College hosts Global Engagement Lunch & Learn with visiting German scholars
In our increasingly globally connected world, international collaboration benefits all of the partners. The Purdue University College of Education is collaborating with Leibniz University Hannover’s (LUH) School of Education (LSE) in cross-disciplinary and transcultural perspectives in special education, literacy and language education, social studies education, and teacher preparation.
Christy Wessel Powell (l) & Chrystal S. Johnson (r)
Collaborators recently held a College Lunch & Learn event (April 10), “A Conversation on International Partnerships.” This event included a discussion of their research collaborations, presentations, publications, and strategies for starting and maintaining international partnerships.
The Purdue University collaborative team is led by Dr. Christy Wessel Powell, professor of literacy and language education; and Dr. Chrystal S. Johnson, professor of social studies education. The German members of the team are Dr. Bettina Lindmeier, Leibniz University Hannover, professor of special education; Dr. Ann-Katrin Arndt, University of Kassel, professor of special education and disability studies; Alena Beck, Technische Universität Braunschweig, doctoral candidate in foreign and English language didactics; and Ines Potthast, Leibniz University Hannover, doctoral candidate in special education and deaf/hearing impaired studies.
“Purdue’s faculty contribute strongly with expertise in social studies, literacy, and language education in the U.S., and LUH contributes strongly with expertise in special education and English education in Germany,” Wessel Powell said.
The collaboration includes annual scholarly visits to guest lecture and conduct research, co-authoring research publications and conference presentations, providing student collaboration and exchange opportunities, and co-teaching an annual online course.
“We have impacted more than 50 Purdue and German students in learning about and exchanging experiences in different cultural and educational contexts”, said Wessel Powell.
discussed their collaboration. (Purdue University Photo/DeEtte Starr)
The collaboration began when LUH reached out to partner with Wessel Powell and Johnson with a request to participate in their lecture series funded by DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service. The two Purdue faculty members traveled to Hannover in the summer of 2022 to explore university collaboration options, potential travel locations for study abroad, and possible partner K-12 schools for Purdue and LUH education student teachers. In the fall of 2022 the LUH scholars visited Purdue, and together they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to solidify the partnership.
formalize their collaboration. Left to right: Chrystal Johnson, Ann-Kathrin Arndt,
Ines Potthast, Bettina Lindmeier, Christy Wessel Powell, and Alena Beck
(Purdue University Photo/DeEtte Starr)
The focus of the partnership is student collaboration, cultural exchanges, and providing resources from both universities.
“We facilitated cultural experiences for one another like attending a Purdue football game, ordering coffee from the campus Starship robots, visiting a Christmas market, and trying seasonal pastries,” Wessel Powell said. “And we arranged experience-based travel for one another to Berlin and Chicago, respectively, to learn more about each country’s history, cultures, and education systems.”
To date the team has presented and published seven papers, drafted an edited book proposal, provided six guest lectures, exchanged four graduate students for research abroad, visited each other’s institutions at least annually, and met at international conferences from 2022 to the present.
Next steps for the collaboration include publishing a book titled Situating Complexities of Representation in Teacher Education in U.S. and German Contexts, inviting other scholars to join their exchange activities, and hosting a German graduate student on Purdue’s campus to write their thesis this fall funded by the project “Transformative Horizons 3.0”/DAAD, according to Wessel Powell.
“We value the intensive, always appreciative cooperation, our mutual curiosity, and vivid discussions,” Lindmeier and Potthast said. “We look forward to the next years of collaboration and the opportunities for scholars and students to enhance knowledge and transnational experiences.”
Source: Christy Wessel Powell, cwesselp@purdue.edu
Background information: Leibniz University Hannover scholars visit College, partner in teaching