Want to know more about LCP and its History? We talked with Prof. Mark Rectanus and Prof. Chad M. Gasta, the two founding Directors of the LCP Program:
Q: When did this program start?
Rectanus:
“The LCP program began in 2002 when the Department of World Languages and Cultures (formerly the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures) initiated discussions with the Colleges of Engineering and Business to develop a second-major option in a world language major. The Department then organized a colloquium to raise awareness regarding languages and professions at ISU. “Languages and Cultures for Professions: Internationalizing the Curriculum” assembled national and international experts from international engineering, business, and agriculture on campus.”
Gasta:
“As a result of this effort, formal second major programs with the Colleges of Engineering and Business were established in 2003- 2004. In April of 2004, the department received notification that it had received a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education (Title VI-A UISFL) to fund the LCP curricular initiative for the period 2004-2007.”
Rectanus:
“The grant really helped concretize the LCP curriculum by providing much-needed funds for faculty training, course design and implementation, and student grants and scholarships. As a result, the LCP curricula integrates extensive training in languages and cultures with professions to foster the global literacy of ISU students, making graduates much more competitive internationally.”
Q: How does the ISU program stack up against other, similar college programs?
Gasta:
“The LCP program is one of the top programs in the nation of its kind. No national ranking system exists for this type of endeavor, but WLC generally believes that the LCP program is among the top five programs in the country.”
Rectanus:
“The fact that the LCP program is so broad in scope, covering not only multiple languages and cultures but also both engineering and business (as well as an excellent collaboration with the Global Resource Systems major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), makes the program unique, intense, and campus-wide while adding no additional costs to university instruction.”
Q: Can you tell me how this program goes beyond learning the language?
Rectanus:
“In our field it is common for students to achieve a high degree of proficiency in a world language through classroom interaction and the study of cultures. The uniqueness of the LCP program is its focus not only on language and culture but also on professional areas that comes about through both coursework and experiential learning such as study abroad and international internships. Coursework includes “business and professions,” intercultural communication, area studies, translation, and technical and professional conversation within business and engineering contexts. These specialized courses strengthen knowledge about another language and the professional aspects of living and working abroad and provide the basis for studying or working in another country.”
Gasta:
“What’s really great is that all LCP graduates have either studied abroad for a period of at least six weeks and/or completed an international internship in the target language with a leading company. As a result of these experiences, students gain a competitive advantage by becoming familiar with the cultural and linguistic expectations of the professional world, they learn to interact with colleagues, competitors, and customers from a variety of cultural backgrounds, and they possess the cross-cultural skills to work in the global economy. This is one thing that sets the LCP program—and its graduates—apart from others.”
Q: Can you tell me why it’s geared toward engineering, business, and agriculture students? (Did the WLC department discover a need there?)
Gasta:
“I think the LCP program targeted Business and Engineering students for a variety of reasons. First, most language majors in WLC are second majors, with their primary curricula coming outside of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Many of these secondary majors are engineering and international business majors. Since both the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Engineering and Business were strongly promoting the study of a second language and culture, and WLC had close contact with several faculty in those colleges through other endeavors such as study abroad, courses on globalization or through our sponsorship of international internships, it was a natural fit for our to target students from those colleges.
Rectanus:
“I agree. I co-teach with Mechanical Engineering professor James Oliver the popular “Technology, Globalization and Culture” that came about because of the LCP focus and collaborations with other departments and colleges. Chad and other WLC faculty (Julia Domínguez, Cristina Pardo and Julie Wilhelm) direct the “ISU on the Mediterranean: Summer in Valencia, Spain” program that features coursework in Spanish, biology, business and engineering as well as international internships and field work. This is also a collaboration with other departments like Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, Industrial Engineering and Management. These partnerships were emerging at the same time as the LCP initiative.”
Q: After ten+ years and many graduates of the program, what have you learned about the program with regards to its success?
Rectanus:
“Perhaps the first thing we have noticed among our graduates is that they are among the most competitive applicants for employment, even during this difficult economy. The combination of actual international experience through internships and study abroad coupled with advanced language proficiency positions them for employment across the country.”
Gasta:
“I like to remind people I meet that while our graduates are working in their chosen area of study (agriculture, business or engineering), many are employed in places and with people they did not expect. For example, some students who studied German or Spanish are working in China and Africa; others with backgrounds in French or Russian find themselves in charge of global project teams with members hailing from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds.”
Rectanus:
“Both LCP graduates and employers tell us that the reason for these arrangements is due to LCP graduates’ understanding and sensitivity to all world cultures, not only the particular one they studied. Employers value the “hands-on” experience that LCP majors have gathered during global internships in a second language and during study abroad. LCP students gain a skill set for assuming leadership positions due to their ability to communicate in diverse cultural contexts.”
Gasta:
“In talking with LCP graduates we also know that they have tremendous intangible skills from their LCP study. Graduates list greater self-confidence, improved critical thinking and problem solving skills, superior intercultural communication abilities, and superlative understanding of the global context as it relates to both professions and culture. These are skills that will make for excellent employees.”