Program Description

Even before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and certainly thereafter, higher education in the Russian Federation has been beset by myriad difficulties that have impeded educational reform. Since 1991, Russian higher education has received assistance from Western governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A variety of initiatives have begun, intended both to rehabilitate the most prestigious universities and to provide exchange opportunities for Russia's most talented, or promising, scholars and students. In the United States, the momentous political transformations that erupted in Soviet bloc nations during the late 1980s precipitated an upsurge of interest in Russia, and university campuses witnessed significantly increased enrollments in Russian language and area studies courses. Soon, however, these enrollment increases were replaced by larger, and more enduring, reductions. No longer the "evil empire," nor an imploding or "transitioning" Communist empire, Russia lost its cachet and came to be viewed as just one more impoverished, corrupt, and generally dysfunctional far-away land.

These sets of difficult circumstances yielded the proposed university partnership. Indeed, it was the desire to address some of the aforementioned problems that propelled faculty from Fairfield University, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, and, somewhat later, seven regional pedagogical universities to experiment with a variety of cooperative relationships and educational innovations. Accordingly, the partnership project that is outlined in this proposal has benefited from an eight-year prelude in which institutional relationships evolved and interested faculty members experimented with, and learned from, a variety of cooperative endeavors, including faculty and student exchanges and bi-national seminars that focused on American Studies. The conceptual framework of the present project - "American Studies: Through Russian and American Eyes" - was first utilized in June 2000, when it served as the thematic focus of a two-week multi-disciplinary seminar hosted by Herzen University. That seminar's success made the value of this comparative approach to American studies apparent to all the participants. After more thought and work, this conceptual framework now provides the project with an intellectual focus that is simultaneously concrete, broad, malleable, and cross-cultural - characteristics that encourage wide-ranging and robust dialogue among faculty members from various academic departments, with varied professional interests.

The present university partnership project is atypical, we believe, in that it targets Russian pedagogical universities, which in general are viewed as second-tier educational institutions and, in consequence, have received little aid from foreign or domestic sources. Nevertheless pedagogical universities play an enormously important role in the Russian educational system. Traditionally it is their graduates who become the nation's elementary and secondary school teachers. This project is also atypical in that it seeks to utilize the exchanges, seminars, and on-line communities that it will establish in northwestern Russia primarily as mechanisms of support for faculty-initiated educational reforms, rather than as mechanisms for the advancement of research. As detailed below, Fairfield and Herzen universities, together with the regional universities of Arkhangel'sk, Cherepovets, and Kaliningrad, seeks to deepen and extend their work. We will develop a coordinated array of one-semester faculty exchanges, discipline-specific summer seminars, and - for the Russian universities - in-house resource centers containing books, audio-visual materials, and dedicated, on-line computers. These activities and resources will support the development of a new international community of innovative educators. The commitment to cross-national dialogue and educational reform has the potential to benefit not only the participating institutions and their students, but future generations of Russian school children and the society into which they are born.

The Participating Universities and Academic Disciplines

The five partner universities for this project are Fairfield University (Fairfield, Connecticut), Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (St. Petersburg). Pomor State University (Arkangel'sk), Cherepovets State University (Cherepovets, Vologda Region), and Kaliningrad State University (Kaliningrad). There are, in addition, five non-partner regional universities located in the immediate environs of the three regional partners - the pedagogical universities of Murmansk, Petrazavodsk, Vologda, Novgorod, and Pskov. All eight of the regional universities - all of which function as pedagogical universities despite some expansion and name change - are located in the northwest corner of the Russian Federation, and each of the five non-partners is in relatively close proximity to a partner. For this reason, it is hoped that the three regional partners will assist individuals or departments of the five non-partners to further educational reforms. With this possibility in mind, the non-partner regional universities will be invited to attend nearby summer seminars.

