HILARY HUGHES, PHD

Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia

Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence

2010-2011

MODERN INFORMATION LITERACY: UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

The Auraria Campus was enlivened by the presence of Hilary Hughes, PhD, a member of the education faculty at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Faculty at the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver attended a series of “Lunch and Learn” professional development workshops through the sponsorship of the Office of International Affairs (OIA), the Center for Faculty Development and the Auraria Library. Hughes brought an invaluable international perspective about modern information literacy and librarianship to enhance participants’ understanding of cultural diversity and how universities can better serve international students.

The experiential workshop topics included:

- International and Multicultural Students: Teaching and Learning Opportunities and Challenges
- Faculty Experiences: Teaching International Students
- International Student Perspectives
- Informed Learning: Building on International Students’ Prior Learning
- Practical Teaching Strategies for International Students.

The semester-long workshop series changed tri-institutional campus discourse.

CU Denver’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with OIA, delivers instruction and support services at the university’s International College Beijing (ICB). (ICB has two locations: on the Denver Campus and in Beijing, China.) Hughes conducted focus groups with ICB faculty and Chinese students on the Denver Campus to identify programmatic improvements for the Beijing Campus and in support of ICB students in their transition to studying on the Denver Campus. She also facilitated a workshop about learning and teaching strategies with a focus on Chinese students for tri-institutional faculty on the Auraria Campus.

Hughes additionally facilitated roundtable discussions with CU Denver academic support and learning resources staff, delivered a workshop for “front line” administrative staff at the College of Engineering and Applied Science, and contributed to a Diversity and Campus Internationalization Symposium (co-sponsored by OIA, Auraria Library, and The American Council of Education). The Auraria Library staff learned new and “best” practices for instructing international students and multicultural students.

Ellen Stevens, PhD, Director of the Center for Faculty Development at the University of Colorado Denver, said, “The impact of Dr. Hughes’ visit was multi-facetted. From a professional development perspective, this collaborative effort was unique on the Auraria Campus…In all, we had in excess 100 faculty and staff attend the workshops…Clearly, our faculty and staff benefitted by learning from each other as well as from Dr. Hughes.”

“The mission of the Australian-American Fulbright initiative is to further mutual understanding between the peoples of Australia and the United States through educational and cultural exchange. My warm thanks go to the many people who enabled this amazing personal and professional opportunity in Denver.”

- Hilary Hughes
PhD, Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia