The potential for learning in a virtual classroom setting took a giant step forward in a fall semester course at ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø.

Some 20 students in "Culture and History of Vietnam," led by EMU professor Daniel W. Wessner, used computer-based course work to interact with and learn from students at two universities in Vietnam. He terms the approach "IC3" – Inter-Cultural Communicative Competence.

Dr. Wessner, associate professor of international and political studies in the history department, arranged for EMU students to converse by computer with Vietnamese students on a regular basis at An Giang University and Can Tho University, both in the Mekong Delta.

Wessner drew from his earlier experience as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in Vietnam and his connections with Mennonite Central Committee personnel serving at An Giang University. This collaborative learning was augmented by Mr. Tran Quoc Thang and Ms. Nguyen Hoang Bich Ngoc, two Vietnamese students in EMU’s master of arts in education program.

EMU sophomore Philip D. Minnich (center) listens to fellow classmates in his interactive "Culture and History of Vietnam" class led by EMU professor Daniel Wessner.
Photo by Ian Bradshaw

The first day of class, each Vietnamese and American student, none of whom was born during the Vietnam-U.S. War, was asked to write a paragraph of "first impressions" of the other

For students considering law school or law-related vocations, one path to achieving that goal may now run through EMU.

The board of trustees has approved a university proposal to add a pre-law minor to the curriculum, effective with the 2005-2006 academic year.

, associate professor of international and political studies, said the program will draw on the strengths of EMU’s emphases on service, cross-cultural understanding, international concerns, and justice, peace and conflict studies

The new faculty, announced by Dr. Beryl H. Brubaker, EMU provost, and Dr. Marie S. Morris, vice president and undergraduate academic dean, are:

– David R. Brubaker, assistant professor of conflict studies in the Conflict Transformation Program (CTP). Brubaker earned a BS in business administration from Messiah College, Grantham, Pa., an MBA in global economic development from Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa., and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona specializing in religious and organizational conflict.

In 1997, he and four partners founded Cooperative by Design, an Arizona Peacebuilding Consortium which provides a range of consulting and peacebuilding services to not-for-profit organizations, educational institutions, governmental organizations and corporations. Before this, he was the associate director of Mennonite Conciliation Service for two years and assistant director of Mennonite Central Committee