June 8, 2006

Students take on whole world

Growing number of students augments education through Study Abroad program

By Lee Prater Yost

Senior Jefferson Jones, a biomedical engineering student in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, studied global healthcare technologies in South Africa this spring and worked on developing a portable apnea monitor for premature infants.

Nicole White, a Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences junior, is in Paris on a yearlong exchange program at Ecole Polytechnique (Sciences Po.), one of the most prestigious universities in France, taking courses from French political leaders.

Elizabeth Ehly, a School of Education and Social Policy student, will study Mexican culture and history and an analysis of legal issues this summer after she completes her freshman year at Northwestern in June.

These students are among the more than 600 undergraduates who each year find their lives dramatically changed by studying abroad. One in four undergraduates immerse themselves in the global community, a mind-boggling number compared to 25 years ago, according to Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education Stephen D. Fisher.

In the 1980s and 1990s, study abroad opportunities were limited, and only a handful of students went overseas. Today students study abroad in just about any educational field in more than 100 affiliated programs. Many of those programs involve research opportunities, an important element in the University’s commitment to broadening the undergraduate educational experience.

In 1999, in the formative years of the newly established Study Abroad Office, only 4 percent of graduating seniors studied overseas. Last year 27 percent of the senior class graduated with the experience of studying abroad — traveling to 45 countries on five continents — South America, Asia, Europe, Oceania (includes Australia and New Zealand) and Africa. Medill had the highest participation rate – 44 percent of its graduates had studied abroad.

Original program was limited

Fisher, associate dean for undergraduate studies for the Weinberg College from 1988 to 1993, said, “The old model was that each school in the University handled study abroad programs and exchanges individually, with the major exception of the 11 University-wide programs developed by Associate Provost John D. Margolis.”

About 125 students annually participated in these programs — in China, Japan, Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia and Israel. With the exception of a spring quarter program in Florence, Italy, these programs were yearlong commitments with rigorous language requirements. The Northwestern program in Sussex, England, was usually full, as was the Paris program run by Sweet Briar College, but the others had spotty attendance and weren’t well known among students.

Students had to search a few file drawers in the Weinberg dean’s office for pamphlets about a handful of programs, apply on their own, fend for themselves while abroad and re-enter the University without the support system now in place.

Fisher recalled, “I discussed with Larry Dumas, Weinberg dean at the time, that the University needed to offer more programs, lower the thresholds for preparation, and provide more flexibility beyond the year-long programs. This came to fruition after Dumas became Provost in 1996.”

Provost Dumas established a centralized, University-wide Study Abroad Office, which opened in fall 1997 at the time Fisher became associate provost.

Anthony heads new office

William Anthony was appointed the first Study Abroad director. “The first thing Bill did,” said Fisher, “was to expand the opportunities for students and develop the infrastructure with administrative decisions: how to work with the Registrar’s Office for transfer of credits and provide support with financial aid, career services, student affairs, student accounts, and other administrative issues.” The Study Abroad Office, Anthony said, is now “truly an academic amalgam.”

The commitment to immerse students in the global community has led to a wide range of other initiatives, including the International Program Development Office that directs educational and research programs at individual schools and colleges in support of curriculum. IPD administers a new Global Health Minor and programs attended by over 170 students who studied abroad this year. New programs have been established or expanded at professional schools, and Northwestern students have pursued interests around the world after graduation.

The Study Abroad Office partners with other universities and organizations, such as The Institute for the International Education of Students, to identify programs appropriate to Northwestern undergraduates, said Anthony. These “affiliated” programs are vetted to ensure they meet certain standards and can give credit. The office assists students with study abroad options, selection of programs, courses, program costs and financial aid, the application process and thorough preparation for study abroad.

Network Provides Resources

Study Abroad students are supported by a comprehensive University network that provides resources every step of the way from pre-departure workshops to preparation for research courses abroad and finally with strategies for readjustment. It is clear that the administration feels strongly about “immersing students in the global communities,” Fisher said.

Preparation includes workshops and advising services and the Study Abroad Research Program (SARP), a non-credit program that is part of the pre-departure preparation. Graduate sociology student Erin Metz taught research design and methodologies and the ethics of studying abroad in the spring quarter.

Students are invited to participate in SARP based on their background, study abroad goals and application essays. The primary goal of the program is to encourage and prepare students to do research while overseas that they can then turn into a senior honors thesis, independent study, fellowship or postgraduate work when they return.

