2013
UMF introduces Japanese into its curriculum via ALLEX Fellows program.
June 2019
UMF’s Associate Dean is named a Fulbright Scholar so they can find a new Japan partner. While in Japan visiting Kansai University (Osaka), they learned about COIL and is introduced to Akita International University (AIU).
November 2019
AIU and UMF sign a Memorandum of Understanding.
March 2020
UMF applies for a UISFL grant from the U.S. Department of Education that focuses on incorporating COIL into course curriculums.
Fall 2020
UMF receives UISFL grant to continue Global Experiences during COVID-19 lockdown. UMF faculty and staff receive COIL training through DePaul University, a leader in COIL.
Fall 2021
Profs. Minor and Chen pilot UMF’s first Virtual Global Experience (VGE) in Japan with a focus on community forests. UMF students participate in forest bathing in the local Flint Woods.
UMF begins in-house training of UMF faculty and their international partners by Instructional Designer Mary Dindorf, including Psychology Professor Natasha Lekes and her colleague at Akita International University, Dr. Pamela Taylor.
Profs. Lekes and Taylor pilot their VGE that focuses on the role of technology and cultural differences surrounding death and dying in US/Maine and Japan.
Spring 2021
UMF pilots VGE with international partners in Peru, France and Hong Kong, and additional UMF faculty and their international partners are trained through UNICollaboration, including Geography Professor Jesse Minor and his colleague at University of the Ryukyus (Japan) Dr. Bixia Chen.
2022
UMF hosts its first exchange students from AIU.
Fall 2022
Profs. Brad Dearden and Bixia Chen continued UMF’s collaboration with Ryukyu University through a new VGE in Prof. Dearden’s Asia: Peoples and Environments course. UMF students from across campus participated in a celebration of Japanese festivals.
Spring 2023
Following up on the Associate Dean’s visit to AIU in October 2022, she and Prof. Sarah Maline work with AIU colleague Prof. Naoko Araki to develop a Global Seminar to Japan for incoming students in Fall 2023.
August 2023
Prof. Maline led a field experience to Japan for 10 First-Year Fusion students, including a visit to AIU. The Fusion course is part of UMF’s Research Learning Experiences [include link for RLEs here] in which students are encouraged to shed their passive role as learners and assume a more active role in their research, as well as be encouraged to explore future career paths.
Fall 2023
In addition to the FYF course on the Global Seminar on “Japan Through Time & Space,” UMF hosted an ALLEX Japanese Language & Culture fellow on campus while Profs. Lekes and Taylor continued their VGE collaboration.
Spring 2024
Prof. Araki and her husband Prof. Florent Domenach, who chairs AIU’s Global Connectivity Program, have been selected as Libra Scholars in Spring 2024. During their residency, UMF and AIU will explore future collaborations through VGE and Global Seminars.
To learn more about student opportunities to learn in Japan, visit Global Seminar – Japan.
For more information about Global and Experiential Education, please contact:
Office of Experiential & Global Education
University of Maine at Farmington
106 Fusion Space
117 South Street
Farmington, Maine 04938
UMFGlobalEd@maine.edu