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Fall 1999 Volume 3, Issue 1       Winter 2000 Issue

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New Faces Bring Fresh Talents to HECUA

Just as a symphony orchestra welcomes guest conductors and musicians, HECUA embraces the vital talents new players bring to the organization. "It is extremely gratifying to have such top-notch people eager to join the HECUAteam," says Executive Director Amy Sunderland. "We look forward to the fresh energy, vision and perspectives these individuals bring to our ongoing symphony."

Program and Faculty Development
HECUA has created a new position to spearhead HECUA's growing service to members and students. Nan Kari joined HECUA in August as director of program and faculty development.

Nan was formerly associate professor and director of faculty development at the College of St. Catherine. There she played a key role in a new liberal education core curriculum focusing on global justice and in increasing faculty capacity. She has written and presented extensively on higher education and expanding citizen engagement.

Nan has demonstrated leadership in working within and across institutional disciplines and sectors. She co-founded the Jane Addams School for Democracy with community and university partners. She holds an M.A. in Public Health from the University of Minnesota.

Interim Director for City Arts
Joanna Kadi will serve as interim program director for City Arts while Phil Sandro is on professional leave for the Spring 2000 semester.

"Joanna is an exceptional writer, musician and teacher," according to Phil Sandro. "She has been a regular contributor to MUST and City Arts for the last three years as a guest speaker and artist. Her impact on students is often profound."

Joanna is the author of Thinking Class, which weaves together personal stories with an integrated political analysis of race, class, sexuality, gender and imperialism. She has edited works by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian feminists exploring history, culture and identity.

Joanna holds a Masters of Divinity in Feminist Ethics from Episcopal Divinity School and a B.A. in Women's Studies from the University of Toronto.

SUST Program Director
A new program director will be in place for the fall Scandinavian Urban Studies Term. Jeanne Sanderson holds an advanced degree in history from the University of Oslo, specializing in Norwegian economic history and the emergence of an industrial society in Great Britain. She earned her B.A. degree in modern and economic history and education from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland.

Jeanne, a native of Scotland, has lived and worked in Norway for the past 21 years, developing a strong network of contacts and familiarity with the region.

Twin Cities Programs
Martha Malinski began in August as program assistant for MUST and City Arts. Martha holds a B.A. in Peace Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College. While at Gustavus, she served as a student instructor in peace studies and women's studies courses. She has worked with Human Rights USA in human rights education, and most recently with the Macalester College community service office.

Outreach and Promotions
To extend HECUA's reach to students and campuses, Kurt Massey has joined the staff as a one-year post-B.A. intern. Kurt is a graduate of St. John's University with a B.A. in Peace Studies and a social science concentration in Community Development. While at St. John's, he spent a semester in the Sichuan Province of China and a semester with HECUA's MUST program.

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CASLA Will Travel to Cuba

HECUA is pleased to announce that the Spring 2000 Culture and Society in Latin America (CASLA) program will include Cuba as a new study-travel site. As the destination for the final week of the program, Cuba will provide intriguing comparisons and contrasts to life in Central America. With a dominant ideology of social well-being for the masses and successful delivery of education and healthcare to the majority of people, the country faces an uncertain future as it opens up to global markets.

Students will explore issues of participation, revolution and social change from the point of view of average citizens, sure to make for an incomparable learning experience.

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Letter from the Executive Director
September 1999

Dear Friends,

What do eyeglasses, a road map and a jazz band have in common? And what of it?

Each might be considered a metaphor for what we do in HECUA programs. As HECUA faculty from all programs gathered for a retreat in June, we played with the notion of metaphors, how they are used to help our students learn, and what kind of metaphor might capture HECUA's unique approach to curriculum and pedagogy.

Different sets of eyeglasses are a metaphor for the preconceived notions students bring and the theories they learn. They learn to recognize and analyze their existing "lenses" and learn to try out contrasting perspectives that theories can provide in understanding the place and issues they are studying.

A road map reminds us of the many ways students learn to "navigate," literally, the place where they study and, more broadly and figuratively, navigate their world.