Fairfield University and Herzen University are the lead institutions in the project and they will both be integrally involved in every phase of the partnership project. Fairfield University, founded in 1942 by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), provides a non-sectarian, humanistic education with a core curriculum, which also embraces interdisciplinary studies. Herzen University, founded in 1797, has long been the most prominent pedagogical university in Russia, and in 1991 it was officially recognized as Russia's leading pedagogical university. The regional partners chosen (Cherepovets, Kaliningrad, Pomor), have different histories growing out of their pedagogical beginnings. Regardless, the primary function of all universities in the pedagogical system is to train teachers - chiefly primary and secondary school teachers, but also university instructors. For this reason, all pedagogical universities function, to some extent, as a gateway into higher education for lower middle class families, and many graduates are among the first in their families to attain a university degree.

The cooperative institutional relationship between Fairfield and Herzen Universities was initiated in 1994. In 1999, the two universities jointly sponsored and coordinated their first summer seminar on American Studies. Every summer since then there has been an American Studies seminar in St. Petersburg in June. There are a number of connections that tie Herzen University to each of the northwestern regional universities. For example, students who have earned graduate degrees at Herzen University comprise a large percentage of the faculties at these pedagogical universities. In addition, Herzen University has taken on a leadership role by providing special resources to these nearby regional institutions. For these reasons, Herzen University and its faculty are generally highly esteemed by the faculties of these regional and pedagogical universities. These considerations explain and confirm Herzen University's leading position among the four Russian partner universities.

Pomor State University named after M. V. Lomonosov in Arkangelsk is one of the largest universities in northern Russia. It has long been involved in international projects, particularly with Scandinavia, but it also has an international agreement with the University of Southern Maine. It is strong in both English and the social sciences, particularly history. Teachers from both disciplines have been involved in American Studies and curricular innovation, and recognize the need to work closely together.

Cherepovets State University (Vologda region), founded as Cherepovets Pedagogical University, is a comprehensive state university with a new and innovative Institute of Humanities where both English language and History cooperate in the teaching of American Studies. Cherepovets faculty from the Institute took the initiative in organizing a Vologda region seminar in American Studies in 2000-2001.

Kaliningrad State University began as a state pedagogical institute, but returned in 1967 to the classical traditions of its forerunner, Konigsberg University, and the philosophical and scientific tradition of Kant. Kaliningrad is now a major research center, but continues to function as the pedagogical university for the Kaliningrad region. The Faculty of History at Kaliningrad embraces both philosophy and history, and includes many of most active international scholars. and teachers. American Studies at Kaliningrad is a new and emerging discipline.

Disciplines chosen for development and emphasis include the core disciplines of American Studies, active in all five partner universities (English and History), and in addition a number of social science disciplines now growing in Russian pedagogical universities (political science, sociology, political philosophy, communications and journalism). Both Fairfield and Herzen Universities have faculty involved in International Studies and American Studies in all of these disciplines.

Needs, Objectives, and Expected Benefits

The needs the Russian and American university partners are not identical, but they are congruent. The project's objectives and anticipated outcomes are expected to benefit all partners.

The regional and pedagogical universities of northwest Russia, like most universities in the Russian Federation, need to reform their curricula and pedagogic techniques. This reform, however, has become a pressing societal imperative at precisely the time that state funding for higher education has declined dramatically, especially with regard to these very universities. Moreover, most regional and pedagogical universities have not received significant assistance from foreign government or NGO programs that support education reform in the former Soviet Union. As a result, these universities have suffered disproportionate hardship and are poorly equipped to develop or implement educational reforms. Thus, even though serious and much-needed educational reform has at last become politically feasible, for regional and pedagogical universities, it is usually still an unattainable goal.

At the same time, education reform of the pedagogical universities is especially important. There is a vital link between the curricula and teaching techniques utilized in these institutions and the curricula and techniques that will be used in years to come in Russia's primary and secondary schools. Moreover, the failure to reform the pedagogical universities does more harm than simply undermining the reform agenda with regard to primary and secondary schools. It also reduces the likelihood that future generations of university students will be adequately or appropriately prepared for the reformed curricula of the universities into which they will matriculate.

The dire financial circumstances experienced by most Russian universities ensure that many subjects are still taught using Soviet-era materials and methods. While such practices may not be harmful for every subject, for American Studies it is terribly deleterious - especially with regard to the social sciences and history. Moreover, development of new, post-Soviet educational materials and curricula about the United States has the potential to correct inaccurate representations of that country. These considerations explain why, among the many facets of education that require innovation and reform, this project focuses on American Studies.

