Japanese House no minasan,

You might have already read this, but just in case. John Sama told me  
yesterday about this article.
Please look at the first paragraph under Student-led expansion.

Corson

http://www.uvm.edu/theview/article.php?id=2243


It Takes a 'Village'


By Tom Weaver
Article published February 2, 2007



A recent evening of African drumming and dance drew a large crowd  
to Living/Learning's Global Village. (Photo: John Sama)

While that catch phrase "the world is getting smaller" has wedged its  
way into 21st-century conventional wisdom, "the Living/Learning  
Center is getting smaller" probably hasn't popped up in The New York  
Times' international section lately. But just as the global economy,  
the Internet, the environment and other factors have given half-a- 
world away all the relevance of down the block, the long-standing  
internationally themed suites of Living/Learning have grown closer  
this academic year, united into one building and one residential  
learning program, "The Global Village."
Dennis Mahoney — genial, enthusiastic, exuberantly bearded — is  
the faculty director at Global Village in Living/Learning’s B  
Building. The German and Russian professor's experience at the  
university stretches across more than two decades, and it all started  
at Living/Learning, where he and his wife lived in a faculty  
apartment for three years while he was faculty director of German  
House. "I have a deep affection for the place," Mahoney says.
That connection drew him back to L/L when John Sama, the center's  
director, asked him to help develop the internationally themed  
residential learning program. Mahoney agreed and went one better,  
postponing a planned sabbatical for a year to be the village's first  
director during 2006-07.
Cross-cultural connections
Sama has been involved with UVM's effort over the past several years  
to create residential learning communities. In addition to the  
programming in the Honors College residence hall, RLC's at UVM  
include the new environmentally themed GreenHouse at University  
Heights and a health and wellness-themed house in planning for next  
year in Patterson Hall. When it came to a global focus, Sama didn't  
have to look far from his L/L office to see a fine place to start.  
"We thought, let's not throw out years of history," Sama says. "Let's  
use the cultural houses of Living/Learning as the nuclei, then try to  
facilitate connections and build from there."

Nine language/cultural houses (Africa House, Canada House, Casa  
Italiana, Chinese House, German House, Japanese House, La Casa  
Hispanica, La Maison Francaise and Russian House) and 120 students  
united to form one Global Village with the opening of the fall  
semester. Mahoney and faculty directors within the individual houses  
have created new options and helped students find opportunities to  
fulfill a one-credit, self-paced course in which they attend a  
variety of internationally themed events — art exhibits, lectures,  
performances, etc. — and write about them.

Running through a highlight reel from the village's first semester,  
Mahoney mentions some of the rare opportunities offered to students  
— a personal meeting with Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, lunch  
with Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union, and  
a moving concert of gospel music by Francois Clemmons that came in  
the dark days following Michelle Gardner Quinn's death.

"He spoke to the idea that gospel music has within it pain, living  
through pain," Mahoney says. "At a time when so many of us were still  
hurting very much, that was a wonderful event."

Student-led expansion
Heidi Shimada, a junior from Kapolei, Hawaii, says that on the  
strength of the Global Village the Japanese House has flourished this  
year, growing to 14 students from last year's four. Shimada attended  
more than 20 internationally themed events last semester as part of  
her Global Village activities and, through her house, is at work on  
helping to plan at least that many for this winter and spring.

Amanda Hower, a first-year student from Salisbury, Conn., lives in  
Canada House and is studying both Chinese and Spanish at UVM. Deeply  
interested in the study of language and culture, she says Global  
Village has been a perfect fit. Beyond planned events, Hower says  
that the daily stuff of conversation with fellow Global Villagers in  
the laundry room or over a cup of tea has greatly enriched her  
experience. Enthused about the potential such a place offers, Hower  
offers up an example of the multiplier effect when Global Village  
residents gather. Say a student of Chinese who grew up in France and  
lives in Africa House is speaking with another student who studies  
Spanish and Russian and lives in Canada House. "It's almost like  
having six people's worth of experience that can be shared and  
learned from," Hower says.

Sama, Mahoney and the students themselves are in agreement that the  
future of Global Village rests in the hands of the residents. "I like  
the sense that the more the students see this as originating from  
them rather than being imposed from above, the better," says Mahoney.  
"Who can disagree with that?" Continuing to break down walls between  
houses to create cross-cultural events will be key to Global  
Village's future and that scenario appears promising. When Amanda  
from Canada House promotes the great idea that Heather from La Maison  
Francaise has for a "No English" dinner, it points to the sort of  
imagination and cooperation that should make for a harmonious world  
within a residence hall.

It's all about reaching out and getting involved down at the Global  
Village, where extracting a discouraging word from Director Mahoney  
would seemingly require a set of 19th-century dental implements. Yet,  
early in the semester after perusing a schedule of events and seeing  
an African dance evening, even he offers a word of warning. It seems  
that Mahoney shook it a little too vigorously at a previous  
appearance by the same group and his meniscus paid the price. "My  
private tip," he counsels, "— if you dance, watch out for your knees."




-- 
Mutsumi Corson
Japanese Language Program
University of Vermont
479 Main Street
Burlington, Vermont 05405
phone: 802-656-1117
fax:   802-656-8472
email:  [log in to unmask]