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The vast majority of the Institute's activities are open to the
public. To this end, IES works closely with a variety of Bay Area
organizations. IES also maintains strong institutional relationships
with the European diplomatic community. For example, the biennial
Peder Sather conference is held with the direct involvement of
the
Norwegian and Swedish Consulates. During the most recent Peder
Sather symposium, 38 academics, policy makers, and government
officials from all over Europe spoke on various aspects of "Higher
Education in a Digital Age." IES in conjunction with International
and Areas Studies and the Chancellor's Office, co-hosted the April
4, 2000, public event at which The Vice Chancellor Carol Christ
(in the absence of Chancellor Robert Berdahl) presented Mário Soares,
former President of Portugal, with the Berkeley Medal. Soares received
the medal in recognition of the important role he has played in
strengthening democracy in the modern world. At the ceremony, Soares
addressed a large audience on "Portugal, the European Union
and Democracy."
Outreach to teachers and public service to the community-at-large,
through publications and programmatic offerings, has always been
an important part of the Institute's mission. The April 1999 conference
on "Challenges of the Network Society" drew well over 500 participants
from surrounding schools, representatives from the established computer
industry, small start-up entrepreneurs, and foreign and domestic
government representatives. This event was jointly sponsored by
Finnish Studies Program (a program administered by IES), Berkeley's
School of Information Management & Systems, the Institute for
International Studies, the Finnish Consulate General in Los Angeles,
and the Finland
Technology Center.
IES continues to maintain a Speaker's Bureau as it operates as
a liaison for community organizations and schools that are looking
for academic speakers to lecture on topics related to Europe. Faculty,
graduate students, visiting scholars often speak before such organizations
at the behest of IES.
Outreach to K-12 teachers is organizationally
centralized in the
Office for Resources in International and Area Studies (ORIAS),
which has the direct involvement of Berkeley's area centers, including
IES. A vibrant part of IES' outreach program, ORIAS is an example
of cooperation among Berkeley's area-focused centers as they extend
their reach into the Northern California community. Essentially,
ORIAS brings Europe to the "grassroots" level and nurtures
interest from there. The annual ORIAS Summer Institute offers five-day
intensive
workshops for primary and secondary teachers. IES works closely
with ORIAS to integrate Western Europe into the state's framework
for curriculum development.
The ORIAS 2000 Summer Institute focused
on ancient roots and modern states (ORIAS
2000 Summer Institute). Western European sessions discussed
ancient Rome, as well as the present-day European Union. ORIAS
also
participates in the UC Office of the President NEXUS project to
build an accessible library of curriculum resources linked to outreach
efforts throughout the UC system. On the local level, ORIAS has
been cooperating with inner-city Oakland schools to assist in training
mentor teachers to work collaboratively on-line to enrich the world
history curriculum in their district and in individual schools.
ORIAS
continues to offer its expertise in the development of curriculum
units that were generated from the area centers' independently
developed
programs. In this way, academic conferences not only develop research
agendas but transform into opportunities for outreach and curriculum
development. IES has also currently contracted a curriculum unit
from Bay Area educator Linda Cathryn Everstz who is presently preparing
a unit on children's literature and Western Europe (due in Fall
2000). It is the outgrowth of an earlier international forum on
Norwegian children's literature. |
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