Champlain Saint-Lambert hosted the Director of Global Initiatives at Hudson Valley Community College in New York State this month to develop collaboration initiatives and build connections south of the border.

Jay Deitchman paid a two-day visit to Champlain on September 17 and 18 to tour the campus, meet with several departments and services, and share knowledge and ideas.

Hudson Valley Community College is a public community college in Troy, New York offering a variety of two-year programs. The aim of the partnership is to share best practices, foster a spirit of collaboration and learn from one another.

The visit included a meeting with teachers from the Language & Culture program, Bessie Asimakopoulos and Vanna Fonsato, to discuss global activities and culture as a way to enrich foreign language learning and a presentation about the Millennium Certificates by Alex Borja. Student Services head Dean Howie spoke with the HVCC team about the efforts the College has made to further welcome and integrate our Indigenous students in the campus community.

“The visit with HVCC was a prime example of how global initiatives do not always have to involve high costs and can spread throughout the college giving many employees an opportunity to participate, learn and grow from the experience. Further, by leveraging technology, we not only cut back on costs, we reduce our carbon footprint,“ said Maria Bologna, Coordinator, Business & Industry and International Services.

Bologna initiated talks with HVCC in 2023 to find ways to work together and take advantage of the common goals and resources of the two institutions.

“A revival of international efforts allows us to more fully respond to our stated mission of fostering the individual success of students and their development as well-rounded, responsible and informed citizens of the world,” said Constituent College Director Don Shewan. “In addition, it offers opportunities to increase our attractiveness as a college at a time where so many constraints make recruitment more challenging.”

During the visit, Deitchman was given the opportunity to participate in a demonstration organized by Paul Brisson of how the Nursing program has integrated VR in its pedagogy and he got to try the technology for himself during a simulation.

On the same topic, Deitchman stopped by a Continuing Education class with Mark Wallace to learn about the AR/VR program objectives and hear from students and the teacher about what they are learning. Samantha Morley also demonstrated a new application of VR for meeting French testing requirements specific to Continuing Education students.

Deitchman was given a tour of the library facilities by Nicole Haché who described how she partners with faculty to ensure student success. Deitchman had the opportunity to meet with the Academic Services team including Sara Hashem and Cintia Damasceno to discuss ways in which the two colleges could collaborate in the future such as brainstorming ideas for faculty professional development opportunities.

The Entrepreneurship Coordinator from HVCC was invited for a remote meeting with Anthony Singelis to discuss opportunities for students in the same program to work together and learn from one another.

Ultimately the campus visit was a great opportunity to solidify the relationship between Champlain Saint-Lambert and Hudson Valley Community College. We hope the partnership will lead to many exciting future collaborations.