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Through
the years, more than 80 Cooperative Extension faculty have had an
opportunity to work in other countries thanks to contacts and contracts
facilitated by Washington State University's International Programs
office. The mission of the office, according to Jan Noel, associate
director, is to internationalize WSU to make the university's teaching,
research and outreach more relevant and of higher quality in an
interdependent world.
"WSU's clients need new knowledge, attitudes, and skills in order
to thrive and to be responsible citizens in the rapidly changing
global community," Noel said. "It's really a partnership focus.
We are very strongly committed to the kinds of international relation-
ships that allow our faculty to have long-term mutually beneficial
relationships with countries and institutions."
In
addition to helping engage WSU faculty in collaborative programs
abroad, the office advises and helps some 1,200 foreign students
and about 300 foreign scholars who come to WSU every year. The office
also helps WSU students take advantage of learning opportunities
in some 70 other countries. Extension's first significant overseas
involvement was the Lesotho Farming Systems Research Project (1979‚1986).
The
Kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa is roughly the size of Maryland.
WSU's contract for Extension's work in Lesotho was with the U.S.
Agency for International Development.
"More
than 20 faculty from the College of Agriculture were involved in
introducing a client-oriented research and extension system to Lesotho,"
Noel said. "The project's impact endures today.
Extension
faculty also have been involved in a longstanding, evolving partnership
between WSU and the country of Jordan. Extension faculty helped
establish and strengthen the Faculty of Agriculture at the University
of Jordan.
"It's now considered the most prestigious university in the Middle
East," Noel said. "Its current president, Dr. Abdulla al-Musa, earned
his doctoral degree in WSU's College of Agriculture."
WSU Cooperative Extension also led the Jordan Valley Agricultural
Services Project, which introduced a new extension and applied research
system into the Jordan Valley, a system WSU later helped expand
nationwide.
"Currently
we share with partners in Jordan nearly $2 million in grant funding
for collaborative research and education in water and agriculture,"
Noel said. She noted that work in Jordan gives participating WSU
faculty an opportunity to see how Jordanians view the United States
as well as their next door neighbor Iraq.
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Jan
Noel |
"One of the striking things is that after September 11th we were
inundated with e-mails from friends and colleagues in Jordan and
the Middle East who said, ëthis is not Islam. It's not us. Our hearts
go with you'." Why is it so important that WSU be involved in international
work?
Washington
is the most trade-dependent state in the nation, Noel said. One
out of three jobs in the state is directly or indirectly related
to trade.ÝIt's of huge economic importance to us.
Beyond that,ÝNoel believes that it is vital for faculty to get a
firsthand glimpse of how the world views us, as it is through the
faculty that we serve our extension clients, our students, and others
who use the knowledge we choose to generate and share.
"The
only way for us to really understand and incorporate that understanding
in our programs is to experience it first hand," she said. "That
happens through two mechanismsóthe international exposure we get
when we bring collaborators, partners, trade partners and clients
and students to the United StatesÝand when we go there.
"It's
magnified when we go there because then we are surrounded by and
immersed in it and we get very different perspectives than when
they come here."
Dennis
Brown, Information Department
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