“I work with either an undergrad advisor or the person who will lead the thesis seminar to help facilitate program integration and a more seamless return for students,” said Metz. Some student research topics have included the public response to the Argentinian financial crisis; diasporic organizations on rural development in Ghana that includes a home stay with Ghanaian families; and a comparative study of how Italy and England adjudicate between archeological ruins and modern construction.

William Murphy, adjunct lecturer in anthropology and a research coordinator in the Program of African Studies, teaches a course that is helpful for pre-departure students as well as returnees about shared experiences of study abroad relating the experience to a toolkit of anthropological concepts. The course “Attending to Culture” was created in response to the president and provost’s desire to have the “international experience integrated into students’ academic and curricular life on campus, so it’s not two different, separate worlds of experience,” said Murphy.

The University also provides support for students returning from international studies, recognizing that “re-entry” can be stressful. In the Counseling and Psychological Services office, Jodi Mulder, a licensed clinical social worker, developed a three-session workshop for study abroad returnees called “Reverse Culture Shock.” Students meet once a week for three weeks to talk about their experiences and how it feels to be back on campus and how to manage life transitions: reconnecting with friends and family and staying connected to friends overseas.

She has identified four stages of the transition: disengagement (while abroad they have to start separating); excitement (when they first get back); frustration (feel like outsider at home); and gradual readjustment.

Sarah Levi, a psychology post-doctoral student who leads the workshops, said, “Students are often shocked at the abundance of food here. For many students the study abroad experience is life changing. They’re excited to tell everyone about their newfound knowledge, but often others may not be able to relate. Some students get stuck at stage three.”

Jennifer Hirsch, 1990 Weinberg graduate and associate director of Study Abroad from 2000 to 2005, teaches a winter quarter writing course focused on returning students’ international experiences — “Reading and Writing Culture: A Course for Study Abroad Returnees.” Now director of the Chicago Field Studies Program and a lecturer in the department of anthropology, Hirsch said, “In study abroad, we always say, it’s not the end when you come home, it’s the beginning. But for a lot of students, it is the end if we don’t really give them lots of different ways in which they can enhance the experience.”

Before enrolling at Northwestern, Hirsch had studied Japanese and knew she wanted to study in Japan for a year. At that time Northwestern had an affiliated program with Waseda University in Tokyo, but had no real infrastructure to support study abroad. Hirsch said, “Either you were accepted into a program or you had to fend for yourself.”

Summer study expands

Study Abroad summer programs “are the fastest growing programs, attracting one-third of students who go overseas,” said Anthony. Each year more than 175 Northwestern students choose to study abroad during the summer quarter.

Dana Bumpus, program coordinator in the Study Abroad Office, said, “While most students choose European locations, interest is growing in non-traditional locations such as Asia and Africa, with a strong surge of interest in China.”

Opportunities include public health in Beijing; history of French theatre in Arles, France; architectural and artistic monuments in Verona, Italy; and Southeast Asian politics in Thailand.

Summer programs include those in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey, offerings that each attract from 10 to 20 students. Andrew Wachtel, dean of the Graduate School and director of the Center for International and Comparative Studies, coordinates those programs. “The idea is to use the cities as texts,” said Wachtel. “The courses we offer in these cities couldn’t possibly be offered on campus.”

The program in Prague offers courses on Czech history and civilization and on democratic transitions. Students in the Croatia Summer Program in Dubrovnik and Split study Southeast European history and society from the early medieval period to the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

In Poland, Northwestern works with the Department of Polish Language and Studies at Jagiellonian University to provide a rich array of courses. A new program, in collaboration with Istanbul Bilgi University, introduces students to “Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean World: Civilizations, Societies, and Cultures.”

Summer programs often attract students to subjects outside of their academic major. Senior David Ernst of Longmeadow, Mass., will pursue European studies in Paris. He is a five-year, double-degree student in voice and opera at the School of Music and history at the Weinberg College.

Junior Kara Downey, a theatre major from Augusta, Ga., will study public health in China this summer. School of Education and Social Policy junior Michael Sacchet of Chanhassen, Minn., also will study in China.

These students and others in study abroad programs may eventually follow those who decided to continue their international experience through advanced study or a career overseas. Many Northwestern students have done so, including Devon Liddell, Alicia Drucker and Rachel Feller.

Devon Liddell, who majored in cultural anthropology, plans to set up a research project in Spain this summer after receiving her degree June 16 and then go to Latin America to work on her Spanish fluency. The senior from Lancaster, Pa., expects to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship to do research the following year on Muslim immigration from North Africa (particularly Morocco) to Southern Spain (Almeria province in Andalusia), focusing on agricultural workers in “plasticultura,” a form of agriculture that grows plants under plastic to conserve water.