Factually accurate and evenhanded coverage of America's system of government, history, economy, society, popular culture, et cetera - especially when coupled with non-traditional pedagogical techniques such as encouraging teacher-student dialogues, class discussions, student presentations, in-class analysis of primary documents, the use of audio-visual materials, and team-teaching - has the potential to transform both the educational experience of university students and their conceptions of the United States. When the educational experience of a student in a pedagogical university is transformed in this way, there can be profound effects. The university student herself, the elementary or high school pupils she will one day teach, and thus, by extension, the development and future character of Russian society may all be transformed.

At Fairfield University, as at other American universities, student interest in Russia and the Russian language fell precipitously after reaching a high point in the late 1980s and early 1990s. To reverse or even modify this trend, Fairfield University has revitalized the study of Russia on its campus. While the motivation for stimulating interest in Russia is obvious with respect to those members of the faculty whose customary course curricula, scholarly research, or personal interests include Russia, these individuals are not the only ones who believe it is important to increase awareness and understanding of that far-away country. It is not just Russian area specialists, but also serious students of US. foreign policy, European history, religion, literature, and many other subjects who need to learn about Russia. For those at Fairfield University who first recognized this need, the challenge was to develop a strategy that might realistically arouse the curiosity and interest of people - students and faculty - who were surrounded by fascinating subjects, engrossing issues, and provocative ideas.

The decision to try to cultivate an interest in Russia among Fairfield's faculty and students via a program that focused on American Studies might seem counter-intuitive, but this strategy has already enjoyed considerable success. Part of the rationale for this approach was that American Studies is one of Fairfield University's strengths - the university offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. Another reason for this approach was that one could not expect American faculty who had little interest in Russia to decide to take off for St. Petersburg in order to learn about Russia. It was first of all necessary to stimulate their curiosity, arouse their interest.

The strategy by which Fairfield University sought to respond to its perceived need to revitalize the study of Russia on campus began with cultivating dialogues between Americans and Russians who shared a scholarly discipline and the orientation that went along with it. Then, it was hoped, as the Americans met and came to know Russians who worked in their fields, professional and personal relationships would develop, and at least some of these relationships would arouse sufficient interest on the part of the Americans that they would gradually develop a more active scholarly interest in Russia.

As discussed in more detail at the end of this proposal, Fairfield University and Herzen University began to co-sponsor international programs in 1994, and since that time the scenario outlined above has proved rather successful. Fairfield University linked its American Studies and Russian and East European Studies programs, which resulted in some of Fairfield's American Studies faculty being paired with faculty from Herzen University to team-teach American Studies seminars in St. Petersburg. Attending these seminars were faculty from Herzen and other pedagogical universities in Northwest Russia. As predicted, such experiences greatly increased awareness of and interest in Russia across the Fairfield faculty, and interest and enthusiasm about American Studies among the Russian faculty. These joint tendencies were reinforced by undergraduate exchange students from the NIS on ACIE/FSA and Open Society Institute scholarships, and the involvement of faculty from ten Fairfield departments serving as mentors for ACIE's Junior Faculty Development Program. The appearance of informal faculty seminars on Russian literature, increased enrollments in Russian language, growth in the number of Russian area studies minors, and heightened interest in study abroad appears to be related to this cluster of activities.

The objective that the project partners, seek to achieve is to satisfy the needs that we have identified and discussed above. More specifically, for the Russian participants, the partnership's objective is to promote and support faculty-initiated curricular and pedagogical reforms in American Studies disciplines of English and the social sciences. The conceptual framework of "American Studies: Through Russian and American Eyes" provides the project with a broadly-defined and inclusive focus. It brings intellectual cohesion to a rather demanding schedule of bi-national activities (discussed below) which encourage the Russian participants to explore existing models of "active" learning, to create new techniques, and to practice and gain proficiency in teaching strategies that fit their discipline and personality. An additional objective is to promote the spread of a "culture of innovation" throughout the partner universities, and among the faculty of other northwest Russia universities.

