by Connor Parks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
February brought the unfortunate news that Centre Global Executive Director Adam Chen-Dedman would be stepping down from his post effective by the end of the month. By the time you\u2019re reading this, we\u2019ll already have lost a valuable member of our community, and the process of preparing a new director will be in the works. Here at The Cento, we send our best wishes for his PhD track at the University of Melbourne, and anything his future career may hold! He\u2019ll be greatly missed, but I\u2019m glad to see his departure under such exciting circumstances. Fortunately, I was recently able to sit down with soon-to-be-Dr.-Chen-Dedman and ask him about his experiences with the study abroad industry and Centre College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How has your relationship with higher education in Kentucky developed during your role at Centre, compared to prior positions?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think what I\u2019ve experienced in terms of my time at Centre, as it relates to small liberal arts colleges and study abroad, is that there\u2019s a lot of power in cross-institutional collaboration. I think what Centre has forged with Rhodes and Sewanee through a Mellon Grant that the three institutions received is phenomenal because each institution by itself has limited resources \u2026 to be able to pool resources across multiple institutions\u2013both in terms of financial resources and recruitment efforts\u2013helps a lot with creating more sustainable programs. A lot of that came about through the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS), which is an institutional membership for 15 institutions across the South, and there\u2019s a committee of international program directors that meets on a regular basis. I also frequently meet with my counterparts from Rhodes and Sewanee. I think being at Centre has really helped me understand the comparative lack of resources vis-\u00e0-vis a big R1 institution like the University of Kentucky, but at the same time it\u2019s an opportunity for smaller institutions like Centre to collaborate more intentionally, and I think we\u2019ve been doing a pretty great job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Has your philosophy behind study abroad changed significantly since your first time studying at a non-US institution?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think on one hand it\u2019s undeniable that higher ed, writ large, is a business. It\u2019s about the bottom line, and with no money, schools close. \u2026 Over my 20 years working in international education, one thing I\u2019ve been concerned about is the prohibitive costs of accessing study abroad opportunities for a lot of students. I think that because of those hurdles, there\u2019s an ethical burden on institutions who are promoting study abroad to make sure that all students have ways of accessing it. I think Centre in its own way does contribute to that: there\u2019s endowed scholarships for students, and we have donors who regularly give to study abroad. I think one thing that Centre needs to work on more substantively is thinking about the number of students who go abroad for 3 weeks during CentreTerm, and the cost that that incurs for students, as it\u2019s not part of the comprehensive fee. On average, a CentreTerm course abroad costs between $3,000 to $5,000 depending on the location. \u2026 It\u2019s wonderful that Centre faculty care so much about creating these opportunities for students, especially given that, for the most part, they aren\u2019t additionally compensated beyond a small honorarium. At the same time, what I would\u2019ve liked to have done if I\u2019d stayed longer is to work on ways Centre can expand more exchange programs and semester-long direct-enroll programs at universities abroad, because these are programs that Centre students can access without additional costs beyond, say, the flight. \u2026 I feel strongly that Centre should move to a funding model like Rhodes in which every student is offered one semester abroad during their 4 years that is institutionally funded, rather than the current model of allocating a specific budget amount each fiscal year that limits the overall number of spots we can offer in each semester program. I know it would be a radical departure from precedent, but I think it\u2019s an important next step in making study abroad accessible to more students at Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHistorically\u2013and still today\u2013studying abroad is a privilege afforded to few. Philosophically-speaking, educators must grapple with the ethics of financing and access when it comes to study abroad. There\u2019s also plenty of other ethical issues when you\u2019re encountering other cultures, particularly in a very truncated way, say, over a three-week period. There are ways that faculty members and students themselves can be more intentional about those sorts of encounters without being too interventionist or invasive. \u2026 International exchange is something I care a lot about as it can be the beginning for building better understanding among different peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s your most memorable study abroad experience\/moment during your time here? Your favourite consistent program?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFirstly, I think perhaps the most unique\u2013and I know that\u2019s a loaded term\u2013but the most unique destination that Centre offers, that a lot of schools don’t, is Bhutan. Dr. Kyle Anderson, who was the director of study abroad at Centre from 2017 to 2019, deserves credit for establishing that exchange program. \u2026 Secondly, on a personal level, one of my favorite programs Centre offers would probably be M\u00e9rida. Growing up, I studied Spanish all through high school in Lexington, and we did multiple trips to Mexico over spring break so I had a fair amount of experience in Mexico, but I\u2019d never been to M\u00e9rida, and when I went last year I was absolutely enamored with the place \u2026 it\u2019s super safe, and the Yucatecan people are so hospitable and warm. It\u2019s just magical, and I think having discovered M\u00e9rida during my time at Centre is something I did not expect and so I was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFinally, something I\u2019m most proud of is working with Dr. Inouye and Dr. Cai to build an intensive language program in Taiwan. While we offer a program in China, it isn\u2019t an intensive language program for Mandarin like the immersion semester programs we offer in