Week Ten September 21 - 27, 2008

UTEP-UMCE News – Dr. Bill Robertson, Fulbright Scholar, UTEP Assistant Professor

Week Ten September 21 - 27, 2008

The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of September 21 - 27 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.

ISS from UTEP at UMCE

On Monday, September 22, Sunay Palsole, Director of Instructional Support Services (ISS) from UTEP was here in Santiago, and we visited on the campus of UMCE. We also attended meeting with the director of Information technology here at UMCE to discuss future collaborations and resource sharing. Afterwards, we visited with the Dean of the College of Science, Juan Vargas, to discuss some of the administrative mechanisms for helping interested Ph.D. students here at UMCE to effectively enroll in the new Ph.D. program in the Teacher Education Department.

Fulbright Chile Presentation for Doctoral Students

On Tuesday, September 23, I gave a presentation entitled “Choosing a Doctoral Program of Study That Works For You” to 25 Chilean Fulbright Nominees for Doctoral and Master’s programs. The goal was to share my experiences and knowledge with the participants and guide them on how to choose a Ph.D. program. I also included information on how to define their study objectives, how to choose the right professor that will chair their committee, and how to search for programs/professors. I also had the opportunity to give them information about UTEP top doctoral programs.

The audience was Chilean Fulbright Nominees. Most of them have already been approved for a Fulbright grant and now they are working in their applications to the US Universities. They are representatives of three of Fulbright Chile’s Programs:

1. The Equal Opportunities Scholarship. The grantees will do Ph.D. in 2009. The BIO (Beca Igualdad de Oportunidades) grantees will start a total immersion English training program from August 11th to October 20th.
2. The selected Master grantees.
3. The grantees selected for Ph.D. Programs starting in 2009 (Beca de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología Fulbright-CONICYT y Fulbright Mecesup)

Meeting at US Embassy

On Wednesday, September 24, I attended a reception at the home of the US Deputy Director, Carol Urban that was held for a delegation of university presidents and chancellors from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). The group is visiting Chile from September 24-30 in order to meet with Chilean higher education authorities and attend the XV World Congress of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) that will take place next week in Viña del Mar.

US Embassy Story:

http://www.usembassy.cl/OpenNews/asp/pagDefault.asp?argInstanciaId=2&argNoticiaId=4145

Meeting with Dean Juan Vargas concerning possible Ph.D. candidates

On Thursday, September 24, I met with the Dean of the College of Science, Juan Vargas, to look over the materials related to interested Ph.D. students here at UMCE who desire to enroll in the new Ph.D. program in the Teacher Education Department. The main goal was to identify the top students who would be most ready to work to join the program and be integrated into a dissertation phase in due consequence. The resulting list of possible candidates was then shared with Dr. Tinajero and Dr. Macias in order to prepare them for a discussion prior to an onsite visit here and an evaluation of candidates to take back and share with the TED faculty. The goal of this effort is to have a small cohort of UMCE students joining the Ph.D. program within the coming year.

Personal Transition to Work in Spanish

I have had some interesting experiences this past week in my working world in Spanish, as the cross over to English as an international language was also very apparent. I have often felt that having 2 languages is a real benefit, and I know that to be true in El Paso. Yet, I have come to see how that is a big push here in Chile, as in many ways, the need to learn English and apply that skill to the international community is very apparent in the education system. It also seems that it is ripe for future collaborations with our university and specifically, the Department of Teacher Education, with our incredible strength and skills in bilingual education. I think faculty in this area should really look to see how they might also come to Chile to aid in this transition and to study the impacts of their approaches.

UMCE Notes

School is back in full swing after the break around the fiestas patrias, and many of the classes are getting ready for mid-terms over the next few weeks. The work is really starting to pick up as is the atmosphere on campus, as spring unfolds all around.

Here are a few news items that appeared on the UMCE Web site concerning my work here in Santiago.

El Mercurio Story
http://www.umce.cl/enlinea/noticias/20080922_dr_skateboard_mercurio.html

Strategies for Teaching and Learning
http://www.umce.cl/enlinea/noticias/20080911_estrategias_innovadoras_fisica.html