James T. Collins
by Tom Parisi
NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies has won a U.S. Department of State grant totaling $275,000 to conduct two upcoming leadership training institutes, including one this fall for young people and educators from Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
A total of 32 high school students and educators from those countries are expected to arrive Nov. 21, on the NIU campus, where they will begin the three-week Southeast Asian Youth Leadership Program. A second group of 32 students and educators – from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma – will participate in a similar institute at NIU in April.
The programs are designed to promote high-quality leadership, civic responsibility and community activism and prepare participants to conduct community service projects in their homelands. The Center for Southeast Asian Studies is currently lining up host families to accommodate the visitors.
“The aim is to teach civic engagement to young people in Southeast Asia, with a focus on entrepreneurship and ecology,” said project director James Collins, who also directs the NIU Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
“The United States has very strong strategic interests in Southeast Asia,” Collins added. “The region stands between two of the world’s largest countries, China and India, and Southeast Asia represents a very large economic market. There are a lot of geopolitical issues that make Southeast Asia a very important locus of attention for U.S. foreign policy.”
One of only seven federally designated national resource centers for Southeast Asian studies, NIU’s center is uniquely qualified to host the upcoming youth leadership programs. Its more than 30 faculty associates and affiliates are all active researchers who teach substantial Southeast Asian content in their courses.
The center also is experienced in providing leadership training. Anthropology professor Susan Russell and Lina Ong, director of the International Training Office, have led numerous U.S. Department of State-funded leadership development initiatives with participants from the Philippines. That program is now going into its seventh year.
“The fact that we received this new grant is a tribute to the very good name NIU has in Washington,” Collins said. “This was a competitive grant, but the State Department was already familiar with the success of our Philippines program. That added to our strength.”
While in DeKalb, participants in the Southeast Asian Youth Leadership Program will study the fundamentals of U.S. civil society, community service and leadership. They will interact with NIU student leaders and peers from local high schools. They also will meet with local government officials and tour non-profit centers, including the Great Lakes Youth Leadership Council in Chicago, where they will learn about the Roots & Shoots peace initiative.
In the final days of the leadership-training program, participants will travel to Washington, D.C., to visit government officials and tour the Holocaust Museum, the Jane Goodall Institute and other historic and educational sites.
“We want to promote the responsibilities and rights of citizens within a democracy, and the institute will provide practical, hands-on training to prepare these young people to be involved in their communities,” said program administrative director Katharine Wiegele, an adjunct professor of anthropology at NIU.
“When our guests from Southeast Asia return home, they’ll be involved in a Web-based network that will link participants so they can continue to support each other and share ideas about their citizen-action plans,” she added.
The Southeast Asian Youth Leadership Program will provide a learning experience for NIU students as well. The Center for Southeast Asian Studies already has hired five graduate assistants to assist with the project and expects to have volunteer opportunities open to other students as well.