Germany, Spain, and France. In Fall 2023, Centre\u2019s faculty approved our proposal to partner with the International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) at National Taiwan University, and to have our first cohort of students go there this past fall was exciting. I visited Taiwan this past December and met some Centre students; it was really great to see how much they had learned. I myself am a graduate of the program the students are in\u2013it\u2019s a phenomenal program and I\u2019m really glad we were able to set that up. The Taiwanese government also offers generous scholarships for language students, and all our students that went to ICLP this academic year got the scholarship, so I\u2019m very proud of that. I would also say collaborating between Centre Global and the Office of Fellowships to help more students apply for the Gilman international scholarship, and to see a regular cohort of students successfully get the Gilman over the past year and a half, has been really rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What led you to believe that pursuing a PhD was the right next step for your long-term career goals? How has Melbourne\u2019s program differed from prior degrees and experiences you\u2019ve received and had?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was actually a PhD student at the University of Melbourne before I came to Centre, and I put my PhD on hold after arriving. \u2026 Long story short, COVID threw a curveball in my plans of completing my PhD in a linear fashion. When I arrived at Centre in 2023, I hadn\u2019t completed my dissertation … I thought I\u2019d be able to finish it part-time while working, and that\u2019s proven, unfortunately, not to be feasible, so I had to make the difficult decision last month \u2026 to focus on completing it. The University of Melbourne and other Australian universities are different from most U.S. universities. Australia only allows 3-4 years [for your PhD] \u2026 I\u2019m coming up against a time limitation which means I have to submit by August. This is what led to me making the decision to leave Centre and to prioritize the next 5-6 months \u2026 I\u2019m doing a PhD on something I\u2019m passionate about (I\u2019m working with social movements in Taiwan and how they intersect with geopolitics in the Taiwan-China conflict).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI lived in Thailand for 14 years, and during that period I saw the democratic system in Thailand collapse in front of my eyes. For me, democratic decline was not just theoretical as I\u2019d seen the direct impacts: people lost freedom of speech, assembly, and other rights. What happened in Thailand between 2006 and 2014 or so was a long period of back-and-forth coups, elections, democratic return and then decline again \u2026 and it made me realise that I wanted to research a situation where a country had previously been under a dictatorship and had successfully democratized, and that\u2019s Taiwan. Taiwan faces a revanchist power and potential aggressor in the People\u2019s Republic of China that seeks to swallow it up, and I think it\u2019s important that the world, and Americans, understand why Taiwan and its freedoms are worth defending. \u2026 So that\u2019s why for my PhD I decided to work on Taiwan specifically. After 15 years working in study abroad, I felt I was at an inflection point where I needed to take the next step in my career, both credential-wise and to deepen my knowledge of the part of the world I was working in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What aspect of daily life will you miss most from your time here?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ll really miss the Centre Global team; they\u2019re the colleagues I\u2019ve interacted with most closely: Margaret Meadows, Vivienne Main, and Jessica Leonard. I feel like we\u2019ve developed a strong rapport, so I\u2019ll miss working with them \u2026 I think any time you\u2019re in a situation where you can call your colleagues friends, it\u2019s unique and something not to take for granted. I\u2019ll miss partnering with faculty: Dean Goldey has been nothing but supportive and a great sounding board for me, and I really appreciate her. Dr. Robert Schalkoff from the Office of Fellowships, the Off-Campus Programs Committee members, Dr. Nisha Gupta and Dr. Matt Downen from the Center for Teaching and Learning, Nathan Whitlock from Civic & Community Engagement, Joy Jot Htet from Admissions, and Sharon Duncan from CCPD have all been fantastic campus partners. I\u2019ll also miss working with Dr. Mei Li Inouye and Dr. Jingjing Cai from the Chinese Studies program; I\u2019ve been pretty close to them, and there\u2019s other faculty and staff I\u2019ll miss as well, of course. There\u2019s some wonderful students I\u2019ve gotten to know (including when I visited M\u00e9rida!), although I haven\u2019t taught at Centre like I did at other institutions simply because I\u2019ve been more focused on administrative matters here. \u2026 I would\u2019ve liked to teach a course at Centre, ideally on Taiwan and social movements; if I\u2019d stayed longer, I would have, but things just didn\u2019t shake out that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where did the scarves come from? Do you still wear them when travelling in warmer climates?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c(Laughing) Great question. The truth is, most of my scarves come from Cambodia. They\u2019re called Kramas, which are tropical scarves\u2013 people tend to think of scarves as something you wear in a colder climate, but in Southeast Asia, where I lived for a long time, it\u2019s very hot, and Cambodia is an extremely hot country. \u2026 Many of the scarves that I have were gifts from Cambodian students that I got to know really well \u2026 while not all of my scarves are from them, the majority\u2013the more colourful ones\u2013are from there. In Cambodia, they\u2019re used for people to wipe the sweat off their face, because it\u2019s hot all the time, but people also use them for fashion accessories or whatnot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Connor Parks February brought the unfortunate news that Centre Global Executive Director Adam Chen-Dedman would be stepping down from his post effective by the end of the month. By the time you\u2019re reading this, we\u2019ll already have lost a valuable member of our community, and the process of preparing a new director will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8760,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8758\/revisions\/8760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}