Session Description: Morocco has always been able to catch the attention of travelers, explorers, and learners for its diverse cultural profile, geographic allocation, foods, and languages. The story of Morocco has been told by historians, explorers, journalists, and Moroccan immigrants themselves.

Some Moroccan immigrants suddenly become language teachers, intercultural mentors, and advisors in global education, leaning on their expertise as educators, but the majority of these migrants become intercultural educators just by crossing the borders.

The processes of sharing language and ‘culture’, food and stories with students, and host communities has been a daily practice for Moroccan migrants in Europe and North America.

Meanwhile, things are changing in Morocco while migrants (like us) are busy working and adjusting to their new environments. How do we keep the story alive, and relevant, when realities keep shifting in our countries of origin while we try to stay true to the essence and stories we teach and share.

Presenter Bios: 

Jamila Chahboun: Jamila Chahboun is a Senior Lecturer of Arabic at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College and co-advisor of the Arabic Language Community-Global village at Dartmouth. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Justice in Intercultural Relations from SIT Graduate Institute (School for International Training), Brattleboro, VT.  She also holds a BA in English Linguistics from Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra, Morocco.

Jamila served as a language instructor and a Cross-Cultural educator and language instructor at the Center for Cross-Cultural Learning in Rabat, Morocco. She worked as a Program Coordinator for SIT Study Abroad, Elderhostel, and the Experiment in International Living (EIL).

In 2003, Jamila served as a Fulbright Scholar where she taught Arabic at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She also worked as an Arabic instructor for undergraduate students at Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT, and at the SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, VT where she helped in redesigning the Arabic language program.

Jamila has been working as a consultant and curriculum design specialist at SIT Study Abroad assisting to conceptualize and design SIT Study Abroad Arabic language programs in North Africa and the Middle East. She is a member of the Institute of Study Abroad (IFSA) Middle East Advisory Committee (MEAC) at Butler University in Indiana where she helps review Middle East Study Abroad programs and Arabic language curricula.

Jamila has been serving as an applications’ reader with the critical language scholarship (CLS), a Department of State cultural and educational exchange program. She is a member of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and has presented on topics related to languages and dialects in the Middle East and North Africa.

Jamila lives with her husband, Mokhtar, and their daughter in West Lebanon, NH.

Dr. Mokhtar Bouba: Dr. Mokhtar Bouba has over 20 years of experience with designing and facilitating study abroad and experiential learning programs in Morocco. He holds a Ph.D. in leadership studies and education from Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire. His work focused on the dynamics of image and image negotiation in Sahara Desert tourism. He has written and lectured about online education, cross-culture, tourism, Amazigh (Berber) culture, current issues in North Africa, and arts. He is also an artist, educator, and indigenous methodologist. Dr. Bouba also specializes in online pedagogies and education technology.

Before assuming his role of Assistant Professor and Co-Chair of the Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management program at the School for International Training Graduate Institute (SIT). Dr. Bouba was the instructional technologist for World Learning academic programs, supporting LowRes and, online and on blended programs. He had a leading role in the design and implementation of SIT’s Master of Arts in TESOL (online) low-residency program.

Recent study abroad programs he has led include a field course, Morocco Tourism, Space and Sustainability, offered to SIT Graduate Institute students in VT. He has served as an Academic Director with SIT Study Abroad in Jordan and as a coordinator and program development specialist at the Center for Cross-Cultural Learning (CCCL) in Rabat, Morocco. He designed and directed many exchange programs including programs with the Experiment in International Living and Rhodes Scholar.

He has advised SIT students and Fulbright scholars and taught Tamazight (Berber) and Arabic at Peace Corps, the Center for Cross-Cultural Learning in Morocco, and online. He has been an Arabic instructor at SIT Graduate Institute, where he helped re-design the Arabic language program for graduate students.