A jazz band represents the talented individuals (program directors) who follow a basic score (the HECUA "model") with much improvisation (creative approaches in each site and program) and engage their audience (students) in a moving and transforming experience.

I invite you to think about a metaphor that captures the essence of the HECUA experience. Write to us, we'll share it around, and it will help further shape our current efforts of articulating that which is at the core of HECUA's work.

This articulation is a central aspect of our goals for the coming year. As we talk together and write about HECUA's approach to teaching and learning, we will be developing important tools for evaluating our work, guiding new program development, and promoting the distinguishing features of HECUA amidst a myriad of program options for students.

The news at HECUA is good! We have largely accomplished what we set out to do in our current five-year plan. We begin this new year ready to engage our members and community partners in envisioning the future - where we want to be in 2010. We will be seeking expansive conversations, new connections and additional ways HECUA can both add value to liberal education and make a difference for communities where we work.

Enjoy this issue of HECUA Links. We celebrate scholarship awards and highlight student projects. We recognize the fine work of member faculty and staff. And we welcome new people whose talents and energy will take us to new levels in our work. You are invited into the continuing conversation that is HECUA!

Sincerely,
Amy T. Sunderland
Executive Director

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Why HECUA Matters
Q & A with Carl Brandt

What aspects of HECUA pedagogy do you believe offer the best model for higher education today?

I think the most important aspects of HECUA pedagogy are those reflected in the existing programs, which are interdisciplinary, experiential, and full-time integrated, academic experiences under the direction of a master teacher.

None of these concepts is unknown in higher education. All of our campuses offer interdisciplinary programs and courses. All of our campuses have experiential learning opportunities, from community service to traditional career-related internships. All have master teachers on their faculties. Full-time integrated experiences are less common.

But what distinguishes HECUA programs is bringing all these elements together. It's a formula for extraordinary intellectual and personal growth, as students regularly tell us on their evaluations.

I also believe that the HECUA program director and staff experience of combining all these elements together results in considerable pedagogical expertise, which can be usefully disseminated to faculty on member campuses.

How does the HECUA network offer value to its members?

I think HECUA offers member campuses several important benefits. First, and most obviously, is a set of well-designed, well-run, and well-received semester-long academic programs both here in the Twin Cities and abroad.

More subtly, HECUA helps each member institution to become a better learning organization. As I mentioned before, HECUA combines several features of education that are seen as increasingly important on all our campuses.

The successes of HECUA become the successes of each member campus, and the potential for productive dialogue between HECUA staff and faculty and member campus faculty is enormous. We should do more to nurture this dialogue.

Finally, HECUA offers member campus faculty many opportunities for professional growth that are not readily available elsewhere.

How does HECUA relate to its network and is this unique in higher education?

Networks and consortia of higher education institutions are well known. Many are joint purchasing schemes, arrangements to have students take courses at other institutions, and so on. HECUA is different from these consortia in that our institutions have come together to create an educational experience that none of us could have created alone on our individual campuses.

Through the board, various task forces and working committees, the Faculty Fellows programs, and various faculty development projects, members of the campuses are involved in the creation, development, and assessment of existing programs as well as being involved in the development work of a long-term vision for the consortium.

What observations did you make at the recent staff retreat about HECUA's role in higher education?

I think we need to become more deliberate about defining rigorously the model we use in the HECUA programs and finding ways to present that model to our member campuses and to wider audiences in higher education.

The extraordinarily creative HECUA program directors have created, developed, and replicated over the years a set of distinctive programs. These programs are extremely rigorous (they satisfy the demands of all the curriculum review committees on our campuses); very demanding on students (most report that the HECUA program was one of the most challenging intellectual experiences they have faced); and recalled as extremely worthwhile, even transformative, by alumni.

Clearly, something here is going profoundly right. I think there's a story to tell here that can be of benefit to higher education institutions committed to doing an even better job of educating their students.

