Center for Active Learning in International Studies AWARDS & PARTNERSHIPS

CALIS was born out of partnership between the East Asian Studies Center and the School of International Relations, with its home in the College of Letters, Arts, & Sciences.

The success of the Center comes from its roots in a committed partnership and a USC tradition of effective collaboration.

CALIS was awarded runner up for the Higher Education Prize in the 2005 Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes for Excellence in International Education. Among a pool of 100 university programs nominated, CALIS was selected as one of the top three programs in the United States.

Southern California Social Science Association

CALIS Director Teresa Hudock received the 2006 George Moffet Award for Outstanding Contributions to Social Studies Education in Southern California. SCSSA is the local affiliate of the California Council of the Social Studies which is the state organization of the National Council for the Social Studies.

A major CALIS partner is the Center for International Business Education and Research - CIBER - at the USC Marshall School of Business. As a National Resource Center, CIBER supports the Teaching International Relations Program - TIRP - undergraduate outreach in world trade issues.

With CIBER as the host partner, CALIS launched the inaugural International Economic Summit - IES - in California sponsored bythe Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the California Trade Education Center.

Los Angeles Unified School District - LAUSD - is the primary district partner in CALIS outreach to schools. Partner teachers are the critical base in our work with materials development and best practices in active learning. The Center purposefully integrates professional development for teachers with undergraduate outreach to local classes and campus programs for middle and high school students. The Case Teaching Initiative is CALIS' most far-reaching integrated partnership program to date.

Journeys in Film received Longview Foundation and Sony Pictures Entertainment grants to partner with CALIS in pilot projects with two LAUSD middles schools and Culver City High School. Choosing among four foreign films, teachers implement a curriculum that enables students to explore cultures through the eyes of their peers. The pilot culminates in a student competition on the USC campus called Global Journeys.

CREATE at USC is the first university center of excellence funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events works directly with CALIS to design and coordinate its outreach to local high schools.

Through Artists for Amnesty, CALIS designed and hosted Teaching Hotel Rwanda, a workshop coordinated with MGM Home Entertainment for the release of the film DVD. A film guide was developed in partnership with LAUSD along with specialized materials for setting the context of genocide. Further materials were designed to meet state content standards for nation-building and post WWII international relations.

CALIS served as a regional site of the California Subject Matter Projects as part of the network of centers in the California International Studies Project - CISP.

A sister site in the CISP network, the International Studies Education Project - ISTEP - at San Diego State University partners with CALIS to extend both our centers' programs to teachers in Southern California. Collaborations include the Curriculum Development Contest is Human Rights Education and work in the field of security studies and causes of war.

The USC Language Academy partners with CALIS to bring local high school students together with USC international students in order to share Personal Worlds.

European Union Center of California at Scripps College invited CALIS to partner in a grant project with the European Commission which launched the VIP Day Case Class. Through collaboration with a partner teacher, a class of high school students has three sessions on campus over three months with professors who prepare cases and respond to webboard discussion questions throughout the series.

The World Trust Foundation and the Center for Teaching International Relations at the University of Denver partnered with CALIS to launch the inaugural World Affairs Challenge for the greater Los Angeles area.

CALIS is a joint project of the East Asian Studies Center (EASC) and the School of International Relations (SIR) at the University of Southern California