Liddell, who studied at the American University in Cairo in the entire 2004-05 academic year, said, “I got a lot out of my experience studying in Egypt despite the challenges of being a woman in a Muslim country and a farm girl from Lancaster in one of the biggest cities in the world.” Her thesis, “Celebrity Body, Qur’anic Propriety: Beauty and Respectability in a Changing Cairo,” won the Oswald Werner Prize for Distinguished Thesis in Anthropology.

Alicia Drucker, a 2005 honors graduate from Kirkland, Wash., with a major in English and a minor in sociology, studied Celtic and Scottish literature and social culture at the University of Edinburgh for six months in 2004. She said, “I really enjoyed learning about a new culture while living in the midst of it.”

After conducting research there for her senior honors thesis on Scottish women's literature of the 20th century, Drucker said, “I realized that I wanted to not only travel, but live internationally again. I felt compelled to go abroad again because I wanted to gain connections with more of the world.”

That desire has taken Drucker to live in Hidaka-cho, a small town northwest of Kyoto in Japan, and teach English as an assistant language teacher at Hidaka High School. She obtained the assignment through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, a Japanese government-sponsored project that promotes language education and regional internationalization by inviting foreign individuals to work in local government organizations. Drucker will return to the United States next month after her one-year contract ends.

Another 2005 graduate, Rachel Feller, a double major in political science and international studies with a minor in French, spent her 2003-04 junior year at the University of Geneva in Switzerland through the Smith College Junior Year Abroad program.

“At the University of Geneva and the Institute for International Studies, as well as a United Nations-related internship at the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, I developed a passion for international children's rights and knew that I wished to gain further experience in this field upon graduation.”

She spent two months after graduation in Israel, doing intensive language study at the University of Haifa followed by a month of volunteering in a "rural" development town. “I had won a scholarship and decided to use it to go there, before heading home to the states to work for a few months.” Feller said.

The Scottsdale, Ariz., resident is on a new continent now, teaching kindergarten through sixth grade English in the public elementary school in La Violeta de Frailes, a rural Costa Rican town of about 250 people south of San Jose. She said, “I am here through Harvard's WorldTeach organization, an NGO that works in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Education in Costa Rica to provide rural schools that would otherwise not receive English teachers.”

What’s next? Feller hopes to pursue a joint degree in law and international relations or political science and work in a field related to international children's rights, possibly child labor, immigration issues or education.

Anthony said the Study Abroad Office plans to continue to enhance opportunities for students to compete in a rapidly changing world of globalization. In the process, a growing number of Northwestern graduates are likely to spend at least part of their future making a difference in far-flung places.

Lee Prater Yost, a former University staff member, is a freelance writer

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Elizabeth Ehly, Iowa City, Iowa
“Mexico in Transition appealed to me because it is a program that incorporates Mexican culture and history with the analysis of legal issues in a dynamic social setting.

“I have always been fascinated with Mexican culture and history and saw this program as an opportunity to further my language skills and to experience education in a profoundly new and exciting way. My first year in the School of Education and Social Policy has broadened my interest in the study and understanding of society’s relationship with government and the legal structure.

“I see this summer as an opportunity to learn about and experience an area of interest that is unparalleled by any program offered on campus.”

Jefferson Jones, Renton, Wash.
“The Global Healthcare Technologies program in Cape Town, South Africa, is the only study abroad program for biomedical engineering majors. Not only does it give me the opportunity to go to a location of the world I never thought I would go, but it also is focused on designing biomedical devices for people who truly need them.

“I have taken classes on the management aspect of devices, hospitals and the public health care system in addition to the design project. I am designing a portable apnea monitor for premature infants undergoing a new and effective form of neonatal care, Kangaroo MotherCare.

“I’ll be working in Japan this summer and then entering the Feinberg School of Medicine in August and hope to eventually volunteer as a doctor in Third World countries. This experience is giving me background, experience and more enthusiasm for that endeavor.”

Nicole White, Eugene, Ore.
“I am an International Studies and French major but at Sciences Po. I'm studying political science, international relations and history, and, of course, French. Highlights of my experience have been meeting friends from all over the world, taking classes from some really important French political figures.

“For example my European Union class was with Jean-Louis Bourlanges, who is on the European Commission and my homosexuality and politics professor is Francoise Gaspard who was in the Assemblee Nationale and a leading scholar in France on feminist and lesbian issues. All of my classes are in French. I participated in a French immersion program in Grades 1-12 in my hometown of Eugene, Ore., and took at least one French class every quarter of my first two years at Northwestern.”