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Network in Action
We are eager to recognize the many people in HECUA's network - board representatives, fellows, program advisors, our own staff - who are engaged in exciting endeavors on the home campus and within HECUA. We hope this news helps faculty and staff make connections around common interests and projects.

Mauricio Barreto and Alicia Durán, long-time Latin America program directors in Bogotá, Colombia, were honored at the June board meeting for their nearly 20 years of service with HECUA. Nancy Sheppard, CASLA alum and HECUA intern, presented a scrapbook of memories from alumni and staff as a small token of thanks. Mauricio will continue to serve as guest faculty with the Guatemala programs; Alicia will be moving on to other endeavors.

A SAUS alum expressed well the students' sentiment about these highly-respected faculty members: "Mauricio and Alicia were fantastic educators. They challenged my intellect and world view and created a learning environment that brought the topics to reality through dialogue, assignments and experiences.... They were also keenly aware that this overseas semester was not only an academic challenge but equally about coming to know oneself as a young college-age adult."

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Garry Hesser, HECUA board representative from Augsburg College, was a visiting Fellow to the CILA program in Ecuador in March '99. Phil Sandro, Twin Cities program director, accompanied Hesser for the week in and around Quito. Phil, Garry and new CILA program director Martha Moscoso exchanged creative ideas about effective approaches to teaching and learning.

Fellows visiting CASLA in Guatemala were Frank Odd, professor of Spanish at St. Olaf College, and Gastón Alzate, professor of Spanish at Gustavus Adolphus College.

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Reynold Nesiba, assistant professor of economics at Augustana College, has taken an action-oriented, multi-faceted approach to HECUA work on campus since becoming the campus representative in 1998. He has worked with the Curriculum Committee to obtain approval for granting credit in the core for participation in the Twin Cities programs. He has been instrumental in inviting HECUA to deliver a faculty workshop this fall on principles and practice of effective community-based experiential learning. He has convened the "HECUA network" of faculty, staff and students on campus to set and implement promotion and recruitment goals and to identify faculty to send as Fellows.

Reynold is one of our many campus representatives who are effectively expanding the ways HECUA can serve its members.

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HECUA convened a very successful Roundtable on Effective Pedagogy in June '99. The event was an opportunity to bring together faculty and staff from HECUA programs and from member institutions, and from a variety of disciplines, to discuss principles and practice of teaching and learning. Lively exchange of ideas among the thirty participants focused on ways theoretical frameworks can be used to help students derive meaning from field experience, tools for reflecting and analyzing on that experience and issues of reciprocity with community partners. Participants left wanting more! HECUA will continue to provide leadership in convening around pedagogical praxis.

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HECUA was part of a dynamic workshop session in April at a Campus-Community Summit sponsored by Minnesota Campus Compact and Minnesota Council of Non-profits. Entitled "Educating for Social Justice: An inter-generational dialogue between elementary and middle school students, college students, teachers and professors," the session was co-led by two HECUA alumni, MUST internship site supervisors from Southside Family School, Southside students, Phil Sandro and a HECUA member faculty.

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HECUA will present a workshop entitled "Providing a context of meaning: Preparing students for the field" at the November 1999 Collaboration for Teaching & Learning conference on "How Learning Happens." Phil Sandro will lead a team of member faculty panelists.

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The April City Links forum, "Creative Community Approaches to Urban Regeneration," drew a large crowd to a community meeting space in Powderhorn neighborhood. Joe Barisonzi, executive director of the Lyndale Neighborhood Association, Annie Young, associate director of the Green Institute, and Akhmiri Sehkr-Ra, community arts organizer with the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association, engaged in a lively discussion about community organizing strategies, challenges and successes. Nearly 40 students, alumni, faculty and community members participated in this, the last of HECUA's year-long three-part series on the Changing Face of the Twin Cities.

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January Programs in Guatemala and Bangladesh

HECUA's 1999 January term program "Environment, Economy and Community in Guatemala" was a great success. The program was led by Alberto Rivera Gutiérrez, long-time HECUA faculty member, and drew students from a wide variety of majors.

