Professor Visiting from China Offers Lecture on Adult Learners
Posted on 1/6/2009
Adults attending higher education institutions in Taiwan have unique perspectives on earning degrees. Some enroll for social reasons to build networks and relationships, while others enroll entirely for the stimulation of graduate education.
Kenda Grover, left, and Chi-jung Fu
These and other elements related to middle-age adult enrollment in graduate education were discussed recently by Chi-jung Fu, a visiting professor in the department of rehabilitation, human resources, and communication disorders in the College of Education and Health Professions. Fu is spending the academic year at the University of Arkansas studying and collaborating on topics related to adult education and workforce preparation and development. The department's Research Roundtable on Dec. 12 highlighted his first semester's work.
"He's done a fantastic job integrating concepts of andragogy and adult learner development into eastern cultures," said Kenda Grover, program coordinator for workforce development and assistant department head. "Dr. Fu has done an excellent job this year in building relationships among our faculty, and prompting questions and challenging our assumptions about how adults, particularly middle-aged adults, learn and process information."
Fu's research will continue to focus on areas related to adult learning theory in non-western environments, particularly within the context of mid-life learning. His visiting faculty appointment will last through the 2008-2009 academic year and is a continuation of efforts to engage the international community in the RHRC department.
Last year, the department hosted Tanta University's Ahmed Helal in counseling, and it recently hired Georgian Kate Mamiseishvili in the higher education program and German national Carsten Schmidtke in workforce development.
Department Head Michael Miller commented, "We have an interest in looking beyond the borders of Arkansas, and that involves bringing students and faculty here, as well as sending them abroad."
Miller recently accompanied counseling faculty member Dan Kissinger to Egypt, and the department also sponsors the Health Teams Abroad program to Sweden each summer through the communication disorders program.
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