For the American participants, the project's overall objective is to encourage the revival of interest in Russia, especially with respect to the social sciences, including history, and language acquisition. In addition, the project seeks to remove Russia from the margins of university life and usher it into the center, while simultaneously raising student enrollment in courses that focus primarily on Russia. The American Studies framework is utilized pragmatically to introduce American academics to their Russian counterparts, and to capture their imagination and propel them into a new and fascinating world. Fairfield faculty who have taught or mentored Russian exchange faculty on the Fairfield campus, or those who have participated in summer seminars in St. Petersburg, have returned to campus full of new experiences and knowledge about Russia and Russians. This new knowledge and understanding has proven to be relevant to their own particular disciplines, which has encouraged them to continue or even intensify their study of Russia, and to integrate Russia into appropriate sections of their course curricula.

Incremental objectives serve as stepping stones that pave the way toward the accomplishment of the larger objectives. Some of these are:

1. By bringing a total of twelve Russian faculty members to Fairfield University in teams that include more than one Russian institution for a semester exchange experience, cross-institutional relationships will develop. Hosts as well as guests will be immersed in an interdisciplinary, bi-national exercise in educational change.
2. During these one-semester visits of Russian faculty to Fairfield University, new courses and course modules in English, communications, journalism, economics, history, politics, and sociology/anthropology will be developed. The courses are all linked to the American Studies theme. Twelve new courses and up to twenty-four new course modules will be developed.
3. Enhanced development of key faculty members at each of the participating institutions will result. In the case of the Russians, development will be related to increased facility in English, exposure to new curricular models, new pedagogical methods, and new technologies. In the case of the Americans, development will be related to increased knowledge of the Russian language, Russia's history, culture, and educational system. They will also gain new insights into their own teaching of and research in American Studies.
4. To maximize interaction among the institutions and across disciplines, the project will promote the sharing of new resources, course curricula, and pedagogical models by providing dedicated, networked computers for all the Russian partner institutions.
5. The resources available to support the teaching of the new courses in Russia will be augmented by the provision of American Studies Resource Centers at each of the Northwest Russian universities and by the expansion of the existing resource center at Herzen University. Each center will have at least two computers, one printer, and an Internet connection, which will facilitate communication among the partners. Books, audio-visual materials and other resources for the new American Studies courses and course modules will also be provided through the grant.
6. Intensive, interactive seminars in "American Studies: Through Russian and American Eyes" will be held at each participating Russian university over the summers of the grant period. These seminars will enable faculty from partner universities to share their experiences, course modules, and ideas with a broader group of faculty from throughout northwest Russia, expanding the circle of innovation and change.

There are several non-specific benefits that should result from this project, such as increased networking and communication about the pedagogical universities of northwest Russia and Herzen and Fairfield Universities. Specific benefits will include the following:

1. Twelve new or substantially revised courses will be developed
2. Up to twenty-four new course modules will be incorporated into current courses.
3. Computer "list-serves" by discipline will help keep faculty members aware of new resources and opportunities. They will also allow participants to discuss problems, share solutions, and generally stay in touch.
4. New teaching methodologies will be introduced, modeled, and practiced, including case study methodology, writing across the curriculum, small group interaction and team work groups.
5. All twelve Russian faculty members who participate in the semester exchange at Fairfield University.
6. U.S. faculty will improve their Russian language skills and knowledge of Russia
7. The new methodologies and course contents will have an impact on the participating universities, on other pedagogical universities in the region, and also - indirectly - on the teaching of American Studies and English at secondary schools in the region.
8. At least five departments or programs at Fairfield University will integrate issues associated with Russian culture and higher education into their work.
9. Many of the Russian faculty who participate in the exchange project will be prepared to apply to other, more competitive, exchange programs such as JFDP, Fulbright, etc.
10. All faculty members who participate will experience significant cross-disciplinary interaction.
11. Faculty from the northwest universities will learn how to host an international seminar.
12. The Deans at Herzen University will experience a different, more participatory management approach that they can modify for their own institutions.
13. The Dean and Department Chairs at Fairfield University will enhance their appreciation and understanding of other cultural approaches to administration.
14. All participating universities, Russian and American, will change institutionally, at least incrementally, as the result of the pedagogical innovations and reform strategies.

