Three University of Houston-Clear Lake faculty members continued working during spring break when they participated in the Teachers Educating Across Cultures program. Assistant Professor of Psychology Neneh Kowai-Bell; Associate Professor of Geography Jeffrey Lash; and Executive Director of International Initiatives and lecturer in Educational Leadership Judith Pennywell travelled to Qatar in the Persian Gulf with other teachers from Texas to learn more about the region and exchange information and teaching strategies with Qatari teachers.

Sponsored by the Bilateral U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, the TEACH fellowship aims to increase knowledge between educators in the U.S. and the Arab world.

“Our objective is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, visions and objectives between educators in the U.S. and Arab world,” said Aida Araissi, founder of the chamber. “Business outreach goes hand in hand with education outreach. We are preparing tomorrow's business leadership by designing programs for both students and educators that expose them to new markets, decision makers and the policy makers in the countries that they read about in their textbooks.  There's nothing like first-hand experiences to expand one's outlook on a culture, a country.”  

Teachers in the group included high school, community college and university educators representing numerous disciplines including social studies, language, special needs and mathematics. In addition to the UH-Clear Lake faculty involved, at least three others university alumni were involved in the project representing their educational organizations.

“We visited with Qatari schools and the U.S.-based universities which offer academic programs in Qatar,” explained Pennywell. “As our delegation included college and K-12 educators, we spent time learning about at all levels of education. We also visited the U.S. Embassy, important Qatari businesses such as Ras Gas and Al Jazeera, and the new I.M. Pei designed Museum of Islamic Art.”

The Bilateral U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to fostering mutual respect and understanding between the U.S. and Middle East and North Africa through trade.

For more information on the Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce, visit http://www.bilateralchamber.org. To find out more about the international opportunities at the university, call UH-Clear Lake’s Office of International Initiatives, 281-283-2531.