FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dec. 22, 2005

Contact: Lanny Larson

559.278.4620 or 559.278.2795

Learning is a dynamic lifelong pursuit that cannot be confined to a single source or place of knowledge, representing a constant, substantial challenge to the Division of Continuing and Global Education at Fresno State.

A look at the spring 2006 catalog of nearly 100 courses provides valuable insight into how the division fulfills its commitment “to offer new and innovative courses and programs to students, working professionals and community members.”

That commitment “is the driving force behind our work,” said Dr. Berta González, associate vice president in charge of the division.

New in the coming months are courses built around the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy; on the epidemic of childhood obesity; on meditation techniques that can help people maintain healthier lifestyles; on collaborative public policy development; and an examination of the parallels and differences between the attacks on the United States on Dec. 7, 1941, and Sept. 11, 2001.

For those who want to learn abroad, the division offers the world: six of the seven continents, with programs in Belize, China, Egypt, the Galapagos Islands, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Russia, Tanzania and Turkey, among others. Numerous short-term study programs that are faculty-led are on the rise, and more undergraduate students are taking advantage of these opportunities.

The variety and relevance of courses are part of the university’s effort to be engaged in the needs of the region, said Lynne Ashbeck, extension programs director. That requires listening to people and anticipating and responding to their learning needs.

It can be a complex process, such as the way three online curricula built around the Winter Olympics found their way into the Fresno State catalog. When a private course developer was looking for a university partner to deliver courses on the Olympics, he contacted his friend, Bob Fraley, Fresno State’s cross country and track and field coach, who contacted President John D. Welty, who contacted Ashbeck.

“Sometimes it’s all about relationships,” Ashbeck said, adding that the course developer from Iowa, Fraley and the publisher of Mountain View-based Track and Field News met with her to get the ball rolling at Fresno State. The Department of Kinesiology designed the courses in
"Physical Adaptation to Exercise and Training," "Sports Medicine and Performance-Enhancing Substances" and "Social and Political Influences on the Modern Olympic Games."

All are online studies that require enrollees to watch TV coverage of the Games, making the courses – each with two semesters of extension credit available – attractive to a global audience. So far, Ashbeck said, people have signed up from as far away as Pittsburgh, Pa.

Of special interest in the university’s engagement with the region is the course on childhood obesity. It was developed by Ashbeck, who is a registered dietitian, in collaboration with Dr. Sandra Witte, who chairs the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, and Dr. Virginia Rondero Hernandez, an assistant professor of social work education and associate director of Research and Evaluation for the Central California Children’s center based on campus.

Hernandez recently wrote a report on the serious concern about childhood obesity in the region and its ramifications that extend beyond to physical issues to mental health, social stigma and discrimination.

Ashbeck, Witte and Hernandez created a class that helps teachers, administrators and school health staff learn how to promote behaviors that will reduce childhood obesity and its attendant problems.

A new course, “December 7 and September 11: Parallels and Differences,” will be taught by Dr. Franklin Ng, a Fresno State anthropology professor who proposed the topic.

Ashbeck said the division welcomes suggestions for courses by university faculty, providing an “interesting way to teach a class that may not be a semester-long sort of endeavor. It’s a place they can teach their passion. They can teach their academic interest, their research interest, and satisfy needs of the community at the same time,” Ashbeck said.

The division blends offerings from faculty with classes taught by community experts and others across a wide range of topics. The division devises courses that support the visionary themes that highlight the distinctiveness of the university and serve as the focus of the Comprehensive Campaign – agriculture, the arts, education, health and the economy – and align with the Regional Jobs Initiative, Ashbeck said.

And last year the division conducted its first classes for people 50 and older through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

On the immediate horizon is the expanding of programs for children, especially during the summer vacation period. “We’re trying to do more of a collaborative marketing effort so the university becomes a place for kids that parents can depend on to fill up the summer with interesting things,” Ashbeck said.

The effort includes a science adventure program that runs four weeks and focuses on a different topic each week, summer sports camps, Kids Invent camps and Bulldog Café, which focuses on developing culinary skills and healthy-eating habits.

Before last summer, those courses operated fairly independently, but now are marketed more cohesively through the Division of Continuing and Global Education. The effort, Ashbeck said, will help the university engage families, introduce the campus to parents and students and deliver the message that Fresno State is the region’s first educational choice.

The division’s spring 2006 catalog is available online, in the division office in the Education Building, Room 130 or by calling 559.278.0333.