Three faculty members at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire will travel overseas this summer to teach at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China.
As part of UW-Eau Claire's continuing exchange programs with the Chinese university, Lee-Ellen Kirkhorn, associate professor of nursing; Beth Kozbial Ernst, English as a Second Language coordinator; and Thomas Kemp, assistant professor of economics will teach at Jinan for one month.
UW-Eau Claire has participated in exchange programs with Jinan for 17 years — 75 faculty and students from Jinan have visited UW-Eau Claire and 30 faculty and students have gone abroad to Jinan since then, according to Karl Markgraf, UW-Eau Claire director of the Center for International Education in a release.
Kirkhorn said she will be the second nursing professor to teach at Jinan since Dr. Shelia Smith taught there in 2004. Kirkhorn said she was "spellbound" by Smith's experience.
"Dr. Smith spoke powerfully and passionately about the experience," Kirkhorn said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. "In particular, she told about interactions with former party members, who were living in [a] retirement community. She spoke about visiting hospice patients, and she spoke about the kindness and graciousness of the Chinese nurses she met."
Kirkhorn said she will teach about gerontological nursing and will build on her expertise as a geriatric nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist in geriatric settings.
"I am very eager to share my love with elders and my interest in holistic health with Chinese nurses," Kirkhorn said. "I hope to meet traditional Chinese healers, and I hope to visit health-care facilities in China."
Kirkhorn said ultimately, Smith and she would like to co-create a nursing opportunity in China for the UW-Eau Claire nursing students.
In addition, Ernst said she will teach English as a Foreign Language — both the class itself and how to teach the class — in China.
"I will be training teachers methods of teaching English to non-native speakers," Ernst said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.
Ernst said she is very interested in visiting China now that the country is undergoing such rapid development and transformation.
"I have never been to Asia and look forward to new experiences and a different culture than I am used to," Ernst said. "I studied abroad in Spain, taught EFL in Poland and Hungary, which has broadened my cross-cultural awareness."
Ernst said by working with international students studying English, going abroad allows her to be a more effective instructor.
"I need a reality check from time to time," Ernst said. "What I mean is that I need to live abroad and experience life from the perspective of a non-native speaker or foreigner to be a better ESL instructor."
Ernst added living abroad gives her a sense of empathy for her students when they experience culture shock, homesickness or frustration when learning another language.
