The University of Colorado Boulder鈥檚 Center for Asian Studies (CAS) is celebrating 鈥淐LAC WEEK鈥� on April 10-13. Since the 1980s, universities throughout the country have integrated Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC) programs into their wider undergraduate curricula in order to foster international literacy and intercultural competence skills for domestic students and to empower international students to use their cultural and linguistic knowledge from their countries of origin.
Programming for the event begins Tuesday, April 10 with the arrival of Dr. Suronda Gonzalez from the University of Rochester. Dr. Gonzalez will be meeting and consulting with current faculty, students, and staff associated with CLAC at CU and will offer a keynote address, titled 鈥淓ngaging International 麻豆淫院 with CLAC,鈥� from 5-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Eaton Humanities 1B80. She will conduct a CLAC General Faculty Workshop on Wednesday, April 11 from 10- 11:30 a.m. in the Center for Asian Studies. She will also attend the annual CLAC Conference being held Thursday, April 12-14 at the University of Denver, where CU faculty and students involved in CAS鈥� CLAC pilot project will present on two panels.
Dr. Gonzalez spent 15 years as director of Binghamton University鈥檚 nationally- acclaimed Languages across the Curriculum Program. In the role, she worked with Binghamton鈥檚 faculty and led pedagogical training seminars to support the internationalization of the curriculum. Her work focused heavily on integrating international elements of students鈥� undergraduate experiences (including language and study abroad) into their studies in meaningful ways.
Through a CLAC pilot program this academic year, CAS hired a CLAC coordinator and created one-credit CLAC courses linked to Asian Languages and Civilizations, Religious Studies, and History. In these CLAC classes, undergraduate students have met weekly with student facilitators and professors to study foreign texts in translation or in the original in order to enhance their studies in linked parent courses through exposure to additional background and supporting materials. For more information on the CAS pilot program or integrating CLAC into your classes, contact Danielle Rocheleau Salaz, Executive Director of the Center for Asian Studies, at salaz@colorado.edu. To register for the CLAC General Faculty Workshop on April 11, email cas@colorado.edu.