VIPP Faculty

Jessica has a Bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary humanities and a Master's degree in American history with an emphasis on American foreign policy, and completed all of the requirements for a Ph.D. in history except the dissertation. She has studied German, Spanish, French, and Chinese and has taught English as a second language in Mexico. She has been instructing with the VIPP program for over a decade. Her courses have focused on American film and current political issues; currently most of her courses focus on environmental issues and policy, emphasizing the energy and food-related issues.

Course Descriptions
VIP 465: America & the Environment

VIP 466: Food/Agricultural Issues & Policy

This semester, VIPP 466 will focus on American food and agricultural policy. We will focus on why the United States has seen a dramatic increase in some health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity that are linked to diet and why the United States has failed to develop agricultural and food safety policy that would both assure Americans access to nutritious, safe, good-tasting food and minimize the environmental damage done by industrial production of most of our food.

Specific issues covered will be 1) the environmental impact of industrial agriculture and meat production as well as the regulatory agencies failure to develop or enforce environmental protections, 2) Federal policies that actually reward a very few large agricultural corporations for growing crops that may contribute to the high levels of obesity, diabetes, and other health problems, and 3) the frequent widespread outbreaks of food-borne illnesses in the United States.

Growing up in a bilingual, bi-cultural German-American family, Ingrid Gharai was fascinated from an early age by different languages and cultures. This set the trajectory for her life and career. She graduated from Michigan State University with her BA in English and German and a secondary teaching certificate. Following that, she decided that one way to meld her passion for travel with her love of teaching was to return to MSU for an MA in TESOL. After completing this degree, she taught English as a Foreign Language for a year at Ferdowsi University in Mashad, Iran. She continued her career in Seattle, WA where she taught in the Institute for Intercultural Learning and Hamilton Middle School. In 1996 she returned to her mid-Michigan roots where she has taught at Lansing Community College and the A+ English Language School, a part of Okemos Community Education. In 2008 she joined the faculty of the VIPP teaching courses in Conversation and Idioms.

Course Description
VIP 415: Conversation II

Conversation II is designed as a continuation of the fall semester Conversation class. However, the fall semester class is not a prerequisite. In Conversation II, we will continue to discuss current events and expand on some of the themes previously touched upon. We will also, depending on interest, explore other themes such as love and marriage in today’s world, health care, religious diversity in American life, aging societies, travel, technology in modern life, etc. In addition, we will investigate conversation strategies and verbal cues used by native English speakers to make suggestions, offer advice, ask for favors, sound more direct, soften comments, end telephone calls, decline offers, etc., depending on needs and interests.

Marie Hollenbeck was born and raised in East Lansing and has experienced studying abroad and teaching abroad as a volunteer. Her passion is to help the visitors from other countries get accustomed to the area, language, and culture with which she is most familiar. She holds a bachelor’s in professional writing and a master’s in TESOL, both from Michigan State. Since graduating she has been teaching English as a second language to college and graduate students in Michigan and assisting international PhD students with writing and speaking.

Course Description
VIP 410: Pronunciation

The pronunciation course for VIPP covers all aspects of the spoken voice: rhythm, stress, tone, blending, and intonation for professional and conversational uses. Students develop strategies for listening comprehension and self-awareness of speech for the progression towards native-like accuracy. Entertaining active learning activities focus mostly on the students so that everyone is engaged and receives feedback from others. Individual, personal pronunciation goals are considered for relatable scenarios that will best benefit the whole class.

Summer Courses
VIP 412: Idioms

This class emphasizes the kind of informal, everyday speech that is commonly understood by all native Americans. Students learn to pragmatically recognize, differentiate, and produce various phrases appropriately in real life scenarios, and to comfortably engage in and comprehend authentic conversations utilizing the prior idioms.

VIP 415: Conversation

Students learn to interpret meanings of the types of intonation, tone, and word and sentences stress when reading, listening, and speaking for both professional and conversational use. This class teaches how to monitor and self-correct their own speech through self-awareness by recognizing errors in both grammar and meaning.

Dr. Kang earned his Ph.D. from the Economics Department at Michigan State University in 2002. His fields of interest are public finance, global economic analysis, open economy macroeconomics, computational general equilibrium (CGE) analysis. Among the main publications are "International Ramifications of U.S. Tax-Policy Changes" in the Journal of Policy Modeling (2003), "U.S. Tax Reform and Its Implications for Korea" in the International Journal of Korean Studies (2006), and "Asymmetries and Tariff-Tax Reforms in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation" in the Journal of Economic Asymmetries (2007).

