Moraine Valley faculty brings back lessons from Palestine to use in class

In an effort to more fully connect with students, Dr. Jeffrey McCully, Moraine Valley Community College associate professor of sociology, traveled to Palestine this summer.

In 2019, McCully learned about a faculty development seminar in Palestineon social media. Having many students, and some with family from the sovereign state in Western Asia, McCully decided to look into it and ultimately applied.

“I have had many Palestinian students,so I wouldn’t have seen this kind of opportunity if I wasn’t exposed to them,”McCully explained.

The seminar encourages professors from minority-serving institutions and/or community colleges to apply to the program. Each year, 10 to 13 U.S. facultylearn about the region and build connections with Palestinian institutions and colleagues. McCully was originally scheduled to travel there in summer 2020, but was deferred several times due to the pandemic. Moraine Valley wasone of two community colleges represented in this cohort.

McCully departed the U.S. on May 17 for the two-week experience. The team of educators visited several universities, including Bethlehem, Hebron and Birzeit; cultural institutions such as the Centre for Architectural Conservation and Yabous Cultural Center; Yasser Arafat Museum, Bethlehem Walled Off Hotel Museum and Wall, and Abu Jihad Prisoner’s Museum at Al-Quds University; and major religious sites such as the old city of Nazareth, Western Wall in Jerusalem, Mount of Temptation in Jericho and Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

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