Days after Ithaca received approval to welcome 50 new refugees from eight countries, Cornell hosted a conference on the campus of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse Nov. 5 to address refugees and community college education.

A significant portion of the audience was made up of refugee students from Ithaca, Utica and other parts of the state, many of whom facilitated a structured break-out and brainstorming session.

The conference aimed to raise awareness of refugees’ experiences and to explore ways in which this awareness can be used to internationalize community college curriculum and campus environments. Through a series of panels and workshops, participants explored the potential for internationalizing and enriching the community college experience for all students. The day unfolded with discussions around best practices for initiating administrative and curricular changes across campuses that foster global learning and encourage cross-cultural understanding.

In addition to informational sessions on the cultural, historical and refugee experiences of three major recent refugee populations – the Karen and other ethnic groups from Burma, Nepalis from Bhutan, and Somaili-Bantu refugees – concrete models were presented for higher education-refugee collaboration around research and student engagement.

A student refugee panel featured three students whose higher education experience began in a community college. Bethany Htoo, a case worker, spoke about the isolation she felt as a student at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York. Muslima Ali, now a student at Utica College, said working as an residence adviser for international students has given her a way to play a positive role at a 4-year campus. They said refugee students often fall between the cracks of support systems for international students, first-generation and minority students – efforts generally linked to support refugees.

“The Cornell Southeast Asia Program and the Cornell-Syracuse South Asia Consortium are delighted to help facilitate these conversations,” said Anne Blackburn, professor in the Department of Asian Studies and director of Cornell’s South Asia Program. “Our community college partners are very creative in fostering wider global awareness on their campuses. It is especially exciting to see how refugees can become catalysts for the transformation of American education.”

The conference, “Internationalization and Inclusion: Refugees in Community Colleges,” was funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Resource Center (NRC) to the Cornell Southeast Asia Program and the South Asia Consortium, a partnership between Cornell and Syracuse University.

Brenna Fitzgerald is communications and outreach coordinator for the Southeast Asia Program. Thamora Fishel is associate director of the Southeast Asia Program.