Blue Ridge professor heads to China

Blue Ridge Community College professor Nell Tiller will join 15 educators from across the U.S. to participate in the month-long 2009 Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad: History and Culture in China Program, administered by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. 

The program, taking place in June and July, focuses on China’s history, culture, changing society and rapid economic growth.

During the month-long seminar, the group will visit Beijing, Xi’an, Chongqing and Shanghai to gain first-hand experience of China’s dynamic society while learning about the history and culture of the country and focusing on their own areas of expertise. 

Tiller, of Weyers Cave, has taught Spanish at Blue Ridge Community College for 18 years and has been actively involved in developing an international education studies curriculum at Blue Ridge. In 2007, she traveled to China on the People to People Ambassadors Program with other foreign language instructors to see how world languages are taught in universities, colleges, technical schools and elementary schools. 

Educators will visit four areas in China: Beijing, Xi’an, Chongqing and Shanghai. An optional, four-day trip to Hong Kong will show participants a fully modern Chinese city that is also a world financial center.

The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and has been administered by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations since 1981.