More than 7,000 miles separate Shanghai and Unity.
But for some students and faculty, the distance between East and West will narrow.
St. Vincent College and East China Normal University recently signed a memorandum of understanding, the college announced on Wednesday.
Last month, St. Vincent College President Brother Norman W. Hipps traveled to Shanghai to sign a pledge with Dr. Youqun Ren, vice president and professor at the port city, China's largest.
The agreement is intended to benefit the two schools in areas of education and research, according to a news release.
Included are plans for faculty member and student exchanges, joint research projects, and conferences and cultural programs.
The two schools, one urban, the other suburban, will work toward international higher education, the news release said.
St. Vincent College, a private, liberal arts Catholic school, has fewer than 1,800 students on a 200-acre campus.
East China Normal University, whose website touts it as a public “comprehensive research university,” has more than double the land mass, at 511 acres, and 14,000 undergraduate and 12,000 graduate and international students. A core academic program is teacher training, its website states.
One professor at St. Vincent is collaborating with an East China Normal University professor.
Dr. Junlei Li is a visiting professor in early learning and children's media at the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media at St. Vincent and associate professor of psychology in the School of Social Sciences, Communication and Education.
He is working with Zeng Fanlin, an East China Normal University professor from its preschool and special education school, to support orphaned and special-needs children.
The two are beginning research and development efforts in children's media and parent education.
Mary Pickels is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-836-5401 or mpickels@tribweb.com.
