Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Department of Education BIE Grant

meetingThe US Department of Education has awarded PCC and associated organizations $172,000 to fund global business initiatives over a two year period. With PCC matching funds included, the total size of the initiative is over $396,000. PCC will be working with a number of organizations including the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the Softwoods Exports Council (SEC) and Intel Corporation on implementation of the grant.

  • 2008-2009
  • Academic Grant Coordinator: Phil Seder
  • Grant Coordinator: Cheryl Scott
  • SBDC Grant Director: Tom Lowles

Grant elements

The grant will support a variety of activities designed to enhance student understanding of global business, promote faculty and staff development, better inform the business community on contemporary global business issues and improve small business outreach.  Specific initiatives include:

  • Development of a global business toolkit to be available to all Introduction to Business (BA 101) instructors.
  • Development of distance learning variations of all of PCC’s current international business course offerings.
  • The launching of the ‘PCC Global Business Speakers Series,’ an ongoing once per term lecture series featuring prominent speakers from the business community and is open to students, faculty and the public.
  • 2009 faculty study abroad program which will allow up to 10 business faculty and administrators to participate in a 1 – 2 week academic learning program in China.
  • Visits by Fulbright Visiting Scholars with expertise on global business or economics in both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 calendar years.
  • Coordinated development of learning content with the SBDC for use in both PCC international business courses and SBDC programs designed to prepare business professionals for the Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP) exam.
  • Enhancements to SBDC training and web-based information offerings.
  • Travel for up to two faculty members as participants in a SEC trade mission.

2009-2010 updates

These updates were prepared by Phil Seder.

The following activities and initiatives were undertaken and completed during the year. Click to read more.

Faculty and staff in China

Professionals from across the district participated in a three week study tour in Hong Kong, Shuzou and Shanghai. Participants experienced immersive training on Chinese business, economics and culture.

Integration of Chinese learning into the PCC environment

Participants in the summer China trip have integrated their experience abroad into the PCC environment through courseware integration, classroom lectures, public speaking, business advising and legal consulting.

Global Business Speakers Series

Three events were held this year, one at each of the major campuses. Topics have included:

  • Preparing for careers overseas
  • Ethical issues n global business
  • Sustainability in global business
Fulbright Scholar visit

Dr. Tang is the Fulbright Scholar in Residence at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, VA. He holds a Masters in Political Science from China’s Northeast Normal University and a doctorate in International Relations from Jinan University. Dr. Tang is also a columnist for The South China City Daily and Time Weekly in Beijing. Dr. Hao Tang, delivered lectures on US – China business relations at each of the three major campuses, April 19th , 20th and 21st .

Visiting scholar, Northeast China Normal University

Charles Zhang, a marketing professor from Northeast University in Changchun China will be visiting Portland Community College from Saturday, May 22 – Monday, May 31. He is the second of our two BIE Grant visiting scholars. Charles is the assistant dean for the School of E-Commerce at NENU , and has experience working with Chinese firms in the U.S and China.

Distance Learning course development

The International Marketing course was introduced in distance learning format.

Global business module

The global business module for BA 101 was completed and introduced to applicable instructors.