Russia 2006
International Initiatives
Faculty Initiatives
Four WMU Professors of Education present papers at the International Conference on Lifelong Education in Kalamazoo’s “Sister City,” Pushkin, Russia
Four faculty from WMU’s College of Education and Human Development, Gunilla Holm from the Educational Studies Department and Josephine Barry Davis, Allison Downeyand Tetyana Koshmanova from the Department of Teaching, Learningand Leadership presented papers at the “International Conference on Lifelong Education: Continuous Education for Sustainable Development” in Pushkin, Russia early June. The annual conference is sponsored by United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Inter-Parliament Assembly of Eurasian Economic Community, Russian Academy of Education, The World Academy of Productivity Science and Leningrad State University n.a. A.S. Pushkin where the conference was held. The conference was well attended by presenters from Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Poland, Kazakhstan, Denmark, and Sweden. The five representatives from the United States included our four faculty members and a doctoral candidate from City University of New York.
Papers presented at the conference focused on continuous education, sustainable developmentand the consideration of creating unified standards in higher education in Eurasia, modeled by the Bologna Process. The Bologna process started on Jun. 19, 1999 when 29 European Ministers responsible for higher education signed the Bologna Declaration in which they undertake to create a European Higher Education Area with aims to increase mobility of students and staff across Europe. Tetyana Koshmanova, a Ukrainian national, (who kindly translated for all the English speakers) addressed this issue in the presentation of her paper, “Transformation of Ukrainian pedagogical education in context of Bologna process.” Allison Downey advocated for the inclusion of creativity and integrated arts coursework in developing standards for teacher preparation in her paper, “Integrated arts: An integral part of teacher education.” Josephine Barry Davis addressed teacher preparation, as well, in her paper, “Continuous education in the development of prospective teachers.” Gunilla Holm set the tone for the conference as the first presenter, sharing her research on social class and education in her paper, “The importance of social class within life-long multicultural education.”
The Director, or president of the Leningrad State University (LSU) system, Dr. Vyacheslav Skvortsov and Dr. Nikolay Lobanov, Director of Scientific Research Institute of socio-economic and pedagogical problem of life-long education, served as the organizers for the conference and our great hosts. Dr. Lobanov visited WMU this past February, extending the invitation to our faculty to submit proposals for the conference. Our American contingent was greeted with true Russian hospitality, as Dr. Lobanov created an itinerary full of cultural and historical experiences. On our first day we visited with the Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Pushkin (Kalamazoo’s sister city), Dr. Victor Afanasenko. Dr. Afanasenko offered the well wishes from Mayor of Pushkinand Allison Downey represented the Mayor of Kalamazoo in presenting a letter of friendship to the Mayor of Pushkin and Dr. Lobanov at the opening ceremony for the conference. [Allison was selected by the WMU contingent to present because she was the only one of the professors with an American accent, given that Gunilla Holm is Finnish, Josephine Barry Davis is Frenchand Tetyana Koshmanova is Russian/Estonian. We found this fact ironic, given that our group was considered the “American delegation”]
A member of the Chamber of Commerce gave us a private tour of Tsarskoye Selo, the summer palace of Katerina II (Catherine the Great). We participated in many excursions including visits to the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, the palace of Nikolas II, the last Russian tzarand a day in the countryside to visit the home of Vladmir Nabokov.
Dr. Skvortsov met with the “American contingent” to discuss possibilities for future research collaborationand took the time to travel and dine with the group even while overseeing the International Day of Children events hosted by LSU. Dr. Skvortsov shared that LSU is dedicated to providing educational opportunities for all orphans in neighboring orphanages.
We enjoyed several performances by the Academic chorus of Leningrad State University, one of which was for local orphans. The chorus will travel to Kalamazoo in November to perform for the Russian Festival. Allison Downey, also a musician, was asked to give an impromptu performance during the conference, singing the English folk song, “The Water is Wide” and “Summertime” with the chorus on background vocals. Allison has been invited to sing with the chorus during their November performance in Kalamazoo.
As a group we developed many important professional and cultural contacts in Pushkin and look forward to returning to Pushkinand returning some of the hospitality when our Russian friends arrive during the Kalamazoo Russian Festival.
For more information, please contact:
Allison Downey at , Tel: 269.388.7323, or
Josephine Barry Davis at: , Tel: 269.387.3496
