Back

ICFRC: Teaching and Learning with Refugees and Immigrants in Iowa City

Listen to an audio podcast of this program.

Dr. Gerlach describes how his new course, Community Engaged Learning with Refugees and Immigrants in Iowa, fosters students' international education and benefits a local non-profit through service. The talk focuses on how the course was designed; the relationship between the class and community partner, the Refugee and Immigrant Association; and how the course was adapted midway through the semester to respond to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Lessons learned and broader implications for teaching and learning are also shared.

Dr. Peter Gerlach is Summer Institute Coordinator at the International Writing Program and Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of Iowa. He received his BA and MA degrees in English from Ripon College and the University of Northern Colorado, respectively. After serving in the US Peace Corps in Mongolia, he earned a PhD in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University. Since 2004, he has taught a wide variety of courses in English, Education, and interdisciplinary departments. Dr. Gerlach's work as an international educator and his dissertation, current teaching, and research interests focus on the merits and limits of global citizenship, the need for understanding and empathy across cultures, the internationalization of higher education, and the lived experiences of university students, refugees, and immigrants in a globalized world.

For more information on the Foreign Relations Council visit their website at www.icfrc.org.

Related Programs

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: Living in Ukraine: My Story of an Unbreakable Nation
Recorded: August 24, 2023
Runtime: 01:05:41

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: How the Young Generation of African Political and Business Leaders are Carrying Nelson Mandela's Legacy
Recorded: July 19, 2023
Runtime: 01:27:50

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: Earth Day in the Pacific
Recorded: April 19, 2023
Runtime: 01:16:34

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: Tik Tok, Boom
Recorded: April 12, 2023
Runtime: 00:32:05

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: Narrative Making and the Politics of Juxtaposition
Recorded: April 5, 2023
Runtime: 00:59:35

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: Peace Corps Volunteer Service as a 50-Year-Old
Recorded: March 29, 2023
Runtime: 00:57:39

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: We Were Ever Here: Chinese Exchange Students in Iowa, 1909-1937
Recorded: March 22, 2023
Runtime: 00:58:20

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: Islamic Feminism and Women's Rights
Recorded: March 8, 2023
Runtime: 01:04:22

thumbnail of video

ICFRC: Cedar Rapids' Afghan Community, 18 Months On
Recorded: March 1, 2023
Runtime: 01:01:37