Breaking Borders: On February 22, members from all five COF campuses engaged in the Breaking Borders and Building Bridges conference and social, generously funded by the Davis Foundation. This conference, made possible by the COF Faculty Mini-Grant Program, was the result of an 8-month exploration of the COF student experience around intercultural learning and engagement.
Over 40 attendees enjoyed an afternoon to discuss and share skills, knowledge and experiences that emerge from cultural learning (both on- and off-campus) as well as their ties to diversity, social justice, equity and inclusion. The afternoon kicked off with a nationally recognized keynote speaker, Cheryl Hamilton, Director of Massmouth, a non-profit organization that promotes the timeless art of storytelling. In her interactive address, she engaged the audience in helping us decide which stories we choose to tell that break down stereotypes and promote our social responsibility of embracing and nurturing the cultural diversity of our community. The event wrapped up with a social hour to foster connections and enjoy a wonderful performance by the COF Jazz Band.
Study Abroad Pre-Departure Orientation:On April 10, Subcommittee members from Emmanuel College, MassArt, MCPHS and the GEO Center, dive into the next phase of pre-departure orientation revamp with updating and improving the handbook for travelers abroad as well as the online learning modules that all students are required to review prior to travel. Volunteers from the COF GEO Center, Study Abroad Council, and returning study abroad students administered two in-person orientations to 89 COF students going abroad this summer, fall, and academic year. Attendees were pleased by the health, safety, and cultural information they received, especially by hearing the hands-on experience from the returnees.
Nonresident Alien Taxes:Nearly 200 international students and scholars took advantage of the jointly purchased tax software that specifically helps this population complete the 1040-NR (nonresident) and federal tax forms (which are typically unavailable through the free services like TurboTax). The “Foreign National Tax Resource” also helps international students and scholars prepare their Commonwealth of Massachusetts tax forms. With input from the International Student and Scholars Advisors Committee, we moved to a fully self-service model of accessing the tax resources in 2018 where students could benefit from enhanced tutorials that they could review and access 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. The GEO Center continued to be available via phone, email, and appointment to assist students with any technical issues that they encountered along the way.
Study Abroad Risk Management: A Working Group that consists of members of the Study Abroad Council and the COF Director of Emergency Preparedness convened in 2018 to work together in the identification and implementation of best practice around risk management for international education. By following the Standards of Good Practice for international emergency preparedness and benchmarking current practices at other institutions, the Working Group has three main deliverables that will be finalized for the 2019-2020 academic year:
- Create an updated risk management focused faculty-led program proposal that includes the development of an Emergency Management Plan as part of the proposal.
- Develop Emergency Response protocols for both the home campus and the on-site leader.
- Tie the work of this committee into the larger campus-wide emergency response protocol.