The Lone Star College International Studies program offers faculty members professional development opportunities, like an international travel grant, to create a comprehensive and premiere educational experience for students.
“Lone Star College offers intercultural and learning programs for employees that will broaden their horizons while exploring international academic options to prepare students to compete and succeed in an increasingly global world,” said Katharine Caruso, Ph.D., LSC associate vice chancellor, Honors and International Education. “At Lone Star College, faculty members can designate their courses as an International Studies opportunity, enhancing students’ learning without traveling overseas.”
LSC faculty members, like Osvaldo Caballero, can apply and receive a Faculty International Exploration (FIE) Grant to gain first-hand experience, develop partnerships and explore possibilities in other countries that can be used to internationalize courses or develop study abroad programs. Caballero, LSC-North Harris director, Construction Technologies, used the FIE grant to explore educational partnerships for LSC’s Electrical Technology program in Australia.
“This is the first time at Lone Star College that a workforce program or its faculty has received this incredible opportunity for international exploration,” said Caballero. “Lone Star College-North Harris is forward-thinking in offering our workforce students a broader perspective of the world.”
Caballero visited Melbourne Polytechnic, Monash University, RMIT University and the University of Sydney in Australia. There, he cultivated international academic partnerships to help students prepare for potential worldwide opportunities and learned global best practices in workforce education. When Caballero returned, he applied what he learned and internationalized two electrical technology courses, adding an International Studies credential and aligning the program with universal industry needs.
“Electrical technicians are among the highest paid tradespeople in Australia, making this field an ideal test model for Lone Star College’s international collaboration efforts,” said Caballero. “As a licensed master electrician and educator, I aim to embed cross-cultural skills and intercultural awareness into our workforce courses, providing our students with the tools they need to excel in a globalized job market.”
Through the LSC Honors and International Education program, faculty can use the FIE Grant to enrich their internationalized courses, enabling LSC students to have direct experiences with students and faculty in other countries. These global opportunities are rarely available to community college students, giving them direct access to various cultures.
“Faculty members who internationalize their courses based on the FIE grant bring a richness to the discussion of other cultures that crosses a multitude of disciplines,” said Janice Hartgrove-Freile, LSC-North Harris psychology professor and Honors faculty and International faculty fellows. “Those opportunities offer students an immersive experience (virtually or in-person) of other cultures, including its people, language, architecture, food, lifestyle and the way they learn and work.”
Learn more about Lone Star College’s Honors and International Education travel and study-abroad opportunities at LoneStar.edu/IP.
Lone Star College enrolls over 90,000 students each semester providing high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education. LSC is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Mario K. Castillo, J.D., serves as Chancellor of LSC, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and has been named a 2023 Great Colleges to Work For® institution by the Chronicle of Higher Education. LSC consists of eight colleges, seven centers, eight Workforce Centers of Excellence and Lone Star Corporate College. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.