The Russians Are Coming — And For NOVA, That’s a Good Thing

By Michael C. Jordan
The Russians are coming to the United States – but, unlike in the Red Scare years, this time, it’s a good thing. The prestigious Fulbright Program recently formed an agreement between Ivanovo State Power Engineering University (ISPEU) and Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in an effort to open the door to cooperation and spark student interaction.
This cross-cultural promise means that both schools will equip students in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geospatial Technologies (GST) programs with distance learning tools for joint projects. According to Dr. Beverly Blois, who helped engineer the agreement during his how experience on a Fulbright grant last year, it seeks to create an educational bridge to which students from both countries can pass.
“[It was] a great success.” Dr. Beverly Blois said. “This program could be a model for future collaborations within Fulbright Russia.”
This recent agreement, however, is part of a much longer history of America building ties with other countries. The Fulbright Program, which was introduced to Congress by Senator J. William Fulbright in 1945, is a program whose overarching goal has been to create mutual relationships between the United States and other countries around the world.
Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev’s Bilateral Presidential Commission recently began its Fulbright Russia Program’s Community College Initiative, in order to create relationships between Russian and US colleges. In December, 2009, Fulbright held a community college administrator conference in Moscow, which hosted delegates from the US and Russia. The American community college model “resonated both at the conference and during visits to universities and colleges in Moscow as well as throughout Russia’s regions,” according to the Fulbright Program in Russia’s website.
The most recent of these international exchanges has been between Ivanovo State Power Engineering University, Northern Virginia Community College, and partner institutions like George Mason University. Monday, November 22, 2010 there was a significant meeting between NOVA, ISPEU, GMU, Fairfax County Office of Public Affairs and the State Department. The meeting’s purpose was to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between ISPEU and NOVA, most importantly, collaborating in the field of Geographic Information Systems and Geospatial Technologies.
At the meeting there were important officials from both colleges, most notably: Dr. Vladimir Tutikov, Vice President of ISPEU, Dr. Robert Templin, President of NOVA, and Dr. Beverly Blois, Dean of Humanities Division at NOVA’s Loudon Campus. Also in attendance was Dr. Sergei Andronikov, Director of Russian Initiatives at George Mason University. This groundbreaking meeting ended with a congenial understanding and a hopeful outlook on the future. Both parties seemed to be galvanized with expectancy.
“The mood of the meeting was very upbeat,” stated Janice Ouellette, GCPI Program Coordinator at NOVA, who was present at the meeting. “Many of the people [involved] worked very hard to get both sides to the table,” she added.
The actual agreement mostly addresses the shared instruction of students in GIS and GST. The students are going to share class assignments through technology beginning in 2011. The faculty will also be given a form of communication so that they can produce mutual interests. It also addresses the history of Russia and the US, and a possible exchange of information to the students about the history of both countries. For NOVA, the agreement means that faculty and students, at least in GIS programs, will be able to collaborate on projects via new communication technologies. The agreement calls for the creation of a website to facilitate such distance learning, and a NOVA blackboard account for the ISPEU students and faculty.

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