All 19 participants indicated that they would recommend the program to other students. One student reflected: "I learned the invaluable practice of respectful listening and the importance of communities in steering themselves." The Guatemala program will run again in January 2000.

A new program, "Development and Community in Bangladesh," will run for the first time in January 2000, with an extended field experience accompanying Bangladeshi students into rural villages.

Final application deadline for both programs is October 4. All majors are encouraged to apply. Contact HECUA!

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HECUA Scholarships Awarded

HECUA awarded its first $500 scholarships for the Fall 1999 programs. Recipients were selected for their exemplary social change efforts and for the positive ways the HECUA program will further their goals.

Congratulations to Chelsea Magadance, a University of Minnesota SAUS '99 participant. Chelsea is studying international development and has taught ESL to Mexican immigrants in St. Paul. Congratulations also to Leah Robshaw, an Earlham College MUST '99 student. Leah is a Peace and Global Studies/Environmental Chemistry major and has worked extensively with student organizations on issues of inequality and the environment.

The HECUA Scholarship Awards are funded through donations from alumni, faculty and friends, as well as contributions earned through the Headwaters Walk for Justice. We especially wish to acknowledge a generous memorial contribution made in honor of the late Cecilia Goetz, a dedicated human rights worker.

Awards will be made each term by a selection committee of member faculty/staff and alumni.

Your contributions to the HECUA scholarship fund help to make HECUA programs more financially accessible to students. Contributions in any amount, large or small, may be sent directly to HECUA.

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HECUA Progress Report

The growth and success of HECUA over the past five years is to be celebrated! We are a stronger and better organization than ever before. Fulfillment of the HECUA Plan for 1995-2000 positions us well to consider new opportunities for serving our members.

	1994-95	1998-99
Programs for Students	6 programs 66 students	7 programs, added J-term, 121 students
Fellows	0	24/year 82 total to date
Student Liaisons	0	24/semester
Faculty Development	0	4 conference presentations; 2 college-specific workshops 1 all-college roundtable event
City Links	0	3 Sessions 100+ participants
Communications	Brochures	Brochures Newsletter Web site Advertising Advising Sheets
Membership	18 Members 4 inactive uneven participation	15 members All active All participating
Financial Status	Sizable debt No reserves Budget of $395,000	Debt-free Reserves at goal level Budget of $817,000

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In the Field: Hands-on Learning Through HECUA Study Projects

One of the highlights of learning for many students on HECUA programs is the independent or group study project. Such a project is a part of each HECUA program. In some programs, it is offered as a full course credit; for others, it is a final assignment within a seminar course.

With these projects, students are able to custom-design an important part of their HECUA learning experience by pursuing a topic that particularly interests them and that usually relates to their major. The project also requires students to use the theoretical frameworks learned in the program as a way to analyze an issue, a population, a case study or a project.

Students will often carry the project back to campus and expand it into an honor's thesis, refer to it in seminar discussions, or in other ways pursue study related to the topic they have been able to explore in-depth during their HECUA term off-campus.

This "In the Field" section provides an example of a small-group study project carried out by students in the Guatemala January program. The issue of reforestation itself is a pressing one, and the excerpts provide a glimpse of the study and analysis that students do in the field.

A Discussion of Reforestation Issues in Guatemalan Communities
Excerpts from a group study project final report for "Environment, Economy & Community in Guatemala" (January Term 1999)

By Lenise Butler, Jessie Carr, Kristin Dykstra and Annika Ericksen

Introduction
The issue of reforestation in Guatemala has taken on significant importance within the last 20 years (Giron 1999). In a country where 66% of all energy consumption comes from firewood (Skinner 1999), the issue of reforestation is complex and urgent. In 1969, 30% of Guatemala was deforested, and if current rates continue, a projected 12-15% of original forest will remain in the year 2020 (Rivera 1999).

Currently deforestation is predominantly a result of fulfilling the basic needs of citizens, through firewood as well as the clearing of the land for maize. There are no major export corporations involved in deforestation in Guatemala (Mendoza 1999b)…. Our study focused on community based efforts to preserve and recuperate natural resources, and educate citizens concerning environmental health and reforestation.

