The West Virginia Consortium for Faculty and Course Development in International Studies (FACDIS), housed at West Virginia University, received a national honor today, March 20, in Chicago, Ill.
FACDIS won a Certificate of Excellence in the 2000 Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Faculty Development to Enhance Undergraduate Teaching and Learning. The award was given by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), during the annual conference of the American Council on Education.
John Biggs, chairman of TIAA -CREF, recognized WVUs FACDIS as a”Program of Excellence”in a special ceremony at Chicagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers.
WVU President David C. Hardesty nominated FACDIS for the award, noting WVU has hosted the statewide consortium since its inception in 1980.
FACDIS Co-Directors Jack L. Hammersmith, professor of history at WVU , and Michael J. Strada, professor of political science at West Liberty State College, accepted the award. Also attending was FACDIS founding director and WVU Professor Emerita Sophia Peterson, as well as FACDIS assistant director, Ann Levine.
“Approximately 3,200 higher education institutions exist in America, and most of them have faculty development programs,”Dr. Hammersmith said,”so we were pleased merely to be nominated for the Hesburgh. We feel even more fortunate that WVU has been honored with this Certificate of Excellence.”
Formed in 1980 to enhance international education, FACDIS now spans 20 public- and private-sector institutions in West Virginia higher education. Its 375 faculty members represent more than 15 academic disciplines united by a desire to improve how students are taught about”the shrinking world in which we live.”External grants totaling $1.5 million have augmented FACDIS teaching-related efforts.
The major programs conducted by FACDIS include annual workshops on a variety of international themes that have attracted more than 2,000 faculty participants over the years; a yearly Scholar-Diplomat Program in Washington, DC, for a dozen faculty to discuss international issues with government officials, think-tank scholars and foreign dignitaries; summer seminars that have kept 115 college and 430 public school teachers abreast of new knowledge and teaching methods; publication of a quarterly newsletter; and almost 5,000 free audio-visual loans distributed statewide for classroom use by FACDIS members.
The Hesburgh Award marks the second time FACDIS has been honored nationally. In 1987 it received the G. Theodore Mitau Award for Innovation and Change in Higher Education from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).
An unsolicited 1999 Program Profile by the Southern Growth Policies Board concluded that,”only one state, West Virginia, has an organization dedicated to internationalizing the entire higher education system. Its FACDIS Consortium makes students informed citizens through a program renewing the faculty who must teach and inspire thema train-the-trainer approach to global awareness.”
“For twenty years FACDIS faculty and their students have befitted from the vision and determination of FACDIS founder, Sophia Peterson, Professor Emerita from WVU ,”Dr. Strada said.”The highlight of the Hesburgh ceremony for me is that Sophia was able to share it with us in Chicago.”