Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez traveled to China earlier this month with a delegation to launch a program in Shanghai that trains people in management and event planning ?” a joint venture with the campus’s College of Continuing Education.

The university’s goal is to help with the work force preparation needs in China, said Alice Tom, dean of the College of Continuing Education at Sac State and a member of the president’s delegation. The College of Continuing Education has been working for the last two to three years with China’s market, Tom said.

“China is going to have the Olympics in 2008 and the World Expo in 2010, so there will be a lot of training going on,” Gonzalez said. “There will be lots of people going there and it’s a huge market. They are going to need short-term interpreters and such, and that’s going to be a great opportunity for students.”

Other members of Gonzalez’s delegation included Gregory Mark, chair of the Ethnic Studies Department, and Marilyn Hopkins, dean of the College of Health and Human Services.

The delegation met with a lot of different people in China, Gonzalez said. They are looking at working with the health professions in China.

“If we can establish a working relationship as well as a viable program, it would be really good for the campus,” Gonzalez said. “It would lead to opportunities for students and faculty.”

The delegation also met at Tsing Hua University in Beijing, the No. 1 rated college in China. Tom said the only reason the delegation was able to get an appointment was because of Gonzalez’s presence. While at Tsing Hua, they met with Gonzalez’s counterpart and the university’s equivalent to Sac State’s College of Health and Human Services.

Gonzalez said that he doesn’t travel frequently but they’ve been planning this trip for over a year.

“I’m not anticipating going anyplace soon,” Gonzalez said. “This was a big one.”

During his 10-day trip, Gonzalez only had one day “without an official thing to do.” Gonzalez’s wife, Gloria, accompanied him on the trip. “It’s nice to put a face to the university,” Gonzalez said.

“It gave them a clear sign that we’re supportive of that kind of activity.”

Tom said it’s important to have the CEO or president of the university present to help emphasize and support the project.

The delegation, while in China, had a very busy agenda, Tom said packing as many potential project pieces that they could fit in.

“The target intent was to release a non-academic certificate program in event planning,” Tom said.

Gonzalez said they have developed a program that is focused on application, not theory. Instead of two or three years, you can receive a certificate in a matter of weeks.

An alumni reception was also held during the trip. “There are a lot of alumni in China and especially in Hong Kong,” Tom said.

Winnie Leung was the first female Chinese student to graduate from the College of Business Administration, and her three children all graduated from Sac State as well.

“She’s a really good person and we connected on some projects and similar interests,” Tom said. “She led us to some different business opportunities with China.”

Leung is now retired and lives in Hong Kong. Leung’s main goal is to help China become more internationally oriented, Tom said.

The delegation also met with the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, a large Chamber of Commerce-type organization, to talk about a joint exchange program and the Hong Kong Financial Services Institute is an education organization that provides services to all grade levels, including college.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong is working on an exchange program for juniors and seniors with Sac State. “China is very government-monitored as who gets degrees in what, so we needed to have a partner that is approved by the government to make these exchanges,” Tom said.

Sac Sate is also working toward developing exchange programs for health care administration in China, event planning and international nursing, to combat the shortage, Tom said. “We are hoping to develop some kind of program with Sac State and faculty student exchanges and community field agents,” Tom said.

Tom said schools in Hong Kong teach English as a required language to students. “In the future we would like to offer paid stipends for Sac State students and faculty to go teach English as a summer internship credit. That way they could make a few bucks and have really wonderful cultural experience that circle around English,” Tom said.

The College of Continuing Education has 40-60 students come to Sac Sate annually from all over the world to study the English language and American culture, to better prepare to go to a university, or for a cultural exchange. Gonzalez said the College of Continuing Education does a lot of training for state workers that are not necessarily in degree areas.

“I’m hoping that we can open up more opportunities,” Tom said.

Elizabeth Wilson can be reached at [email protected]