Dr. Bouba is working on a book project titled “Dynamics of Image and Image Negotiation in Moroccan Sahara Desert Tourism”, which is about the ethics and politics of representation of the Sahara and its people. He is currently a lecturer in the Middle Eastern Studies Department at Dartmouth College.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Co-Sponsored by: The Roukema Center for International Education, the George T. Potter Library, the Provost’s Office, and the Global Indigenous Network.

U.S. Embassy Virtual Webinar

“A Conversation with Rakuten CEO Mickey Mikitani”

◇ Date/Time: 15:15 –15:45, Wednesday, February 3, 2021 (Japan Time) 
◇ Speaker: Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten, Inc.

◇ Registration is required:  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pMrhiVU1SXa_7rlW8mtutg 
◇ Cooperation: Rakuten Inc., Fulbright Japan
◇ Admission free, English simultaneous interpretation provided  

As founder, chairman, and CEO of Rakuten, Inc. Mickey Mikitani is one of Japan’s most prominent industry leaders. During this webinar, we will hear about his study abroad experience and how studying in the U.S. influenced his business philosophy and achieving his dreams.

There will also be an opportunity to submit questions to be answered during the event (number of questions is limited). Please submit your question to the speaker when registering for this event.

We look forward to your participation.

Please visit the Fulbright Day website for more details and the full schedule: https://www.ramapo.edu/international/fulbright/fulbright-day/
Join Webex meeting
https://ramapo.webex.com/ramapo/j.php?MTID=m0ffce909c6bcefeeae815029546346bc (ID: 1857562725, password: MVfD3XMg)
Join by phone
(US toll) +1 415-655-0001 (access code: 1857562725)
Join using SIP
1857562725@webex.com
Joining instructions: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ramapo.webex.com/ramapo/globalcallin.php?serviceType%3DMC%26eventID%3D1292833217%26tollFree%3D0&sa=D&source=calendar&usg=AOvVaw2HKinj-QEzsIbMwJlB2oj7

Link: Joining Link

Sponsored by National Geographic, University of Nottingham & Fulbright

National Geographic and the University of Nottingham are running an event next week (Wednesday 25th @ 5pm GMT) to encourage diversity in the Sciences.

It’s a panel session with four Nat Geo explorers (I’ll be one), and we’ll be chatting about how we got here and our work. Our research covers quite a broad range of topics from carnivore conservation to whales to indigenous knowledge.

The explorers you’ll be hearing from are:

LYDIA GIBSON
Anthropologist and ecologist with a BSc in Maths and Biology from the University of Bristol and a MSc and PhD in Anthropology from UCL. Lydia’s PhD looks at the impact Jamaica’s growing conservation scene has on forest-based traditional practices using interdisciplinary approaches from anthropology, ecology, geography, and sociology and includes mapping, oral histories, social theory, and ecological data.

RICARDO ROCHA
Biologist from Madeira Island, Portugal. Ricardo conducts interdisciplinary research at the interface of conservation science and ecology. His research has taken him to the tropics and subtropics, working extensively in the Central Brazilian Amazon, Madagascar, Kenya and throughout the Madeira Archipelago.

NATALIE SINCLAIR
Scottish marine biologist and conservationist. Her work in conservation policy, with Scottish Natural Heritage, led to the implementation of remote time-lapse photographic monitoring of seabirds in the Northern Isles of Scotland. Natalie’s passion for interdisciplinary research has brought together researchers from biology, music and philosophy to create collaborative studies of both human and non-human cultures.

KASIM RAFIQ (ME)
Wildlife biologist, National Geographic Explorer, and Fulbright Scholar studying African large predator behaviour and conservation. Kasim’s work includes understanding the impacts of climate change on wildlife behaviour and developing new tools for species monitoring and has included extensive fieldwork in remote bush camps in the Okavango Delta.

