Center’s name change reflects expanded global reach
International Educational Studies Center expands its commitment to promoting education beyond borders
The name of a center in the VCU School of Education has changed to reflect a much broader international reach, including more activities for students and an increase in university partnerships around the globe.
The International Educational Studies Center (IESC), formerly known as the Asian American Educational Studies Center, also recently launched a new website that highlights many of these new offerings.
Yaoying Xu, Ph.D., the director of the center and a professor in the Department of Counseling and Special Education, said that the name change reflects an expanding vision for the center.
“Our vision has always been to promote education beyond borders,” said Xu. “We’ll now be doing this by establishing and maintaining strong relationships globally, without compromising our commitment to China and other Asian countries.”
Xu said that much of the recent growth has been possible due to the work of Luciana C. de Oliveira, Ph.D., associate dean for academic affairs in the school. “Since joining SOE in 2020, Dr. de Oliveira has worked to develop programs and learning opportunities with a more international reach. This includes expanding beyond our partnerships in China to the successful development of university partnerships in Brazil, Uruguay and Russia,” said Xu.
New activities sponsored by the center that are scheduled for the spring 2021 semester include a virtual research symposium tentatively titled "Core Practices in Teacher Education during the Pandemic." The new website also includes a news page that features the first edition of the IESC e-newsletter and a link to an article on how the pandemic is impacting students from China.