![\"Austin](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/APSU-CMCSS-form-historic-partnership-to-offer-Japanese-and-Korean-languages-480x320.jpg\" "\\"Austin")
<\/a>Austin Peay State University (APSU) President Alisa White and Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) Director of Schools Millard House announce a new partnership to provide Japanese and Korean.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Last spring, Dr. David Rands, director of APSU\u2019s Asian Studies program, contacted Dr. Sean Impeartrice, CMCSS chief academic officer, about pursuing the grants, and the partnership quickly gained the support of both administrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cCMCSS is a district focused on innovation and how best to prepare students for college and career,\u201d Milliard L. House II, director of schools, said. \u201cBy offering Korean and Japanese courses, we are not only increasing our portfolio of options to students, we are honoring our community workforce partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foreign economic footprint<\/h3>\n
Last year, the Korean tire company Hankook opened an $800 million plant in Clarksville, and the company moved its North American headquarters to Nashville. Later this fall, LG Electronics is expected to open the Korean company\u2019s first washing machine plant in the U.S. in Clarksville.<\/p>\n
According to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Japan is Tennessee\u2019s largest foreign investor, with 184 Japanese companies employing nearly 50,000 people in the state. The Asian nation has invested more than $17 billion in Tennessee, and several high-profile companies, such as Nissan North America Inc. and Bridgestone Americas Tire Operation, have opened corporate headquarters in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the current economic recruitment climate, foreign direct investment is competitive, and each incoming corporation is looking for a community that offers multiple assets ranging from land and infrastructure to education and available workforce,\u201d Mike Evans, executive director of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council, said. \u201cHaving an engaged and proactive school system that invests in opportunities, such as the Korean and Japanese foreign language programs, helps to move Clarksville-Montgomery County to the next level in our recruitment efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant-funded programs<\/h3>\n
In May, The Japan Foundation awarded APSU and CMCSS a $30,000 grant to \u201cstart up a new Japanese program at Clarksville High School as well as promoting the current Japanese program at Austin Peay State University.\u201d The two institutions will share an instructor, Dr. Mitsutoshi Inaba, who will spend 60 percent of his time at Austin Peay and 40 percent of his time at CHS\u2019s business academy.<\/p>\n
[320left]The ALLEX Foundation grant is allowing both APSU and CMCSS to hire a Korean native-speaking graduate student, Soseul Park, to teach 40 percent of the time at Austin Peay and 60 percent of her time at Rossview High School. Because both institutions are sharing instructors, the programs will maintain consistency as students move from high school to college.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustin Peay is committed to serving this community through strategic partnerships and the creation of new programs that enhance the cultural and employment needs of this region,\u201d Dr. Alisa White, APSU president, said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to work with the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System to provide a pathway for students seeking to study Japanese and Korean at the college level, while also preparing skilled, highly qualified job candidates for our local industries.\u201d<\/p>\n
With these grants, CMCSS is the only school district in Tennessee to offer Korean as a high school class, and APSU is the only university to offer the language at the college level. CMCSS is the only district to offer Korean and Japanese in the high school format. Austin Peay began offering the Japanese language four years ago, through its Asian Studies minor, and that program continues to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, three (APSU) students were selected for the Japanese government\u2019s prestigious Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) program,\u201d White said. \u201cMany larger institutions treat the JET program applications the same as Fulbright applications, and having three selected for the JET program is a testament to the type of students we\u2019re preparing here at Austin Peay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarksville High School junior Isabella Wren Sullivan learned about the new, grant-funded program last spring and became one of the first students to enroll in the new Japanese course.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the future, I hope to have a global career, so being given the privilege to study the Japanese language and learn about its culture will give me a significant advantage in the business world,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel very fortunate to live in a community like Clarksville that embraces economic partnerships with international businesses to bring us opportunities such as this. I am really looking forward to this educational experience, and I am excited about what the Japanese language program will mean to our school community.\u201d<\/p>\n
[320right]At Rossview High School, which sits only a few miles from the Hankook plant, sophomore Jennifer Boyd will take advantage of the school\u2019s new language class.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been wanting to learn Korean for a while and I have been trying to teach myself,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, I will be able to learn Korean correctly so that I am better prepared for my future. I believe taking Korean in high school will open the doors for more job opportunities in my future. I have always thought about wanting to live in Korea and work there as a teacher. Now, I will know the language and feel comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information, contact Dr. David Rands at randsd@apsu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin Peay State University Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University and the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System launched a major partnership today (August 2nd) to become the state\u2019s first public education institutions to offer both Japanese and Korean language courses to students. The new classes, funded by grants from The Japan Foundation and the ALLEX […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[22711,23,32375,11642,262,18965,2945,2110,825,905,103,1601,16057,21470,32380,4626,32381,32374,32378,10694,32377,31829,4950,2202,4237,32376,32379,1758,8406],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-6NB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26140,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26139\/revisions\/26140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Austin](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Austin-Peay-State-University-APSU.jpg\" "\\"Austin")
Clarksville, TN<\/strong> – Austin Peay State University and the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System launched a major partnership today (August 2nd) to become the state\u2019s first public education institutions to offer both Japanese and Korean language courses to students.<\/p>\n![\"Austin](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/APSU-CMCSS-form-historic-partnership-to-offer-Japanese-and-Korean-languages.jpg\" "\\"Austin")
<\/a>