If you’re interested, it’s free, but you need to register before:

https://bit.ly/3lDBljl

Register Here: https://t.co/Bp2bU3KGhN

Fulbright alumni apply the skills and experiences gained during their Fulbright exchanges to advance their careers, make a positive impact in their fields, and to make a difference in their local and global communities. The Fulbright Impact in the Field series aims to bring together alumni with extensive expertise in a particular topic to provide insight, inform the audience, and bring new, global perspectives to the discussion.

In celebration of International Education Week 2020, “Fulbright Impact in the Field: Re-Imagining International Education in a Post-Pandemic World” will convene a panel of international education and exchange experts to share their perspectives on the current challenges and opportunities facing international education and study abroad. As experts in international education and student fellowships, they will discuss the positive impacts of study abroad on U.S. campus communities, the effects of COVID-19, how higher education professionals continue to adapt to the “new normal,” and how their respective Fulbright experiences shaped their careers and influence their outlook on international education.

The panel will include:

Moderator
Charles Sasaki
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Windward Community College

Panelists
Adria Baker, EdD
Associate Vice Provost for International Education; Executive Director, Office of International Students and Scholars, Rice University

Donathan Brown, PhD
Assistant Provost and AVP for Faculty Diversity and Recruitment, Rochester Institute of Technology; Associate Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology

John M. Dunn, EdD
Former Interim Chancellor and President Emeritus

Olga Selezeneva Khachaturyan, PhD
Deputy Head, International Cooperation Office, Higher School of Economics, National Research University

Adelina S. Silva, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Student Success, Alamo Community College District (ACCD)

FULBRIGHT DIVERSITY NIGHT

Join us on Tuesday, March 3, 6-8 p.m. at the Pavilion to play Italian card games, Chinese chess, and learn some Arabic calligraphy.
Food will be served. No prior knowledge of the languages is necessary.
All are invited.
For information, email yhsieh@ramapo.edu

The beauty of the world lies in its diversity. Join us to learn how and what people from Italy, Taiwan and Morocco celebrate. Food will be served. Email rberling@ramapo.edu for information.

[Pavilion #3] Do something different today! Join us to learn how to play some Italian card games, Chinese chess, and practice Arabic calligraphy. All levels are welcome. Food from Italy, Taiwan and Morocco will be served. For questions contact rberling@ramapo.edu

A talk by Dr. Taieb Belghazi, Academic Director of the SIT Study Abroad Program – Morocco: Multiculturalism and Human Rights. 

Taieb BelghaziTaieb earned his PhD in 1993 from the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff University, where he was a Chevening scholar. He held a Fulbright postdoctoral scholarship at Duke University and was a member of the UNESCO-sponsored International Panel on Reading for All. He was director of the Centre for Doctoral Studies: The Human and Space in the Mediterranean, and professor of cultural studies and history of the present at the Faculty of Letters in Rabat. He has been visiting professor at universities including Duke; the University of California, Irvine; and the Ferguson Centre for African Studies and Asian Studies at the Open University, England.

Taeb has consulted for projects including the Diaspora as a Social and Cultural Practice and the UNESCO project on reconceptualizing Mediterranean dialogues. He is a member of the editorial boards of Time and Society (England), Current Writing (South Africa), and Al Azmina Al Haditha (Morocco). He has researched and published on the politics of recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East and on experiential learning. His publications include Time and Postmodernism; Dialogues Khatibi Weber (editor); and International Education and Global Justice: Rethinking the Politics of Sustainability (co-editor with Said Graiouid).

This event has a video call.
Join: https://meet.google.com/jdt-rbki-xis
+1 413-853-0118 PIN: 601412858#

Programme
3:30 p.m. > Welcome
3:35 p.m. > Introduction of Fulbright Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs)
3:50 p.m. > Overview of Student Opportunities
4:20 p.m. > Student Awardee Perspective
4:40 p.m. > Overview of Faculty Opportunities
5:00 p.m. > Faculty Awardee Panel
5:45 p.m. > Reception