A Colorado School of Mines music professor and professor emerita of engineering are the 2018 winners of the Michael P. Malone International Leadership Award from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
Music Program Director Robert Klimek and Emerita Associate Professor Catherine Skokan were honored for their work to advance international education through a cross-cultural international learning program that brings together music and engineering.
The Malone Award honors the legacy of the late Michael P. Malone, a champion of international education and onetime chair of the APLU Commission on International Education. Malone served as president of Montana State University from 1991 until his death in 1999.
“We applaud Dr. Klimek and Dr. Skokan for their exemplary work bridging divides between fields of study as well as the people studying them,” said APLU President Peter McPherson. “Special and productive opportunities for learning come about when different disciplines and cultures come together. And the programs they’ve created have helped students do exactly that.”
Klimek and Skokan ’70, MS ’72, PhD ’75 organized their first cross-cultural educational trip in 2011, with the goal of helping STEM students understand how culture can contribute to the success or failure of engineering projects. Over spring breaks since, between 20 and 135 students have traveled to countries where there is a both a love of music and the opportunity to observe engineering in cultural context, meeting with Mines alumni who live and work abroad and highlighting the intersection of engineering studies and the performing arts.
Past destinations have included Italy, Peru, Jamaica, Ireland and Vietnam. The next trip, planned for Spring Break 2019, is to Poland, and informational sessions will be held starting in September. For more information, including trip brochures and the dates for the September information sessions, contact Cathy Skokan at cskokan@mines.edu or Bob Klimek at rklimek@mines.edu.
CONTACT
Emilie Rusch, Public Information Specialist, Communications and Marketing | 303-273-3361 | erusch@mines.edu
Mark Ramirez, Managing Editor, Communications and Marketing | 303-273-3088 | ramirez@mines.edu
