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Kyrgyzstan professor
lectures on adult ed

Her adult-education plan
will bring people together

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

There were good things about Communist rule of the former Soviet Union, such as regular salaries and security, according to Elena Alexeeva, a visiting professor from Kyrgyzstan. There was also friendship among the Soviet republics.

"Now we have independence and not contact," Alexeeva said yesterday. "And some of them have wars."

Displaying a photograph of a Kyrgyz mural created while the Soviet Union was still one symbolizing unity, Alexeeva said she has come up with an international model of collaboration through adult education.

Alexeeva, a professor of business management in the Bishkek Humanities University psychology department, introduced the model last week to a University of Hawaii family resources class taught by Ronaele Whittington.

Alexeeva's adult education model brings people together. It is based on a small system of adult training centers where people can exchange information, use computers and receive job training.

The centers can provide specialized services for businesses, marketing groups, and even hobbyists, Alexeeva said.

Kyrgyzstan has three such centers.

"If we include this model, it'd be a great chance for changes, like economics, like education," Alexeeva said.

Collaborations between visiting scholars also makes it easier to do research in a foreign county, something both Alexeeva and Whittington have learned firsthand.

Alexeeva spent three months at the University of North Texas, doing research for the International Research and Exchanges Board, and is now doing a one-month internship with Whittington at UH.

On Wednesday, Alexeeva and Whittington will discuss questions and issues surrounding adult education, both in the United States and the post-Soviet Union republics.

The lecture, part of the Center for Teaching Excellence/Summer Lecture Series, will be in Kuykendall 106 from noon to 1:15 p.m.