International Education Resource Center
Mission
The Richland College International Education Resource Center serves as the focal point for international education and teaching at Richland College through its multidisciplinary centers and programs dedicated to the study of world regions and global issues.
The Richland College International Resource Center provides knowledge about the contemporary world and promotes lifelong learning through resources made available on its website and active participation in local community events.
The Resource Center's outreach serves Dallas County Community College District Campuses, their faculty and administrators as well as K-12 educators throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. It also serves community leaders, business organizations and nonprofit organizations by providing valuable cultural information about world communities.
The Resource Center seeks to broaden global awareness both on and off the campus through innovative programs and educational outreach in a variety of formats. We attempt to make the concept of global citizenship an integral part of undergraduate learning through its introduction into Richland College core programs.
We are working collaboratively with Richland College Foreign Language Lab and Richland College Library.
The focus is to provide a high quality collection of print and electronic sources to enhance the intellectual, professional, cultural and personal growth of students, faculty, staff, and others in Richland College.
We seek to work collaboratively with the following Richland College divisions by providing international resources to enrich their programs:
Academic Enrichment Division
- Global Studies Classes
- Peace Institute
Global Studies Classes help prepare students to succeed in the 21st Century. We are each part of several diverse communities whether at work, at school, at home or at play. In the next millennium each of us will interact with even more people as our society becomes even more complex. As individuals, and as members of local, state, national and global communities, we will all play a role in the search for solutions to some of our world's major problems. Confronting those problems and value-laden issues such as peace, ecological balance, social and economic justice, intercultural understanding, democratic participation, and the impact of technology, is why the Global Studies Program exists.
The Peace Institute is committed to educating for peace, justice, and the abolition of conditions that give rise to violence and war. Programs for students, employees, and the community are offered through the traditional academic curriculum, continuing education, professional development, and teleconferences.
All programs of the Peace Institute are designed to encourage personal growth and wholeness while at the same time developing the individual's ability to:
• determine and prevent conditions which give rise to violence
• promote alternatives to violence and hatred
• advocate action for rendering justice and making peace
Engineering, Business, and Technology
- International Business and Trade Program
The US is the world’s largest consumer of goods and services and as such actively participates in the world markets. As a business person it is critical that one understand how the world of International Business functions because we are an active part of it.
In Dallas Texas we enjoy a large and growing business in International Trade. DFW is 5th in the country for the amount of international business conducted in the US with some $50 Billion in trade taking place each year and growing.
Richland College International Business and Trade Program envisions educating students and community members to be international business employees and specifically about the emerging international economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC nations) that have great potential to dominate the 21st Century.
This will be accomplished by educating employees of international firms and students seeking careers in international business in cultural competence skills and abilities in order to understand and function effectively in diverse cultures to strengthen business opportunities.
Ethnic Studies, Social Science, & Physical Education Division
- African American / Black Studies
- Asian – American / Middle Eastern - American Studies
- Mexican American / Latino Studies
The African American/Black Studies Program is unique and representative of American culture by teaching students to critique, analyze, and interpret cultural and historical roles of people of African descent throughout the world in the context of life in the United States of America.
The Asian-American/Middle Eastern-American Studies program at Richland College offers students an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the rich and diverse cultural traditions of Asia and the Middle East and their impact on the development of the Asian-American culture
The Center for Mexican American and Latino Studies at Richland College enriches awareness and understanding of the Mexican-American and Latino experience in the United States, through an interdisciplinary approach to education, community development, and scholarship. The Center for Mexican American and Latino Studies honors the contributions of Mexican American culture common to the Southwest and the many Latino communities in our region by exploring the ways in which communities, languages, and traditions intersect to create a shared heritage. The Center for Mexican American and Latino Studies at Richland College also facilitates the growth and social contributions of the local community.
Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts Division
- Cultural Studies Programs
Cultural Studies is an approach to the study of culture and society which draws upon a variety of academic disciplines in order to examine the complex relations among human beings and to explore human creativity. Cultural Studies is concerned with both intercultural- and intracultural-experience – that is, with the interaction among members of various cultural groups, as defined by characteristics such as nation, religion, race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality.
World Languages, Cultures and Communication Division
- Foreign Language Programs
Foreign Languages at Richland College provides a unique language-learning environment fostered for many years by the award-winning school and its dedicated & passionate instructors. Long recognized as a leading institution for language acquisition, Richland boasts a state-of-the-art laboratory, college library and computer stations. Language training at Richland is interactive with a variety of audio and video reinforcement, which promotes immediate language acquisition. Richland instructors are noted for their language expertise, business background, passion for teaching and dedication to helping students achieve communicative proficiency in the language.