The Project's Primary Components: Faculty Exchanges; Summer Seminars; Resource Centers; Internet Communication

This partnership seeks to foster individual, mentored, and group innovation on the part of both American and Russian faculty participants by a coordinated array of one-semester faculty exchanges, discipline-specific summer seminars hosted by the regional pedagogical universities, and resource centers with fully functional computers, complete with Internet capacity, a printer, books, and audio-visual materials.

Over the course of the three-year partnership, twelve Russian faculty members will spend one semester at Fairfield University (see calendar). Exchange faculty will be selected on the basis of a targeted open competition, which will include a written description of their interests and the course and modules they wish to develop while at Fairfield, letters of support from their Deans and Chairs, and TOEFL testing. The selection team will include the two project directors, deans from Herzen and Fairfield, and the project coordinators from Kaliningrad, Cherepovets, and Arkangel'sk. They will come in pairs - one from Herzen University and one from a northwest Russia university - and they will be teachers in a single discipline or department. While at Fairfield University the Russian faculty will follow a program similar to that of Junior Faculty Development Program scholars. They will attend three or four courses (one seminar on pedagogical methods, the other courses relevant to their teaching specialization); they will each develop one new course and one or two course modules, for which they will create and purchase resources. An orientation and debriefing period will bookend each semester. All pairs of exchange faculty will share a Fairfield mentor. Any NIS faculty member participating in this exchange who scores less than 550 on the TOEFL will participate in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class during the semester. The ESL class will focus on developing competence in English and a specialized disciplinary vocabulary.

Modeled on the earlier seminars dedicated to "American Studies: Through Russian and American Eyes," the partnership project's summer seminars will bring together faculty from Fairfield University, Herzen University, and the northwest regional university that is hosting each seminar. In the course of two summers, each of the northwestern regional universities will host one one-week seminar. Each seminar will be led by a three-person team - the two Russian exchange faculty and their Fairfield mentor. Because of their make up, each team's members will be from a single academic discipline. Up to fifty faculty members may participate in each seminar. Those attending the seminar will be from the host institution as well as the other three Russian partner universities. In addition, faculty from non-partner regional universities located near to the host institution will be especially invited to attend the seminar. IREX, CEP, Fulbright, and English language Teaching Fellows in the northwest region working on American Studies questions will also be invited to participate in the seminar as outside resource people. Faculty for these seminars will be drawn from lists of potential participants provided by the universities, as well as from faculty in the other northwest Russia pedagogical universities.

The purpose of the summer seminars is to present the courses and course modules that the exchange faculty developed during their semester at Fairfield University - and also to present additional curricular and pedagogical innovations. Key to this process is the concept of mutual scholarly dialogue. Most important in this regard is electronic interaction prior to the seminar, and the intensive face-to-face interaction among the leadership teams before the broader seminar is convened. The presentations at each seminar are therefore truly team presentations where U.S. and Russian faculty present through Russian and American eyes, their new and changed perspectives. Mutuality and interaction are essential components of the pedagogical techniques that the exchange faculty will study at Fairfield University, and the presentations at the summer seminars will demonstrate and model them. Team teaching and a dialogical approach are both unusual in Russian classrooms Thus the form of the seminar will itself demonstrate new teaching methods. In past seminars, the new pedagogies that were introduced included writing across the curriculum, the use of oral histories, and the utilization of song lyrics to engage in social analysis, among others for programs for 2000 and 2001 seminars).

At each of the partner universities an American Studies Resource Center will be established. These centers will be modeled on the center that already exists at Herzen University, which will be expanded. Each center will be in a separable room that possesses the capacity to be locked. The centers will contain two dedicated computers, an Internet connection, and a printer, as well as books and audiovisual materials chosen by the exchange faculty for use in his or her newly designed course. The fact that these computers will be "dedicated" for uses connected with the NISCUPP partnership project is important. At under resourced universities that possess only one or two computers, junior faculty often find they have no access to computers, yet this faculty may be very eager to innovate in their teaching.