As a visiting associate professor, he has been teaching applied macroeconomics, entitled "Current Macroeconomic Issues in the Global Markets," for visiting scholars in VIPP and ISP. Dr. Kang has also been teaching basic courses of microeconomics and macroeconomics for regular undergraduate students in the Department of Economics at MSU. Dr. Kang, as an academic advisor/coordinator, has been mainly in charge of establishing academic oversight and minimum academic standards, monitoring progress toward graduation requirements, and advising program participants. He has also been designing, developing, and implementing training and workshop programs for professionals in finance/economic policy/management sectors in Korea. Dr. Kang is recently developing training and workshop programs for professionals and early-professionals in Korea, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Saudi Arabia.

Course Description
VIP 841: Current Macroeconomic Issues in the Global Markets

This course is designed for professionals who are interested in the finance/economics fields. It is a lecture- and seminar-style course. The purpose of this course is to give participants a thorough understanding of current macroeconomic issues in real economy. This course also offers useful basic tools for understanding the economics behind the headlines of news. In order to enroll this course, participants have to consult Dr. Kang in advance.

Dr. Young Tae Kim serves as Visiting Associate Professor with the Visiting International Professional Program (VIPP). Dr. Kim's major responsibilities at VIPP include coordinating and running various professional education programs in the fields of public policy, urban policy and planning, and sustainable development. He also develops and coordinates customized short-term workshop programs for governmental agencies and other professional organizations in various fields. He teaches several professional courses on urban planning, public policy, and smart growth & sustainable development and oversees independent policy research of the program participants.

Prior to joining VIPP, Dr. Kim worked as a program assistant for the Center for Advanced Study of International Development (CASID) while conducting his graduate study at MSU. He worked for many international outreach programs at CASID such as Korea local government leadership training programs and other professional certificate education programs. Before coming to the U.S. for his advanced study, he worked as a congressional staff person in Korea providing policy and legislative assistance to a member of the Korea National Assembly. He also had worked for several non-governmental civil organizations in Korea.

He earned a Ph.D. in Resource Development-Urban Studies and a Master of Urban & Regional Planning from Michigan State University. He also holds a Bachelor\'s degree from Korea University. His research interests include sustainable development, smart growth, climate change & urban policy, green building policy, sustainable land use and brownfield redevelopment, and environmental valuation.

Course Descriptions
VIP 820: Contemporary Urban Development
VIP 824: Smart Growth & Sustainable Cities

Charles Matzke received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Political Science. He has been teaching in the Political Science Department at MSU since 2003. Matzke has primarily taught courses in American politics and public policy, but also has a strong interest in international and comparative politics having lived in Tanzania, East Africa for two years prior to earning his Ph.D. He has taught for VIPP for several years.

Course Description
VIP 440: Current Events

This class examines current political and social issues facing the United States and the world. “Current events” will be studied through the context of American politics and policy. Accordingly, the class will focus on American political institutions (presidency, congress, courts), political process in America (political culture, elections, citizen participation, groups), and current public policy issues (such as health care, the economy, education, environment, foreign policy, race/equality, etc.). The goal of the course is to learn American government and politics by looking at current events. The course will be designed to meet the needs and wishes of the students. Class participation and discussion is an essential part of the class.

Ruth Mendel has taught in the VIPP since 2007. She has a law degree from Yale Law School (1984) and a Master’ s degree in TESOL from MSU (2007). In addition to teaching in the VIPP, Ruth Mendel has taught at the University of Michigan in the summer intensive program for incoming international graduate students for four years, taught in the English Language Center for two years, and works as a private instructor and editor through her tutoring and editing services business, RMELI. As an instructor at VIPP, she has taught Conversational English, the Writing Process, Idioms, and Communication Skills. More information about the instructor can be found at her website, www.rmeli.com .

Course Description
VIP 417: Writing Process

As students improve writing by writing, this course will provide many opportunities for students to write, and to receive extensive feedback from the instructor. The opportunities for writing include brief in-class free writing exercises and several short (1 page) written assignments to be sent as email attachments to the instructor. There will also be brief classroom exercises to focus on problem areas in writing in a second language. Students should note that there will be no long writing assignments in this class; students do not write a research paper or other long paper for this class. The class will focus on several specific types of writing that are often used in the professional world, including data commentary (how we discuss information presented in graphs and tables) , process descriptions , and cause-effect statements. Additional topics include cross-cultural aspects of writing, student responses to one or two short magazine articles, and email writing. The unit on email writing can be especially useful, given how frequently email is used in today’s world, and yet how rarely certain guidelines in writing emails are taught.

Summer Courses
VIP 464: Business English

Business English emphasizes speaking and writing practice and vocabulary expansion for professionals in a variety of contexts within the business world, with the objective of enabling students to communicate more effectively. Various issues arising in the business workplace will also be discussed.

