May 25, 2007
Vietnam Relationship to Eventually Include
Sciences, Expand Study Abroad Reach in Asia
As his second trip to his native homeland winds down (May 8-24)
with a new St. John’s University contingent from the States on
board, Dr. Hung P. Le, Assistant Dean & Director of Vietnam
Initiatives, has brought his vision to Vietnamese faculty and
administrators to encompass an academic and athletic model that has
successfully meshed the two world cultures of the U.S. and
Southeast Asia. The academic model serves as the bridge that
grounds the relationship while aligning faculty with faculty and
students with their peers for specific focus in psychology, the
sciences and fine arts to go with service-learning initiatives and
athletic competition.
“The academic piece is a dream come true for me,” Le noted
before leaving on his second excursion two weeks ago. “Our students
are in actual settings at Vietnamese University’s gaining a true
educational experience in the classroom. Plus, they have the
opportunity to see Vietnam, taste it, smell it and experience
things that can’t be taught in the classroom.”
St. John’s Vincentian Mission has been the driving force behind
the relationship with Vietnam and the University’s backing has
built an infrastructure that now has dedicated resources for
permanent programming in the areas of service-learning to
complement the academic and athletic elements.
“Our mission dictates that we do service-learning and help
others but also learn from others,” Le admitted. “We need students
to be more active in service in this day and age to become more
responsible citizens. That’s part of our goal with this
initiative.”
The foundation has been rooted in contacts Le has cultivated
with friends, University faculty and high ranking Government
officials that have laid the groundwork for the effort.
“These types of relationships can not be forged without someone
spearheading the effort,” said Jeffrey W. Fagen, Dean of St. John’s
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who flew out for the tail end
of the trip to attend a State Dinner with Vietnamese Government
officials. “Dr. Le has worked tirelessly with the Government of
Vietnam and Fr. Jim Maher (Vice President of Student Life)
established ties with the Daughters of Charity in Asia. They were
the first to bring Vietnam to the attention of the department and
have made all this amazing programming possible for our
students.”
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was crafted in 2002 to begin
the union with Vietnam’s best and brightest coming to America to
study at St. John’s. That bond made for a reciprocal study abroad
opportunity which still exists today and led to a landmark trip by
the St. John’s Men’s Soccer Team in 2006. Athletics, Le thought,
would bring athletes and coaches together in friendly competition
to learn the nuisances of different styles of play and training
regimens.
The soccer team was the first collegiate squad to compete on
Vietnamese soil and play three exhibition matches while working in
community service visits throughout the Asian region. The St.
John’s Women’s Volleyball team would follow suit this year and, in
historic fashion, earned a silver medal in advancing to the Finals
of the 4th Annual VTV-Cup as the first team to represent America in
their sport in Vietnam.
The success of that trip prompted the St. John’s Psychology
Department to contact Le and ask if they could become a part of the
Vietnam study cycle. The request was met with open arms by Dean
Fagen and the administration but the wheels were set in motion for
other areas of study.
Le asked his Vietnamese counterparts what other areas of interest
would be plausible and the sciences were a major topic of
discussion. Le reached out to the St. John’s Science Department and
invited Jay Zimmerman along with Dipak and Jaya Haldar (all
professors of Biological Science) on the current trip to start
conversations between the nations in the area of science, with the
hope that in the near future course curriculum could be blended
into the Vietnam study abroad offering. And, on an even bigger
scale, a proposed biology conference could be conducted by both
sides sometime in the near future (2008 or 2009) in Vietnam or on
American soil.
“We are excited to speak with biologists in Vietnam. I can
envision someday having a collaborative effort down the road that
could include basic U.S. biology and science course work that our
doctoral students can research and apply to Vietnamese culture,”
Zimmerman explained.
Graduate Director Dipak Haldar (of Indian decent) is looking at
his research in a different light as he completes his journey to
Vietnam this week to ask the questions his students would want
answered in forming an educated opinion about biological matters
that plague the region in Southeast Asia.
“I’m trained as a biochemist and feel the pulse of our students
through my work at St. John’s,” Haldar noted. “This was good timing
(the trip to Vietnam) because when our teaching ends our work
really begins with our research. Scientific research in Vietnam, it
would seem, is very different from ours and we’ll find out just how
advanced they are with our findings.”
Finally, the arts play another significant role in the Vietnam
relationship and with St. John’s Parvez Mohsin, Director of the Dr.
M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery. He is currently searching for world
reknown artists in Vietnam to capture their best works for an
exhibit showing at St. John’s sometime in October. There has been
just one other American Institution of Higher Education to show a
Vietnam Exhibit and it was the University of Kansas. St. John’s Dr.
M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery would host the second such showing
and first on the East Coast.
“The exhibition ‘Vietnamese Modernism: An Ethnography of its
Art’ will be a means to share
Vietnamese culture and the historical development of Vietnamese
contemporary art with a North American audience,” Mohsin admitted.
“Ethnography is a synthesis of oral and written anthropology, which
invites viewers to look at objects – some unfamiliar – with fresh
eyes.”
Mohsin is also part of a project to develop a documentary film
on the inspirational trip and speak to artists, students and
faculty from both sides for a retrospective of his findings.
All these programming elements should keep Dr. Le busy for quite
some time. But, would it be conceivable to consider a permanent
post away from his teaching duties and responsibilities at St.
John’s to work specifically on Vietnamese initiatives?
“That’s why I do what I do. It gives me great satisfaction to
have this type of relationship with my homeland,” Le acknowledged.
“I never say never. There may be a time in my life when that could
happen. I feel we (St. John’s) need to keep a presence there (in
Vietnam). If that’s what I’m asked to do I’d certainly consider
it.”
Only time will tell but for now the Vietnam-St. John’s
University pipeline is bearing the fruit of its proposed MOU of
years gone by. The union is strong and the opportunity and reward
is great for those attending St. John’s University, those wishing
to come to the University from Southeast Asia and those future
students thinking about St. John’s as a college choice.