KSU Comes Full Circle With Polish Educators

Staff Report

A group of five Polish educators from the University of Rzeszow visited KSU’s College of Continuing and Professional Education from Nov. 8-16 to learn about best practices for teacher education. KSU’s connection with Poland began in 1996 with Barbara S. Calhoun, dean of the College.

“A colleague and I wrote an 80-hour curriculum on how to establish continuing education programs in European universities where those programs had never existed before,” Calhoun said. “We delivered that training three different times over a 10-year period to over 15 different universities.”

Dr. Steve Rebisz, assistant professor at University of Rzeszow, was in one of the original training groups. He and Calhoun have continued to collaborate and visit each other’s respective countries for further education and training.

During their recent trip to KSU, the group visited an elementary, middle and high school. They also spent time with faculty in KSU’s Bagwell College of Education where both groups shared information about higher education. Additional activities included a dinner event at Serenbe and a visit to the Georgia Aquarium.

On Nov. 14, a reception was held at KSU Center where the educators met additional members of KSU’s continuing education staff. Dr. Richard Peczkowski, dean at University of Rzeszow, said, “Where there is a will of collaboration, there are no boundaries that can’t be crossed.”