Florida Tech to Host Taiwanese Students July 18-Aug. 5

Florida Institute of Technology will host 20 university students from the Republic of China (Taiwan) for a three-week American Studies Institute July 18-Aug. 5. The students will take two mini-courses in United States history and foreign policy, tour Kennedy Space Center, visit Orlando-area theme parks and take other field trips to Florida sites of interest. While at Florida Tech they will live in the Harris Village residence halls on campus.

The 18 women and two men, who are in undergraduate and graduate degree programs during the academic year, study at Feng Chia University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tunghai University, Tamkang University, National Sun Yat-sen University and National Cheng Kung University. All institutions are in Taiwan. Robert Taylor, head of the Department of Humanities and Communication, organized the program.

The program, presented by the Center for the Study of Critical Languages, Department of Humanities and Communication, sprang from the second Taiwan-Florida Higher Education Conference (TFHEC) held at Tunghai University in July 2010. It was attended by a Florida delegation led by Florida Tech President Anthony J. Catanese; the first was held in Orlando in 2009.

A third TFHEC will be held in Orlando, Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 2011, hosted by Florida Tech and the University of Central Florida. It will be attended by Catanese; Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer T. Dwayne McCay; and Professor and Head of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Pei-feng Hsu.

Hsu is coordinating the Taiwan student program at Florida Tech and the TFHEC.