Causes of Deforestation
In our investigation of reforestation around San Marcos…the problems we encountered include the lack of governmental enforcement of existing laws, widespread poverty, population growth, dependence on firewood, and lack of popular internalization of the deforestation crisis….

The economic position of the people of San Marcos has left them with little resources or time to seek alternatives to firewood. Also, the majority of lake-front property, which is the most agriculturally productive land, has been sold to foreigners or wealthy Guatemalans for recreation usage. Therefore, people have been forced to move agricultural activity further up the mountain, clearing more forest.

Efforts Toward Reforestation
Throughout our investigation, we were able to see some of Vivamos Mejor's solutions to deforestation. [Vivamos Mejor is a non-governmental organization with long-term goals of conservation and reforestation.] The organization seems to focus on direct recuperation and conservation, the incentive of economically profitable crops which require shade, and community education….

In an effort to discourage cutting, Vivamos Mejor has facilitated the growth of shade-grown coffee groves as well as protected space for ferns in the mountains. Both of these crops can be sold in the global market once harvested, thereby creating some economic incentive for locals to allow long-term growth of trees which give shade to the crops….

However, when locals decide to use their small subsistence plots…for a cash crop like coffee rather than for food, they become dependent on the global market. The prices at which small farmers sell their coffee to larger processing and distribution corporations are far below the market prices. Because local farmers produce a relatively small quantity of coffee and don't have the means to sell directly on the market, they are entering the market economy from a weak position.

Conflicting "Contexts of Meaning"
Overall, the reforestation efforts are complex…. [The] fundamental problem lies within the discrepancies between contexts of meaning.

On the one hand, the native families involved in the direct cutting of trees come from a context of sustaining basic needs. From this perspective, firewood and maize crops are both culturally ingrained as well as practically used within their lifestyle. In this context, the sustainability of the family takes priority, and use of natural resources is the means. However, individuals and organizations involved in reforestation see the overall effect of this domestic use of trees as damaging. Within this context, the daily use of firewood needs to be changed, and planting for maize should be controlled.

Household Economy and Market Economy
Throughout the study of reforestation, the intersection of market systems became apparent in both problems and solutions….During our investigation and…family stays, we observed that the household economy is aimed at the acquisition of basic needs. Usually food and fuel can only be provided by clearing land for firewood and planting maize….

Throughout our time in Guatemala, we have witnessed the effects of the market economy on local areas dominated by domestic pursuits.….[W]hile the market often plays a damaging role to natural resources and local autonomy, there are also avenues for the market to work for conservation and empowerment. For example, the tourism industry is largely responsible for environmental degradation in the Lake Atitlán area. These interests however also have an investment in keeping the lake clean…. The central role of the market in the reforestation effort has the potential to either save the forests, or further their destruction….

Due to unequal land distribution and the use of firewood as energy, the problem of deforestation is felt largely in the domestic economy. The question then becomes whether or not the market solution (namely coffee planting) can address the needs of the domestic model. Is there enough consideration in the market model solution to address the basic needs of the domestic lifestyle, [namely] firewood and maize cultivation?

Conclusion
…It is impossible to analyze this issue using the perspective of a Guatemalan person; although we have gained insight into indigenous communities during our stay in this country, we continue to understand problems through our North American context. However, because of our homestays and interactions with society, we were able to reach some deeper cultural and economic layers of the problem of deforestation.

The primary cause of cutting down trees is for firewood and the need for land to grow corn. These traditions are rooted in the lives of indigenous people, and at the present time, changes in food and fuel are simply not viable options; there are neither cultural desires nor financial means. There is potential for partial solutions within the market economy, in crops such as coffee and ferns, but our group was concerned by the volatility of the market and the exploitation of small farmers.

Education and organization are essential. Community initiative is extremely important, because people understand their own needs best. When the crisis of deforestation comes more clearly into focus, it is likely that indigenous people will be more resourceful than any outsider might have anticipated.

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