The Southern California Consortium on International Studies (SOCCIS) is a voluntary association of public and private colleges and universities established in 1972 for the purpose of coordinating and sharing resources to further international studies in the southern California region. In 1971, a small group representing USC, CSULA, Claremont Graduate School, the UC EAP office and UCLA, met to discuss the planning and implementation of a conference dealing with international studies issues. The conference focusing on the "future of international studies," was held in October of 1971and included approximately 60 participants representing some 25 colleges. Each institution provided an inventory of its international activities and shared information regarding its needs. The attendees organized themselves into four study groups, concentrating on traditional international study subjects: foreign languages; curriculum and teaching; research; and public service. At a following conference meeting, November 12, 1971, the conferees voted to establish the Southern California Conference on International Studies, and the first Steering Committee included representatives from USC, the CSUC System, UC EAP, Occidental College, the Claremont Graduate School, and UCLA. Since 1972, the voluntary association has been called the Southern California Consortium on International Studies - SOCCIS.
Some thirty years later, through the various activities it facilitates or sponsors, SOCCIS continues to strengthen the institutional commitment to international and foreign area studies in southern California. It promotes and strengthens the network of faculty in the region; it encourages institutional and faculty commitment to an "internationalized" curriculum and provides means of enhancing faculty teaching capabilities in international and foreign area studies through seminars, workshops, and summer institutes, many of which are open to the general public; and it strives to ensure that the institutions of higher learning in this region offer curriculum that enable their students to gain an understanding of the lives and aspirations of the people of other countries near and far, an appreciation for cultures different from their own, and an attitude conducive toward international cooperation to solve the many human and ecological problems that cannot be remedied by one country acting alone. In keeping with these goals, SOCCIS also supports statewide and national efforts to strengthen international and foreign area studies and to improve the level of public awareness and understanding of other peoples and cultures and international events.
This document includes:
Networking: a review of the SOCCIS organizational structure
Cost Sharing: the commitment of the institutional members and how SOCCIS resources are used
Benefits: what do the associates gain from membership in SOCCIS
Highlights of Past Programs: an overview of several programs co-sponsored during recent years
Latin American Studies
South Asian Studies
Internationalization of the Curriculum
African Studies
Rotating Spring Campus Site Visits by the SOCCIS Steering Committee
International Relations and European Studies
Focus on Recent Programs: a discussion of two distinct SOCCIS co-sponsored programs implemented during 1999-2000
SOCCIS Canadian Studies Grant - Transnational Indigenous Peoples Conference
SOCCIS Small Grant - A Year of Courses and Activities on Cuba