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<OL> <LI> To train a core group of faculty at Virginia State University (VSU), its partner universities (Delaware State University-DSU, Elizabeth City State University-ECSU, and Florida A & M University (FAMU), in interactive communications of food and nutrition programs, agricultural and environmental sciences, via videoconferencing, virtual chat rooms, electronic discussion boards, and e-mail system <LI> To host an Orientation Conference to expose the participating faculty to concepts and activities of Global Seminar and match the interests of partner institutions with Case Studies coordinators of Global Seminar <LI> To mentor faculty in global teaching, videoconferencing, creating and accessing the virtual libraries, integrating Case Studies= as science electives in agricultural, food science, and natural sciences courses at VSU, DSU, ECSU, and FAMU by a Global Seminar and Staff at Virginia Tech <LI> To offer training to faculty in use of case studies as problem solving tools, working with students in problem solving teams, and facilitating global student-faculty, student-student interaction <LI> To select potential majors in food sciences, nutrition, dietetics, agricultural, and natural sciences who will write Case Studies on global issues concerning their discipline of study, and guide them in videoconferencing, virtual chat, use of electronic discussion board and Internet for communication with peers, through the trained core group of faculty at VSU and partners (DSU, ECSU, ECSU, and FAMU) <LI> To coordinate faculty development workshops by VSU and each partner institution (DSU, ECSU, and FAMU) for "Global Learning Through Case Studies" which will include discussions of curricula enhancement through case studies, faculty mentoring, and student development in agricultural and food sciences, nutrition and environmental health.
Non-Technical Summary: This collaborative proposal from Virginia State University (VSU), Florida A&M University, Virginia Tech, and Elizabeth City State University will train students to write case studies on topics which are of importance to the USDA and hold discussions with their peers at universities in the US and overseas. Foodborne diseases are of concern for many reasons: changing life styles among people across the world, modern restaurant practices, and factory-packaged food items contribute to this problem. To address this global problem, the faculty members of VSU and our partner institutions propose to build and expand upon the success of our ongoing USDA Capacity Building Teaching Grant. This proposal will enable the creation of a faculty core group from multidisciplinary backgrounds with responsibility for selecting topics which create awareness of global concerns of foodborne disease, food safety, and malnutrition. The core group will train the undergraduate students in writing case studies and exchanging their ideas via video conferencing. Workshops will be conducted at all partner institutions for continued educational and curriculum development and student training. Emphasis will be placed on nutritional and lifestyle choices among diverse minority communities by including University of Texas at Brownsville, Texas (Hispanics) and Sinte Glesia University, South Dakota (Native Americans). <P> Approach: Building on the success of the past USDA Capacity Building Teaching projects on faculty exchange for globalization of academic programs of VSU in South Africa, a core group of faculty from Virginia State University (VSU) and Partner Institutions (Delaware State University-DSU, Florida A&M University-FAMU, Elizabeth City State University-ECSU, University of Texas at Brownsville-UTB, Native American University (Saint Glesia University), Bethune-Cookman College (BCC) will be trained in the use of videoconferencing, virtual chat rooms, electronic discussion board, and e-mail system, by technical experts at each campus. The faculty members will be trained in the nuts and bolts of Writing Case Studies through a 3-day Orientation Workshop at Virginia Tech where Global seminar is housed. The workshop will include history/background of Global Seminar, structural component and clusters, examples of successful case studies, use of Blackboard, and techniques for videoconferencing. The faculty members teaching food and nutrition sciences, which are new to the Global Seminar, will have an opportunity to get exposure to the Global Seminar Plan and Management. The core group of faculty from VSU and partner institutions will prepare the curriculum for writing case studies on topics in the areas of Human Nutrition, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, and Environmental Health. The faculty at VSU and partner HBCUs will get familiar with techniques in videoconferencing and use of chat rooms, electronic blackboard, and Internet for effective global communication. They will be provided tips and suggestions for enhancing the instruction of agricultural and food sciences, nutrition, dietetics, food safety, food microbiology, and environmental health within a virtual classroom environment. Experts from Virginia Tech will demonstrate to core faculty how to become effective decision makers for these types of case studies. The students will be trained to think globally and develop case studies as part of their course. The course on Case Study in the concerned discipline will be substituted as an elective course. The participating faculty members from VSU and partner colleges will be responsible for the courses. They will format different types of cases, assess the case-based instruction, strategies on preparing peer facilitators for cooperative learning groups, laboratory-based case studies, and how case studies can be adopted in large enrollment courses. These activities will lead to close interactions between faculty teaching General Education courses (Food Science, Nutrition, Health, Environmental Science, Technology-based courses: Computer Science) and Major courses (Microbiology, Dietetics, Veterinary/Animal Science).