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Giving the curriculum an international flair

The mission of the IPD Office, established in 1998, is to internationalize Northwestern’s curriculum and design programs abroad for students, mainly specialized and professionally focused programs in public health, medicine, science and engineering, the global economy and law.

Director Dévora Grynspan, who previously coordinated Weinberg’s international programs, said, “We develop interdisciplinary programs that primarily target pre-professional and professional school students who may not have the opportunity to go abroad because of limited language ability, lack of professionally relevant opportunities abroad or scheduling concerns.”

IPD administers about 15 programs that last for either a quarter or a semester. Each is affiliated with an international university and all include a combination of course work, research, intensive language training in the host country, excursions and practical work experience.

IPD designs, administers and supervises programs around several broad themes — International Public Health; Emerging Global Structures; Science and Engineering Abroad; and International Medicine and Public Health. A total of 99 students attended International Public Health programs offered in Mexico, China, France and South Africa; 68 in Emerging Global Structures offered in China, Paris and Mexico and including a full year exchange program in Paris at Sciences Po; 17 in Science and Engineering Abroad offered in Zurich, Paris, Strasbourg, China and South Africa; and 10 medical students in International Medicine and Public Health in Mexico City, Beijing and Cape Town.

This spring, a new program in “Healthcare Technologies in Resource Poor Environments: South Africa” took eight Biomedical Engineering students to Cape Town to work on a design project and to learn about technology management issues in South Africa. Next year, this program will be open to students from all relevant engineering departments.

In addition, a new exchange between the legal clinics at the Law School and the Law School at Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City starts this summer when two law students from Mexico come here to work in the Legal Clinic. First-year Northwestern law students later will learn about the legal system in Mexico while working at the Bufete Jurídico (legal clinic) of Universidad Panamericana, and will also attend training sessions, in Spanish.

“All of these IPD programs, including the Minor in Global Health, are integrated into the Northwestern curriculum,” said Greg Buchanan, program coordinator.

The goal of the Global Health Minor, approved in the spring of 2004, is to make Northwestern a magnet for public health issues. Developed by IPD and directed by William Leonard, chair of the department of anthropology, the Global Health Minor is open to any Northwestern student. “With the goal of bringing an international perspective to the study of human health, the interdisciplinary minor is a mix of anthropology, sociology, economics, policy studies, research and hands-on experience,” Buchanan said.

Students must complete three core courses and four electives and participate in one of the international public health programs offered by the University or approved by the program director.

Vic Flessas, assistant director of IPD, said, “Even without being a Global Health minor, any Northwestern student can sign up for the public health programs offered in Mexico, France, South Africa or China.” Flesass said some students who study public health abroad have such a meaningful experience, they sign up for the Global Health Minor upon their return.” There are approximately 140 Minors in Global Health, representing five Schools and 29 academic majors.

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Graduate programs

Overseas study programs have been greatly expanded at the graduate and

professional schools. Here are highlights of some of those programs.

Kellogg School of Management

The Global Initiatives in Management (GIM) is a cornerstone of the Kellogg School of Management’s international offerings that annually attract hundreds of students to courses studying businesses in 12 to 15 different regions of the world.

GIM began in 1990 when a small group of students organized a course and in-country research trip to what was then the Soviet Union. Today, nearly two-thirds of each Kellogg full-time class participates in the program annually.

Both the part-time and executive MBA programs have begun GIM programs modeled after the full-time program.

GIM courses include 10 weeks of classroom instruction followed by a two-week research trip to the chosen country or region. While in their host country, students meet with high-level government officials, business executives, Kellogg school alumni and other necessary resources to complete in-depth research projects. Past projects have included the privatization of banking in Central Europe, emerging market strategies for the telecommunications sector in China, a possible Olympic bid by South Africa, a marketing research project for the National Basketball Association in China and ecotourism in Ecuador.

Courses have studied Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mainland China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

Feinberg School of Medicine

The Feinberg School of Medicine’s formal international affiliations have expanded considerably in the past few years.

Several of these affiliations have been created through the Office of International Program Development and focus on the study of global public health. Feinberg students have studied at Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City; Capital University of Medical Sciences in Beijing; and Stellenbosch University in Cape Town.

The Feinberg School has also created a number of new affiliations involving the exchange of medical students in senior clinical rotations. Two such affiliations, with Keio University in Tokyo and National Taiwan University in Taipei, have been active for over a decade. Other exchange relationships have recently been created with Charite-Universitatsmedizinin in Berlin, Charles University in Prague and two French institutions, the University of Strasbourg and University of Tours. A number of other affiliations are under development.