One of the objectives of this grant is to facilitate communication among faculty at the partner institutions. Given the international nature of this partnership, and the wide distances among the northwestern regional universities, the Internet will be essential to communication, mutual understanding, and reciprocity. Each of the Russian partner universities will receive two computers and a printer under the auspices of this project. Purchasing paper and ink for the printer will be the responsibility of the Russian universities. The project will pay for the cost of an Internet connection during the project's three-year duration. Although Internet connections in this region can be unreliable, Fairfield and Herzen Universities have maintained Internet service for Herzen's American Studies Resource Center for three years. We therefore expect to be able to maintain a similar level of service during the course of this project.

The computers will be used among the project partners for basic communication related to administration of the grant (selection of exchange faculty, planning for the summer seminar, e-mail among seminar team leaders, etc.) In addition, for each discipline involved in the grant, a list-serve devoted to curriculum changes, new pedagogies, new Internet resources, etc. will be created and moderated by the institution hosting the seminar in that discipline. The computers will be used for this purpose also. List-serve training will be provided for all Russian faculty members responsible for list-serve moderation. An e-mail connection is essential to the project for three reasons. First, it is the only way to communicate effectively and regularly among all the partners at a relatively low cost. Second, because it provides access to the Internet, it will empower faculty in Russia to access a plethora of materials in order to build on the curricular elements developed through the grant. Third, it will allow the program to disseminate its results broadly among the partner institutions and to others with Internet connections.

At the present time, in most pedagogical universities, faculty members have little or no access to computers or the Internet in their departments. In order for this program to function successfully, the computers need to be dedicated to this purpose alone. At Herzen we have found that the equipment dedicated to the American Studies Resource Center has been essential to full utilization of the Center's resources. Faculty and administrators who are involved in such a project require dependable Internet access, and at this time, dedicated equipment is the best solution.

Project Management

The project will be managed by a Russian-American team working with the full support of responsible university administrators in both countries and in the five universities.

The project Co-Directors, Professor David McFadden (Fairfield) and Professor Vladimir Noskov (Herzen) will consult on all matters of approach, philosophy, and organization of the project, both electronically and at all opportunities of personal consultation in both Russia and the United States. They will work under Deans Valentina Smorgunova (Social Sciences at Herzen), Galina Elizarova (Foreign Languages at Herzen), and Timothy Snyder (Arts and Sciences at Fairfield). Dean Smorgunova will serve as the lead administrator on the Herzen side because of the emphasis on Social Science disciplines and the fact that the project director is chair of a department in her faculty. Dr. Julie K. Mueller will work with Professor McFadden on the American side as administrative coordinator. In the regional universities, designated faculty members will serve as coordinators (Anna Karpenko (Philosophy/History) in Kaliningrad, Anna Rodicheva (English) in Cherepovets, and Alexei Feldt (History) in Arkangel'sk.

In addition to regular management consultation by Internet, the management teams will meet once a year in conjunction with the summer seminars. Julie Kay Mueller, the administrative coordinator, will travel to Russia during the late fall each year to facilitate planning for the summer seminars.

Project Evaluation

Evaluation of this project will be an ongoing process that will consist of many complementary elements. Such assessment will particularly focus on the beginning (current status), mid-course, and final evaluation.

Initial Assessment

When the project begins (Fall 2002), all participating universities and personnel will be interviewed by the project leadership either by phone or electronically concerning their needs and expectations for the project. Both needs and methods to meet needs will be identified. The results of that assessment will be evaluated and updated and will be the benchmark for the entire project. Progress in relation to this benchmark will be reviewed and updated after every project element, including evaluation, is completed. Both the mid-course evaluation and the final evaluation will ask questions of institutions and participants based on the initial assessment.

Mid-course Evaluation

There will be significant attention to making mid-course corrections in response to perceived successes and problems. Qualitative evaluations will be conducted of all exchange faculty by their mentors, and vice-versa. Self-evaluations will also be completed. Exit-interviews will contain evaluative elements. Short, quantitative and qualitative questionnaires will follow each presentation at each summer seminar, and the team members who make presentations to these seminars will also be asked to reflect on their experiences.