Pamela Pommerenke received Ph.D.-level training in Organizational Theory from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She holds an M.A. in Sociology from Stanford, a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Sociology from University of California, Santa Barbara. She currently teaches at MSU in organizational strategy, organizational theory, management of the workforce, social and business ethics, global networks, and introduction to sociology.

Pamela Pommerenke has previous experience as an entrepreneur in several industries and has consulted with many small businesses in the startup phase, particularly in the high tech industries of Silicon Valley. In addition, she has consulted in the local automobile industry and held training seminars in the area of strategic human resource management.

She has, at various times, served as "Online Expert" for Workforce Magazine, served as Human Resource content consultant for web-site development, and is a reviewer for professional journals, conferences, and book publishers. She has sat on the Board of Directors for several nonprofit organizations whose missions focus on business development, training, and education.

Articles by Pommerenke have been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Hospital and Health Services Administration, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and The American Economist.

Course descriptions
VIP 474: Topics in Management

The purpose of this course is to enhance your understanding of management as a set of tools for getting things done in the organization. We will talk about how you as an individual best operate in relation to others, and how to encourage and support others in the organization. The goal is to achieve peak performance in your organization through effective leadership, interpersonal relations, and strategic planning. Topics include Motivation; Group Process and Team Building; Communication; Leadership; Decision-Making; Conflict Resolution; Negotiation; Strategic Planning Process; Strategic Management. The goal of this course is to strengthen use of personal qualities and those of others around you. You will challenge yourself, other individuals, and circumstances and turn them into extraordinary results.

VIP 476: Business, Ethics, and Society

Got an opinion? Can you back it up? Learn and practice how to "win the argument" in this debate-based course that focuses on current business challenges, government policy, and social issues that we confront in our global, mobile, socially conscious, and politically correct world society. Understand the moral and ethical logic of persuasion, as well as challenge your own existing beliefs and opinions. Input from participants will be primary in determining topics discussed. This course is designed to learn and practice the application of ethical decision-making models to problems encountered in our everyday social and business lives. Participants will learn vocabulary, tools, and skills through discussion and in-class debate, tackling some of the fundamental questions we all face in today’s society. We will cover the fundamentals of business ethics, drawing from a background in philosophy and logic. Our goal is to engage each other in the classroom by focusing on small cases and business scenarios that represent challenges participants encounter in their professional and personal lives. Participants are then asked to study and analyze the issues from an ethical perspective, argue their position, and ultimately challenge their own pre-suppositions and beliefs.

VIP 473: Global Networks: Influence, Power, and Competitive Advantage

Have you ever heard the expression, "It's not what you know, but it's who you know?" This statement reflects the assertion that getting ahead in life is influenced by knowing the right people, forming the right relationships, and acquiring access to resources, power, and influence. We would like to think that our successes are directly attributable to our skills and knowledge, but this does not always seem to be enough. This course will focus on professional development and application of knowledge to improve our own utilization of networks as a tool for enhancement of our social and professional lives, and as a source of competitive advantage. Topics will include Network Theory; Influence and Power through Position; Strong and Weak Ties; Boundary-Spanning. The explosion of the Internet has exponentially increased the scale at which we conduct business and social interactions. We now have an astonishing degree of access to networks at the micro, meso, and macro level. This has created unprecedented opportunity for social connection, cooperation, and collective action. It has potentially placed a degree of power and influence in the hands of many that, until now, was completely unattainable. We will analyze the dynamics of social networking sites online and discuss both the potential and the limitations of these Internet tools and opportunities. Participants should expect to complete this course with an increased understanding of social and professional networks and how to exploit this to their advantage.

Charlotte Poston was born and reared in Texas. She received her undergraduate degree at Southwest Texas State College with a major in Spanish and a minor in French. She taught in elementary and middle schools for several years before becoming interested in teaching ESL to adults. In 1981, Charlotte began working at an Adult Learning Center in Kansas where she taught refugees who had recently arrived from Vietnam and Cambodia. She continued to work with second language learners and got her MATESOL in 1994 from Michigan State University. Following graduation, Charlotte taught ESL at Refugee Services in Lansing, the Institute of International Agriculture at MSU, and the MSU College of Social Science. In 2003, she began working in the GIPCC Program at VIPP.

Course Descriptions
VIP 412: Idioms

This class emphasizes the kind of informal, everyday speech that is commonly understood by all native Americans, no matter what their level of education. Students will learn to recognize and produce high-frequency idioms and be exposed to situations reflecting social customs that can serve as a basis for cross-cultural discussions.

VIP 410: Pronunciation

This class emphasizes the relationship between listening comprehension and speaking and the "musical" aspects of English. Participants will learn how to use rhythm, stress, and intonation to provide cues for the listener.