Dr. Jian-Zhong Lin, English professor at Eastern Connecticut State University, has established an annual excellence award for teaching in International Education Programs to honor his American host mother and IEP teacher Jan Pauw. (more)

Members of Jan Pauw’s family gathered at UCR Extension with their former host student, Dr. Jian-Zhong Lin. From left: Jan’s husband Alan Pauw, daughter Mary Pauw, Dr. Jian-Zhong Lin, son Ted Pauw and the family housekeeper Patricia Bedolla.

Riverside resident Lisa Parra is learning about the joys of hosting a Japanese student in her home.

"I never knew the things I know now about Japan and the Japanese people," said Parra, who is relishing the experience. "Chiemi (her student) actively participates in my family." Years ago, Parra hosted students from Africa through her church. She has recently re-opened her home to international students who are studying at UCR Extension.

International Education Programs (IEP) at Extension is expecting its busiest quarter this summer. IEP is seeking host families, who will be compensated, to provide room, board and transportation for our students. For more information, contact Wan Sun Kim.

“I get to visit other countries through their eyes,” Parra said. You can, too.

Back row, from left to right: Sue Teele, director of Education, and Joanne Hernandez, student. Front row, from left to right: Rosalie Hernandez, student, and Esther Chao, film producer.

Dr. Sue Teele, UCR Extension’s Education director, returned to Wolong Giant Panda Reserve near Chengdu, China last month, taking students and a film producer with her. The trip marked the first time that Teele has created a class that enables students to mingle with the creatures while learning about them. Designed for educators and panda lovers, the class offers continuing education credit for teachers.

This year, two teachers, Joanne and Rosalie Hernandez, took the class. They had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pose for pictures with the pandas sitting in their laps. Of course, there is an assignment as well.

“The teachers have to design a unit from their experience to teach children about pandas in the classroom,” Teele said.

Film producer Esther Chao, who is filming a documentary about the pandas, accompanied Teele. She recorded hours of footage of Teele and the class with the pandas.

Those interested in attending the educational study trip to China and the Wolong Giant Panda Preserve in April of 2009 can contact Mary Ellen Gruendyke at mgruendyke@ucx.ucr.edu.

Spend three days this May at the Desert Studies Center in the Mojave collecting two-inch tarantula hawk wasps, carnivorous wind scorpions and other creeping, crawling and flying denizens of the desert in the new class Insects and Other Arthropods of the Desert.

Instructor Kurt Leuschner, a professor at College of the Desert, will show you how to recognize insect anatomy and the tricks insects use to survive in the scorched sands.

Leuschner’s interest in insects began when he was a boy collecting bugs with his father, an entomologist.

No need to spend $3 or $4 buying berries at the store. Learn how to grow blueberries, raspberries and blackberries at home in UCR Extension’s new class. This class includes a Saturday morning field trip to look at a blueberry variety planting and a raspberry planting. Tasting is included. Yummy!

T’ai Chi Ch’uan, the art of moving meditation, keeps the body supple, the mind clear and the spirit calm. Join certified instructor Harvey Kurland and the Osher students in the weekly T’ai Chi Ch’uan class. Kurland is an expert in the Asian arts and has recently published a book on the subject.

We are offering several intensive programs this summer that will help you jumpstart your career or pursue a completely different path. Within one to two months, you can earn certificates in GIS, CSI, organizational leadership and development, and various programs in education.

The summer catalog will be out within two weeks. You may not recognize it. First, it will be about 100 pages lighter. Second, you will notice that the first half of the catalog appears in the original format. The second half is created in a streamlined, schedule format. We will be providing a survey online soon so that you can share your thoughts and opinions about the new look.

Join the “Green Revolution,” reduce your carbon footprint and become eco-chic. We are encouraging you to receive catalog and course information electronically, as opposed to traditional print catalogs, brochures and fliers. We will plant a tree in either the city of Riverside or the San Bernardino National Forest for each student who requests the catalog online rather than a print catalog delivered through the mail. We will notify you at the start of every quarter when classes begin. PDF files of the current catalog are available on our Web site. You can also search for classes and enroll through our online catalog.

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