Visiting Jordan, (from left) Dr. Jabbar Al-Obaidi, Presidents Sultan Abu-Orabi and Dana Mohler-Faria, and Dr. Edward Minnock

Administrators and Faculty Strengthen Ties with Jordanian University

Posted on June 11, 2008 - Permalink
Audiences: Current Students Faculty and Staff HomePage Trustees

President Dana Mohler-Faria and several faculty members recently returned from Jordan, where they spent time strengthening the college's partnership with Tafila Technical University.

During the five-day trip, President Mohler-Faria and TTU President Sultan Abu-Orabi deliberated on the partnership for the first time since its origin in 2006. Omar Shaeifat, Jordan's minister of higher education, also met with the BSC contingent to offer financial support and additional resources, as well as to encourage future endeavors between the two institutions.

Dr. Jabbar Al-Obaidi, a professor of communication studies; Dr. Delayne Connor, an associate professor of special education; and Dr. Edward Minnock, vice president of external affairs, were the other BSC visitors. Dr. Khalil al-Qatawneh, a TTU professor who taught at BSC this past academic year, accompanied the group back to his homeland.

In its short history, the partnership has fostered some remarkable academic growth, said Dr. Minnock. A number of TTU students have enrolled at BSC each semester, professors from both institutions frequently share ideas, and BSC has added an Arabic language course to its regular curriculum, to name a few developments.

Those undertakings support a major objective of the alliance, which Dr. Minnock said is to promote cultural understanding between U.S. and the Middle East.

"We're really looking to build a cultural bridge," he said.

Apart from strengthening ties with TTU, the visit resulted in more planned engagements involving the two institutions. On July 3, BSC will host an international conference on education, and in mid-July several BSC professors are planning to attend a conference in Jordan.

Dr. Minnock said those multi-cultural interactions are what partnership organizers believe to be the epitome of the alliance.

"We can give everyone involved a real cultural experience and make some friends in the process," he said. (Rob Matheson, Office of Institutional Communications)