PLATTSBURGH — There is nothing more important than knowing your neighbor, says Michael Hawes.

The executive director of the Canada/U.S. Fulbright Program joined other education and government officials from Canada and the United States at Plattsburgh State's Center for the Study of Canada to announce the renewal of the CONNECT program.

CONNECT is a collaborative effort between the Center for the Study of Canada and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada that is dedicated to promoting research, teaching and professional development about Canada in the United States.

"The CONNECT program successfully provides an unparalleled platform for identifying, encouraging and, most importantly, sustaining new generations of Canadianists in the United States," said Christopher Kirkey, executive director of CONNECT and director of the Center for the Study of Canada.

THREE MORE YEARS
The Canadian government ensured the renewal of the program through 2012, representing the single largest cumulative investment in the United States by the Canadian government.

"Despite cuts in the budget, we decided to continue funding and even enhanced it a little bit," said John Labrie, deputy director of International Academic Programs, International Education and Youth Division, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada.

"What we hear at Plattsburgh State is really, really, really extraordinary."

ENTICING EDUCATORS
CONNECT, launched in 2003, is a comprehensive outreach initiative designed to promote the growth, development and institutionalization of Canadian studies in the United States.

It is headquartered at the Center for the Study of Canada in Plattsburgh and is considered by many to be the most important effort on record in the U.S. for identifying, orienting and mentoring new scholars interested in Canada/U.S issues.

The program seeks out doctoral candidates and junior professors at American colleges and universities who demonstrate potential for long-term academic engagement on Canada.

"The CONNECT program has been very successful," said Daniel Kolundzic, political and economics relations officer, Consulate General of Canada, based in Buffalo.

Over the past six years, CONNECT has recruited 435 doctoral candidates and professors from 48 states and the District of Columbia. They are working at 196 colleges and universities and represent 66 academic disciplines.

According to a December 2008 survey, which 111 people involved with CONNECT responded to, those individuals offer 119 Canadian content courses nationwide and have published 112 books, book chapters, book reviews and journal articles.

"Each year, we scour the country for people and come up with 500 to 700 candidates," Kirkey said, "and out of them we are looking for who has the potential for sustained engagement. We typically narrow that down to 75 people and put them into the mentoring program."

The CONNECT program started as a conversation on a park bench between Kirkey and co-founder Andre Senecal, a Quebec studies professor at the University of Vermont. Driven by a desire to keep Canadian Studies alive and thriving, the pair established CONNECT.

"I think we are showing we are relevant and delivering," Kirkey said.

E-mail Stephen Bartlett at: sbartlett@pressrepublican.com