Vol. 13, No. 1, Fall 1997
Joel Otto Gives Back to BSU ... page 7
A Publication for Alumni & Friends of Bemidji State University
BSUHorizons
BSUCalendar September 23 - 27, 1997
BSU Homecoming 1997, “BSU...Catch the Magic!” (A full schedule of events is listed on page 12) November 16, 1997
BSU Day at the Metrodome, BSU Beavers vs. the University of Minnesota-Morris, 11 a.m., Alumni Reception in Press Box December 5,6,7,12,13,14, 1997
Madrigal Dinners, Bemidji December 17,18, 1997
Madrigal Dinners, St Paul Radisson December 13, 1997
BSU Madrigal Dinners Alumni Reunion January 24, 1998
Beaver Pride Winter Golf Classic on the frozen waters of Lake Bemidji January 31, 1998
BSU Foundation “Snow Ball,” 6 p.m., Beaux Arts Ballroom February 21, 1998
Twin Cities Alumni & Friends Dinner, Northland Inn, Brooklyn Park March 15, 16, 1998
“BSU Winter Rendezvous,” Laughlin, Nevada
Bemidji State University
BSUHorizons
Office of Alumni Affairs 1500 Birchmont Drive NE #DPH Bemidji, Minnesota 56601-2699
The Korean Council of Junior College Education went looking for schools last year, and found Bemidji State University. The council was searching for partners in an effort called the Korean Faculty Education Program, which was designed to enhance the technological and pedagogical skills of Korean teachers. The call went out from the South Korean government for assistance, and responses were received from schools that included some of the largest universities in the country. But when some of the teachers arrived for the training this summer, they flew to Bemidji to enroll in a program proposed jointly by Bemidji State and Dunwoody Institute, the first ever awarded by the Korean government to schools of this size. Other programs have been hosted at such locations as Texas A & M and the University of California at Berkeley. Known as the Information Technology Education Program, the proposal focused on the technical fields of computer science and telecommunications as well as on the emerging technologies used in many of Minnesota’s leading companies. The goal of the program was to assimilate the knowledge gained through training within a working curriculum that would be applicable to the individual faculty’s position at their college. “We were very fortunate to collaborate with Dunwoody on this project,” said Dr. Dave Kingsbury, BSU professor of vocational education who directed Bemidji State’s activities. “By combining our resources and the unique capabilities of both institutions, we
W
Korean teachers and other guests visited the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School near Cass Lake during their stay at BSU.
Teaching Korean Teachers were able to put together a proposal that was better than either could have done on their own.” Founded in 1914, Dunwoody is the largest private, non-profit technical school in the country and offers 16 different programs that combine hands-on lab work with technical theory classes. Bemidji State is recognized as a leader in industrial technology programming on the baccalaureate level and has been a major provider of technical college instructor training for the state of Minnesota. For 30 years, the University has operated the Center for Vocational Technical Education and has trained instructors in every technical college in the state. The 20 Korean educators spent five weeks of intensive training on the BSU campus in several areas: ■ Data communication applica-
“
e were very fortunate to collaborate with Dunwoody on this project. By combining our resources and the unique capabilities of both institutions, we were able to put together a proposal that was better than either could have done on their own.”
P A I D
NON-PROFIT ORGAN. U.S. POSTAGE
Bemidji, MN 56601-2699 PERMIT NO. 9
Penalty for Private Use
Dr. Dave Kingsbury
tions, encompassing communication strategies of the U.S., European countries, and Japan; network topology; open systems interconnection models; equipment interfacing standards; and analog and digital circuitry. ■ ATM communication, involving the exploration of a variety of protocols, applications, and case studies. ■ ISDN and networks, including digital cellular systems, wireless local area networks, access fundamentals and multiple access techniques. ■ Computer applications for curriculum development, emphasizing course delivery using computer applications, long distance delivery using the Internet, and curriculum development strategies. ■ Multimedia authoring, creating an understanding of digital photography, video, graphics, and sound; CD-ROM authoring and optical storage; and integration of media into multimedia communications. When they were finished at BSU, the visitors traveled to California where they visited a number of high tech industries in the Silicon Valley in addition to touring campus labs at the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University.
A final component of the program was a cultural awareness and enrichment activity. “The visiting educators spent a lot of focused time in the classrooms and in labs,” Kingsbury said. “So we had evening and weekend activities that were fun and educational, many taking advantage of the natural beauty and culture unique to the Bemidji area.” Among those activities were a covered wagon ride, a family home stay over the Fourth of July weekend, golf, concerts, a Pow Wow, and tours of local state parks, an open pit ore mine, the Forest History Center, Iron World, and various businesses. “Overall the program went very well,” Kingsbury commented when looking back and contemplating the future. “We’re going to Korea this fall to conduct a follow-up study to determine how much of what the educators learned has transferred into their college and university programs. We also hope this will be an ongoing event, and would like to begin discussions about a program next year.” ■