Several Feinberg departments have also been engaged in medical care and research in other parts of the world, including Palacios, Bolivia; sub-Saharan Africa; the University of Rome, Negri Institute in Bergamo, Italy; and Belize.

School of Law

School of Law students take part in a study abroad program that complements their semester-long course in the International Team Project (ITP).

Each year as many as 150 students enroll in the course that puts them in contact with the legal systems of countries they are studying as well as with officials and dignitaries. They study the history, culture and legal and political systems of countries they will visit and also develop research proposals detailing the issues they will research there.

The eight-year old course has sent students to countries all over the world, including China, Chile, Cuba, Vietnam, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Indian, Ghana and Tanzania.

This year, 112 students took part in the program in Argentina, Australia, Russia, South Africa and Turkey.

Medill School

Medill offers the Global Journalism Program, an additional quarter of study available to Medill editorial graduate students.

The program combines a two-week seminar series in Paris, followed by a faculty-supervised 10- or 11-week residency at English language news agencies throughout the world.

Students may go to any of more than 100 international news agencies and non-governmental organizations in 38 countries, such as Hong Kong, Kenya, Cambodia, England, France and India to work as reporters, writers and producers. Some residences require language proficiency. More than 250 students have participated in the program since its inception in 1996.

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GlobeMed provides relief, supplies overseas

GlobeMed (the Global Medical Relief Program) is an example of how students have become engaged in the global community beyond the classroom.

What began as a small group of Northwestern students has grown into a national initiative dedicated to providing medical supplies and promoting quality health care to developing countries and regions suffering from natural disasters.

Now incorporated as a 501(c)3 group, Evanston is GlobeMed’s base and Northwestern is the hub for coordinating all of its affiliate organizations around the United States and Canada.

John Broach II, who received his medical degree from the Feinberg School in May, founded the group as a Northwestern undergraduate and now serves as chairman of the board of directors.

The Global Medical Relief Program has provided supplies and care to over 15 developing countries around the world. GlobeMed ships approximately 200 to 300 kilos of supplies overseas every two to three months to more than 15 developing countries, including Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Papua New Guinea, Iraq, Pakistan and Mexico, among others.

A recent project has provided support to its program in Ghana, the Health Outreach and Peer Education (H.O.P.E.) center. Ashley Pasen, a Weinberg College senior, and Cheryl Middaugh, who received a bachelor’s degree from the Weinberg College in 2004, recently returned from a trip to the opening of the center, a community resource in health education and disease prevention, specializing in HIV/AIDS, malaria and typhoid.

Pasen, who became involved in GlobeMed as a freshman and has majored in Spanish and international studies, studied abroad in Seville, Spain, as a junior. Middaugh also volunteered for six weeks to help develop an AIDS project in Ghana.

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Study Abroad stretches from Mexico to China

Some Study Abroad programs are administered by Northwestern and others are exchanges or direct enrollment arrangements that Northwest-ern has with foreign universities. The majority are run by other universities or organizations that have a close working relationship with the Study Abroad Office.

Of the more than 100 programs available for the 2006-07 academic year, these are some of the offerings that will be administered by the Study Abroad Office and other campus offices:

• China (Beijing): Public Health in China, Science/Engineering in China and Emerging Legal and Economic Structures

• Croatia: Dubrovnik Summer Program

• Czech Republic: Prague Summer Program

• France: Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po.), Ecole Polytechnique, European Union Studies (Sciences Po.), Northwestern/Sciences Po French Study Abroad Program (in partnership with Internships in Francophone Europe), Public Health in Europe: Policies and Institutions (Sciences Po.), IES-Arles Summer Program (in cooperation with department of French and Italian and Universite Louis Pasteur)

• India: Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay and Teaching Media in India (for Medill Students)

• Italy: Verona Summer Program

• Mexico: Public Health in Mexico and Mexico in Transition: The 2006 Elections

• Poland: Krakow Summer Program

• South Africa: Public Health in South Africa, Global Healthcare Technologies and Teaching Media in South Africa (for Medill Students)

• Switzerland: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)

• Thailand: Bangkok/Chiang Mai Summer Program

• Turkey: Istanbul Summer Program

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Undergraduates who have studied abroad

Graduating Seniors: 27 percent in 2005, 4 percent in 1999.

Graduating Seniors By School (2005): Medill 44%. Weinberg 33%. Education and Social Policy 31%. ommunication 22%. Music 16%. McCormick 8%.