To support community colleges and minority-serving institutions, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) offers fully-funded overseas seminars that help faculty and administrators gain the requisite first-hand experience needed to improve courses connecting international issues with domestic concerns, thereby underscoring global interconnections through the creation of new and innovative curricular and teaching materials.
This program, administered by CAORC in collaboration with the American Institute of Indian Studies, funds participation in a two-week capacity building workshop in India that will include stays in the cities of Delhi, Jaipur, and Lucknow.
Funding for this program is provided to CAORC through a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, with additional financial assistance from the following U.S. National Resource Centers in South Asian Studies: Columbia University, Cornell University, Syracuse University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Washington, and University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Seminar Overview: “Urban Sustainability”
This two-week seminar will include extended visits to the Indian cities of Delhi, Jaipur, and Lucknow to understand the varying economic, cultural, social, and environmental pressures confronting emerging cities as more and more Indians migrate to urban areas in search of work and opportunity. As towns grow into cities and as cities morph into megacities, what can be done to ensure that demands for quality economic opportunities and decent standards of living are balanced against increased pressures on the environment, energy resources, and threatened cultural sites and traditions?
In addition to exploring the overlapping and cross-cutting challenges and opportunities created by India’s rapid urban development, participants will gain first-hand experience—through specialist-led site visits and cultural excursions—of India’s fascinating history, culture, languages, religions, and contemporary society that can be harnessed to address urban sustainability. Throughout the program, participants will learn from and have the opportunity to partner with local activists, community leaders, and university faculty engaged in international collaboration and exchanges.
Listen to the “CAORC-AIIS Faculty Development Seminars” episode of the AIIS podcast to learn more about how the CAORC-AIIS seminars focus on enriching faculty development opportunities through the exploration of complex global issues like climate change, religious and ethnic diversity, and the complexities of urban sustainability and how these seminars build an interdisciplinary community of scholars.