Final Evaluation

The project's U.S. Co-Director, Professor David McFadden of Fairfield University, will spend the spring semester, 2005 in Russia. Based at Herzen University in St. Petersburg, the two Co-Directors will travel to all partner institutions to evaluate the implementation of all program elements at that university including the resource center, list serve, course and course module implementation and leadership being taken by local faculty members. In addition, they will interview all Herzen and regional Northwest Russia team leaders, and will talk with relevant administrators in an assessment and evaluation process. A final, evaluative seminar will be held in the St. Petersburg area in the summer of 2005, to be attended by the entire leadership team from all five universities. The group will carefully assess all phases of the project, including evaluative elements, will prepare written reports, and will lay plans for future work.

Dr. Mark Johnson, Assistant Professor of History at Colorado College, will serve as the project's outside evaluator. Dr. Johnson, a graduate of Columbia University, is an expert in higher education in Russia. Dr. Johnson will be involved at three points. First, he will participate in the debriefing session at Fairfield for the first round of visiting scholars in May 2003 to help evaluate and modify that experience. While he is at Fairfield (two days), he will interview all staff and administrators involved in the program and conduct a thorough assessment. Second, he will sit in on one of the summer seminars during the summer of 2004 to evaluate that program element and to discuss the entire program with the northwest Russia universities. Finally, he will visit both Fairfield and St. Petersburg in the summer of 2005 to evaluate the full program and provide input on follow-up plans as well as prepare his own independent evaluation.

To support and build on Professor Johnson's work, there will be on-going evaluation of all program elements using both quantitative and qualitative elements. These will include:

1. A qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the semester program at Fairfield including separate evaluations of orientation and debriefing programs. Detailed interviews with participants on both sides of the exchange will be conducted.
2. Evaluation at the end of each semester of list serves by the individual participants.
3. Evaluations of each summer seminar session and each entire seminar.
4. Evaluations by faculty and students of all new course modules implemented.

We will maintain an archive of all publications, syllabi, modules etc. associated with the project to aid in evaluation.

Diversity

We will address issues of diversity in two key ways. First, the pool of potential participants is quite diverse. Among the Russian participants women outnumber men two to one. Among the US participants there are potentially 19 males and 15 females. These include one Hispanic and two African-Americans, approximately ten percent of the total.

While specific topics for curriculum change will depend heavily on the interests of the Russian participants, diversity was a major theme in the summer seminars in 2000 and 2001. Topics covered included Uncle Tom's Cabin in theater and dance, African-American literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, (including the Harlem Renaissance), literature by women writers with a special focus on the 20th century. The theme for the 2002 seminar is diversity and pluralism in the United States.

The Past International Activities of Fairfield and Herzen Universities

Herzen University and Fairfield University each sponsor a variety of international programs. This summary focuses on the relationship between the two institutions since 1994, when an intensive relationship began. Although Herzen has an active Center for International Education, Fairfield has worked at Herzen primarily through the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Relationships with the Chairs of English and General History have been intense and productive. During the last six years, Fairfield and Herzen have developed a variety of joint programs:

