MCCA is the Missouri Community College Association. Grace Liu received the MCCA Global Educator at the MCCA Convention Nov. 3 at the Lodge of the Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, Mo. Grace has been a significant contributor to the development of Forest Park's global education program, which includes faculty exchanges and the campus' annual International Education Week. The Global Educator Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated by accomplishments and/or contributions in the promotion of global education as they relate to the objectives of the Missouri Consortium for Global Education.

Grace Liu was reluctant to give up her position in the English as a Second Language department at Fairleigh Dickinson University when a similar opportunity presented itself at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park in 1995.

"I didn't know anything about St. Louis, and was told it was a very 'remote' area," Liu recalled. "I was the ESL department at Fairleigh Dickinson, so I was not eager to come here."

Upon finding the people in St. Louis to be very hospitable, Liu said she was touched by the kindness of those she came in contact with. And 10 years later, Liu has not looked back. She has helped shape the global education offerings at Forest Park, and recently was honored for her efforts by the Missouri Community College Association with its Global Educator Award. "I'm so happy to be here," said Liu, professor in the English as a Second Language department at Forest Park. "I can do the things I'm interested in and have the total support of the administration. When I arrived, Ethel Sawyer (then Forest Park's dean of humanities and social sciences who since has retired) said, 'Grace, you have a lot to offer to this place.' I always remember that, and I love being involved in helping the college get engaged with global education and international exchanges." Liu, who was born in Changsha, Hunan, China, came to the United States in 1986 after earning a bachelor's degree in English at Hunan Normal University as well as teaching for nine years at the institution. She earned her master's and doctorate in language education at Rutgers before heading to Fairleigh Dickinson to teach ESL classes.

Since arriving at Forest Park, Liu has been integral in expanding international faculty exchange opportunities and "globalizing" curriculum. Forest Park, one of eight institutions selected by the American Council on Education, has been participating in the national Global Learning for All project since 2003. Forest Park also actively participated in the Missouri Community College Association's Title VI-A Globalizing the Curriculum project. Forest Park faculty also have had exchanges and taught short-term courses at Hunan Normal University since 1998. Faculty from the Chinese institution also have taught at Forest Park as well as visited other community colleges throughout Missouri. Thirty-four staff members currently serve on the campus global education advisory committee. Global education also has been a campus priority for several years.

"We've been very fortunate to have excellent faculty and staff so committed to global education," said Liu, who serves as the Forest Park global education coordinator. "We've also had continuous support from the administration."

She's also helped Forest Park's ESL students become more acclimated to American life. Forest Park's student body features students who speak about 45 different languages from more than 70 different countries by Liu's estimate.

"Many of these students work full time, and are the only ones in their families who speak English. That causes hardships for them in terms of having to miss class or come late," Liu said. "They work very hard, because they have to make up in one year what other students have learned for many more years in terms of their ability to speak English. I have sympathy for them, though. I understand what they are going through because I have gone through that myself. I let them know that I am here to talk and to listen to, and to encourage them.

"The ESL program serves as the bridge to their future, the bridge between where they are now and where they want to go in the future." Liu and Margaret Johnson, recently retired mathematics professor at Forest Park, initiated the college's participation in Project Hope, a program to provide financial support to children in China to enable them to go to school. SLCC staff who participated in the first faculty exchange with Hunan Normal University in 1998 were eager to lend support to the project, through which a $50 contribution pays for a student to go to school for one year. Liu estimates that SLCC staff and friends sponsor nearly 250 Chinese youngsters in 2005.

"It means a lot to the poor families that American sponsors support the children," Liu said. "The sponsors receive report cards, letters, and some attempt to correspond regularly with the families."

Liu regularly receives reports on the Project Hope students during her summer trips to China, during which she does volunteer work, gives talks, conducts language education training and goes to local schools to discuss American-style teaching techniques with peers. She also visits with family.

"I miss China - all of my family is there," she said. "I feel what I am doing both here and in China is very important. China is changing. I think it's very important to get students and faculty engaged in cultural learning. It's very meaningful."