Tiffin University/University of Bucharest

The partnership between Tiffin University and the University of Bucharest (UB) has fulfilled its primary objective of creating a School of Criminal Justice (SCJ) at UB, where it implemented a master’s level criminal justice program. The School of Community Justice Administration (the Romanian translation of “School of Criminal Justice”) is the first of its kind in Eastern and Central Europe. In September 2001, UB graduated its first class of 15 Master’s degree students from the SCJ. Students in the course included the general director of Romania’s prison system and members of his staff, administrators from the Ministries of Justice and the Interior, and members of the police force and academy. The partners also added probation, juvenile justice, parole, and restorative justice to the curriculum, areas new to Romania’s legal landscape. Introduction to Criminal Justice, a book written by the Tiffin University partnership director, has been translated into Romanian and is being used as the seminal text for the program. Currently 64 students are enrolled in the first and second year of the program. The president and prime minister of Romania have affirmed their support for expanding the master’s level program to five other Romanian universities. The culminating project activity was a conference in Bucharest, attended by government officials, numerous members of the law enforcement community, the U.S. ambassador to Romania, the USAID/Romania mission director, and other stakeholders from Romania and neighboring countries.

Harford Community College/Moscow Medical College #1

This partnership seeks to expand the role of nurses in Russia and contribute to nursing reform by developing curricula and providing seminars on nursing theory, practice, and emerging professional issues. During a visit to Moscow Medical College (MMC) #1 in 1999, Harford Community College (HCC) representatives gave a presentation at the Third International Scientific and Practical Conference, which focused on the state of nursing reform. Representatives from 14 colleges and schools of nursing throughout Russia attended the conference. In 2000, HCC representatives returned to MMC #1 to help evaluate and revise the second-year nursing course syllabus. They also delivered lectures on nursing philosophy, legal issues, nursing documentation, and performance evaluation to 49 nurses, physicians, and administrators at Moscow Municipal Hospital (MMH) #36. During a follow-up visit to Russia, HCC representatives helped further develop the nursing curriculum at MMC #1. They also lectured at MMH #64 on various topics, including the role of the head nurse, documentation, the regulation of the nursing industry, and rehabilitation nursing. In 2001, grant activities included lectures at Moscow Tuberculosis Hospital, presentations on curriculum development, and the first visit to Russia by four HCC nursing students.

Haskell Indian Nations University/Gorno-Altaisk State University

This partnership is developing a model program for community-based drinking water quality monitoring in remote villages in the Altai Republic in Siberia. In summer 2001, students and faculty from Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) spent three weeks in the Altai Republic, hosted by Gorno-Altaisk State University (GASU). This short-term visit enabled partners to train eight Native American and five Russian students in monitoring water quality, which will be conducted in remote areas of Russia and North America. Faculty and students also made significant progress on designing a curriculum for secondary school classrooms, including one that provides resources on water in Siberia and Kansas, history and culture of both regions, and traditional stories of Native American and Altaian peoples. Partners also began documenting ecological values in water bodies for the Altai, the results of which will be used to improve resource management in the Altai. In spring 2002, the partners completed a three-week exchange program of four GASU students and four faculty members to Kansas. The partnership has leveraged a total of $157,893 in extra funding in the form of grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others.

University of California-Davis/Samarkand State University

The partnership between the University of California-Davis (UC-Davis) and Samarkand State University (SSU) aimed to develop the capacity of scientists in Central Asia to use geographic information system (GIS) technologies for measuring and monitoring carbon dioxide emissions that are degrading the ecosystem in the Central Asian rangelands. The partners succeeded in developing a regional expertise for conducting GIS modeling of C fluxes. During phase one of the project, six scientists from Central Asia were trained at Utah State University and UC–Davis in English, modeling CO2 flux in the ecosystem, processing of Bowen-ratio data, GIS modeling, and scientific presentation skills. Phase two focused on training in Central Asia on agricultural development and the role of properly managed rangelands on carbon sequestration through regional workshops and meetings. Materials and techniques continue to be incorporated into the curriculum at SSU and Kazak State University. A basic GIS lab was established in the Samarkand section of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. The partnership resulted in the training of more than 25 regional professors, scientists, and technicians, and 160 women and 298 male students and staff from host countries. Nineteen institutions benefited from partnership activities.