1. Up to five Herzen students studied at Fairfield each spring from 1998-2000 on a Herzen-Fairfield Scholarship program. Several of these students have been in the American Studies Program. Since 1999, two Herzen students have studied at Fairfield in Master's programs in American Studies and Education.
2. More than twenty Fairfield students have studied at Herzen for a semester and in two intensive short-term study abroad programs (June 1998 and January 2001) jointly taught by Fairfield and Herzen faculty.
3. Several faculty exchanges have taken place with Herzen faculty. Olga Filimonova, Zina Timofeeva, Tatiana Boborykina, all from Herzen's English Department have come to Fairfield for several weeks for lectures and program development. In the spring semester 1998, Dr. David McFadden had a Fulbright Fellowship to teach American Studies at Herzen. Marianna Mouravieva, from Herzen University's Department of World History, is teaching at Fairfield as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence in the spring semester 2002.
4. Since 1998 an American Studies Resource Center has operated at Herzen with financial assistance from Fairfield. The Center provides computers, fax, video monitors and other equipment to assist in the teaching and research activities of Herzen faculty and students. A library, with texts, audio and video resources, helps faculty incorporate American Studies materials into their courses. The Center has hosted a number of lectures and seminars for visiting Fulbright Scholars and other guests of the U.S. Consulate's American Center as well as other organizations working on American Studies.
5. A small American Studies seminar was held in May 1999 at Herzen for university faculty from Northwest Russia. Two Fairfield faculty, Dr. David McFadden and Sister Julianna Poole lectured at that event. The U.S. Consulate, St. Petersburg (the American Center), and Herzen University jointly sponsored the seminar.
6. Two seminars on "American Studies: Through Russian and American Eyes" were held in June 2000 and June 2001 at Herzen University. The seminars, jointly funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, The Public Affairs Section of the U.S., Consulate, Fairfield and Herzen universities, have brought Fairfield and Herzen faculty together each summer in week long scholarly dialogues. Six Fairfield faculty worked with their counterparts at Herzen in 2000, in music, literature, history and writing. During the second week of the seminar, the teams presented their work in the form of interactive workshops for a broader group of 45 professionals from seven pedagogical universities throughout Northwest Russia. A second seminar was held for two weeks in June 2001 with five Fairfield faculty from theater, political science, sociology, history and literature. These faculty members again were partnered with Herzen faculty from the same disciplines. Faculty from Northwest Russia also participated in the second week of the seminar, with strong involvement from Murmansk, Vologda, Cherepovets, Kaliningrad, and Arkangelsk. English Language Teaching fellows in Northwest Russia have also been an integral part of these seminars. A third seminar will be held in June 2002. Fairfield faculty from History, Political Science, English, and Communications will participate and team with counterparts from Herzen and northwest Russia universities. The theme of the Seminar is Diversity and Pluralism in Contemporary U.S. Society.

In addition to these activities with Herzen University, Fairfield has also been involved in other faculty and student exchanges in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Fairfield hosted students through the American Collegiate Consortium program from 1995-98. For the last three years, we have hosted Freedom Support Act undergraduate students from the NIS. In January, 2001, Dr. Katherine Kidd, Director of International Studies at Fairfield, served on the pre-selection panel for the Open Society Institute's (OSI) undergraduate program. This year she will travel with OSI to the region to interview scholarship applicants. Fairfield is hosting students receiving OSI undergraduate scholarships in 2001-2002 and will host in 2002-03. Fairfield has also hosted eleven Junior Faculty Development Program scholars over the last three years from ten different disciplines including economics, history, psychology, politics, women's studies and English. Fairfield students have studied in Moscow, in addition to the Herzen exchanges. Two Fairfield students won NSEP Scholarships to support their studies in Russia in 1999 and 2000Julia Tsisin (class of 2001) is currently in S. Petersburg on a Fulbright and Cristen Duncan (Class of 2001) is in Nizhniy Novgorod on an IREX Russian-U.S. Young Leaders Fellowship. In addition, recent graduates of the Russian and East European Studies Program are in graduate progams at the European University in St. Petersburg, at UCLA, and working for IREX.

Continued Post-Grant Activity

During the third summer of the grant a one week seminar will be held in which plans for continuing this partnership will be developed. Although it is not possible to say at this time what the concrete port-grant outcomes of this project will be, two options are already under discussion among the partner institutions. First, the need to focus on pedagogical change is recognized widely in Russia. One result of this project could be the creation of a Center for Teaching Excellence in Northwest Russia that would continue fostering innovation in teaching in the region. Second, Fairfield, Herzen and St. Petersburg State University have already begun discussions regarding offering a joint M.A. Program in American Studies to be taught in St. Petersburg. This project would help many of the possible partners in such an endeavor to gain deeper knowledge of each other, their institutions and of the curriculum in American Studies at a US university. Both of these options would continue much of the work fostered in this proposal. The joint degree program is particularly attractive as it will have a built-in revenue stream and a structured curriculum thorough which continued mutual cooperation could occur. The Internet connection will be continued through the Internet Access and Training Program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, operated by Project Harmony, for which all alumni of ECA programs qualify, if the have been in the US for at least one semester as participants from this project. Finally, as mentioned earlier, many of the faculty at pedagogical universities lack English skills and the international credentials to participate in the more competitive exchange programs sponsored by the US government and by major foundations such as Ford and Open Society Institute/Soros. With the credentials gained through this project they should be able to compete in those programs thus providing potential new resources for their institutions.