Note from the Editor

Phil Brocato
Ed.D. student, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

Kigan Chang
Graduate student (Philosophy), California State University, Los Angeles

Welcome back!   We hope students, faculty and administrators alike enjoyed your sunny escapades in the Carribeans while we were witnessing the passing of winter solstice back here in the U.S.

This month, we proudly introduce a column ("Fukuda's Chalkboard") devoted to Lynne Fukuda, a doctoral student at the USC Cohort in Hawaii, for her continual contribution of her thoughtful and insightful essays to AE Extra.  To reset you on the default mode of academic learning, we have put together another intellectually stimulating issue to catapult you into a productive start in the Spring of 2002.

In her highly personal yet pedagogically illuminating essay, Lynne Fukuda recounted her childhood experience of undergoing an unorthodox schooling, thanks to her  "clueless" mother,  in various locales in Europe.  Kigan Chang, in his punningly titled essay 'On Benedict Anderson's National Imagi-Nation', offers a critique of  Anderson's notion of the nation-state as an "imagined community." James Nishimoto focuses his study on the characteristics of urban Asian Pacific-Islander students attending one of the colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District who aspire to transfer to a four-year institutions.  

Michelle Hayes, fresh from returning from participating in a leadership program based in the University of Northern Colorado, elaborates on the critical importance of leadership skills, grounded in both theory and practice, in being an effective mentor.  Debbie Cox, in an attempt to formulate her own set of core ethical values in responding to the pressing question  "If you could help create a global code of ethics, what would be on it?", elaborates on the moral necessity of finding a common ethical ground in addressing the often encountered social dilemmas in our increasingly globalized and pluralistic world.  Finally, Dean Campbell's studies the influence of self-efficacy beliefs on the career decision-making as it relates to the socialization of doctoral students.

Kigan and I have worked hard in ensuring that each issue is produced with the right balance of, on the one hand, practical insights and, on the other,  intellectual rigor on the part of our contributors.  Throughout the year, we have also made a special effort to bring you special issues (ethnography of happiness, reflections on the 911 tragedy).  We promise that, in the foreseeable future, our endeavor will be no less rewarding for our readership.

Respectfully,
Phil and Kigan

Academic Exchange Extra invites reader responses to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.

Page Viewed:   / Created: January 2002 / Updated: --