Pitzer College-based CISEP Receives Renewal Grant

The Claremont International Studies Education Project (CISEP), based at Pitzer College, has received a renewal grant of $217,000 from the State of California to fund the program for 2002-03.

Established at Pitzer in 2000, CISEP is a program focused on professional teacher development in the kindergarten through high-school levels in eastern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County. It is one of 13 regional centers for the California International Studies Project (CISP) and is co-sponsored by academic centers at Pitzer, Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University. The other area site, the Inland Empire Consortium for International Studies (IECIS), is based at the office of the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.

"This award is a great tribute to Pitzer and all the hard work our site director, Jackie Purdy, has put into building CISEP as a new site," said Nigel Boyle, associate professor of political studies and faculty director for the CISEP project. "The statewide leadership of the California International Studies Education Project subject has clearly identified CISEP as one of the strongest of the sites providing professional development for social studies and world-history teachers. At Pitzer, CISEP's mission -- to build on-going connections between local public education, particularly in low-performing schools, and the College -- has been fully embraced. Administrators such as Carol Brandt, and staff such as Tim Jones and Joanne Zhang, have given tremendous support to CISEP."

CISEP is designed to develop teacher leaders through an on-going series of seminars and conferences on contemporary scholarship and teaching techniques - giving primary attention to areas of international studies, world history and