World Languages and Cultures hosted our first virtual

International Café in mid-May.  Over forty people participated in this fun

gathering, breaking out into smaller groups a few times, playing an icebreaker

and speaking about languages. 

INTERNAT IONAL STUDENT & SCHOLAR SERV ICES |   I SSS   | PAGE 3

Virtual Recruit ing

International Cafe & Cultural Conversations Go Virtual

The highlight of the event was the

Kahoot game which ended in three

students winning gift certificates. 

We look forward to the continuation

of this popular event in the future,

partnering up with other

departments or clubs. Whether in

person or virtual, it is always a fun

time!

What no one could have predicted is that three and a half weeks later, theywould be returning to Japan and would be the first group of AUAP students toexperience virtual exchange. A week after returning to Japan, the AUAP staff andfaculty began offering AUAP classes three nights a week to interested studentsfor the next 8 weeks. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights at 5pm, theAUAP team would login to welcome on average 9-11 students. Studentsparticipated in American Studies, TOEIC, and IES classes. The interactive classesprovided opportunities for discussion, watching videos, joining PowerPointpresentations, participating in surveys, and a chance to talk with CWU studentswho joined as Classroom Volunteers. AUAP students were able to learn how touse online platforms and a variety of technology. They were able to uploadpresentations, participate in discussion boards, and became Zoom experts! Thisonline opportunity gave not only the AUAP students, but also the staff and otherCWU students, a chance to connect while everyone around the world was inisolation. Theme nights such as “Wildcat Wednesday” and “Fun Friday” became achance for everyone to share their spirit and personality. One student sharedher thoughts after the last class, “I can’t join all of the classes but online classwas so fun. Thank you so much for this opportunity to take online class.” Itwasn’t how we imagined this cycle, but the spirit and magic of AUAP was stillable to be felt through our online efforts.

AS IA UNIVERS ITY AMERICA PROGRAM |  AUAP | PAGE 4

/auap_cwu/

/pg/auapcwu/

The Magic Of AUAP Goes OnlineOn February 25, Cycle 1, 2020started out the same as theprevious 50+ cycles had beforethem. 19 students arrived inEllensburg full of excitement,wonder, and passion for studyingEnglish and learning aboutAmerican culture.

In its thirty years of existence, the UESL programhas experienced a number of changes andchallenges, but nothing like what occurred thisspring quarter when, along with the rest of CWU,it abruptly switched its classes and programmingto online delivery as part the university’s effort tocontrol the spread of the coronavirus. In spite ofthe fact that there was so little time to prepare forand make the change, UESL faculty and studentsdid a remarkable job in handling the transition andmaking the quarter a success. For teachers, the first challenge to confront wasmaking the switch to a new modality that few hadany previous experience with. According to seniorlecturer Sylvia Shriner, the technology took a littlewhile to get used to, and she is still learning all thetime about how to use it and do things moreeffectively. “Some things you just can’t do online very easilysuch as making groups and getting back and forthbetween them to check on them and keep themgoing. Giving quizzes and exams is also harderonline than just doing it in-person.” One of the biggest challenges for many was thetechnology. Both students and teachers hadvarying degrees of reliable wifi, prompting oneinstructor to upgrade her home internet. Tocompensate for slow internet, some students kepttheir cameras off during synchronous classsessions. A number of the students in Wildcat ESL,a community English language programcosponsored by OISP and Human Resources,lacked home computers and so joined classes withtheir phones, which made it hard to seedocuments shown by their instructor, Cami Bello. For one student, the main challenge came fromliving in a different time zone. For her, classattendance meant being in front of the computerfrom 12-2:00 AM.

While there were some difficulties, especially in thebeginning, the efforts by the teachers and students tomake it work paid off. According to Cami, her WildcatESL class did remarkably well. “The students wereproud of themselves for learning how to handle thetechnology,” says Cami. “The fact that it was onlineallowed several young mothers to attend who wouldnormally not be able to because of childcare needs.Many had babies in their laps as they worked.” UESL instructors were assisted this quarter by theparticipation of five practicum students from CWU’sMA TESOL program. According to one, KinzeeMacdonald, observing UESL classes was a greatexperience even with the abrupt transition at thebeginning of the quarter. “I not only saw how thecourses were carried out through the online platforms,but I also participated in the classes much more than Iexpected. Seeing how the teachers, students, andcourses have progressed through the quarter is ofgreat value for my future career.” UESL students themselves miss in-person classes butare generally satisfied with their online experience.“The experience of the virtual learning in this Springquarter is above my expectations,” states FranciscoMavungo (Angola). “Other than certain technologicaldifficulties that appear, it's been a good learningexperience so far.” Songhui Cao (China) recognizes the necessity of goingonline, noting that an online class system can helpcontrol the pandemic. Says Songhui, “For me, I canaccept both face-to-face and online classes, as long aspeople's safety can be guaranteed.”

UNIVERS ITY ENGL ISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE |  UESL | PAGE 5

@UESLCWU@UESLCWU@UESLCWU1

UESL Goes Online

intlprog@cwu.edu

(509) 963-3612

WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH OISP ?

For general queries:

OFF ICE OF INTERNAT IONAL STUDIES & PROGRAMS |  OISP | PAGE  6

CONTACT US

Hebeler Hall # 105Hebeler Hall # 102

OISPprograms@cwu.edu

(509) 963-1375

For information on OISP

programs, events, & activites:

" I f y o u w a n t t o s u c c e e d y o u s h o u l d s t r i k e o u t o nn e w p a t h s , r a t h e r t h a n t r a v e l t h e w o r n p a t h s o f

a c c e p t e d s u c c e s s . "

-JOHN D . ROCKEFELLER

/ C W U i n t e r n a t i o n a l c w u _ i n t l/ c w u _ i n t l