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More than 150 students are studying in Australia and New Zealand; South Africa; Guatemala; Scandinavia; the Bahamas; Hawaii; and Germany and the Czech Republic during interim session.
This is the 30th year in which Lafayette is offering concentrated, three-week courses during the interim session between regular semesters led by faculty well-suited to teach them because of their experience and expertise. In many courses, students meet prominent business people, cultural figures, government officials, and academics, learning directly from these experts about the subject matter they are studying. In May, students will also head to Florence and the United Kingdom to take similar faculty-led, concentrated courses following the final exam period. (See course descriptions below.)
Many participants in both January and May will experience these courses without payment of program costs as a benefit of being a Marquis Scholar.
Lafayette offers a variety of faculty-led and other study abroad programs. For information, contact Roxanne Lalande, director of study abroad programs and professor of foreign languages and literatures, (610) 330-5918 or lalander@lafayette.edu.
A close relationship between faculty leader and students is the hallmark of Lafayette’s faculty-led semesters abroad in Athens, Greece; Brussels, Belgium; Madrid, Spain; Bremen, Germany; Dijon, France; and Kumasi, Ghana.
Students take classes from Lafayette faculty as well as faculty of host institutions. They also take part in field trips planned and led by Lafayette faculty with the help of local organizers. The cost is the same as a semester on campus and includes airfare. Grades and financial aid are fully transferable for the extent of each semester abroad.
The Lafayette faculty members help students with problems they may encounter with local transportation, living with their host family, or other aspects of adjustment to a new culture and living environment. Students can travel on their own and integrate themselves into the new culture.
In the spring semester, students will be participating in a faculty-led semester in Bremen, led by Erol Ulucakli, associate professor of mechanical engineering.
In addition to the faculty-led programs, Lafayette has affiliations with many colleges and other organizations through which students study in many countries. Grades and financial aid are fully transferable. In the fall, students participated in affiliated programs in Australia, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland. Students are scheduled to participate in affiliated semester-long programs in some of those countries plus Africa, Argentina, Hungary, Chile, China, Ecuador, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, and South Africa, this spring.
Here are the descriptions of the courses in January 2008:
Envisioning Environmental Science: Australia and New Zealand
Taught by Roger Ruggles, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Arthur Kney, associate professors of civil and environmental engineering
This course explores the true interdisciplinary nature of environmental science through observation, discussion, and readings. The course intends to demonstrate how all areas of study at Lafayette College (Humanities, Social Sciences, Engineering, and Natural Sciences) when integrated together provide knowledge and skills to truly understand and communicate issues impacting our environment. Australia and New Zealand provide the unique environmental setting that is the focus of the course. The class will explore Fiordland National Park, the Dart River, the Antarctic Center, population centers of Queenstown, Christchurch, Sidney, and Cairns, and the Great Barrier Reef.
The Open Wall and the New Europe of the 21st Century: Berlin, Prague, and Munich
Taught by Rado Pribic, Oliver Edwin Williams Professor of Languages and chair of the international affairs program, and Robert Weiner, Jones Professor of History
With the opening of the Berlin Wall, Germany and the rest of Europe are facing rapid political, social, and economic changes. This course re-examines the events leading to two world wars, the division of Europe, and the new European reality in the 21st Century. Through visits to historical sites, meetings with people in East and West, readings, and class discussions, students obtain an understanding of the events and ideologies that made history and today’s new reality in Europe.
Voices of South Africa
Taught by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger, professor and head of foreign languages and literatures, and assisted by Nana Addo Opoku ’05
South Africa, the “Rainbow Nation,” is built on the diversity of its people practicing many cultures and religions, and speaking 11 official languages. In 1994, the first democratic elections were held ending four decades of apartheid. Its society drives an energetic world of culture that draws on African, European, and Asian roots and breathtaking scenery to forge a distinct identity. Unfortunately, South Africa also suffers under the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This course introduces students to South Africa and confronts a variety of “voices” on the country’s history, society, languages, cultures, and natural wonders.
Guatemala: Innovations in Development
Taught by Mark Crain, Simon Professor of Political Economy and chair of Policy Studies, and Nicole Crain, visiting professor of economics and business
This course explores opportunities for and impediments to economic progress in Central America, focusing on Guatemala as a case study. Preliminary lectures and readings will examine the historical, cultural, religious, and social background of Guatemala and Central America. Subsequent discussions and seminars led by political and business leaders address policy initiatives and explore the elements underlying successful policies and enterprises. The class will experience the geographic diversity of this country through visits to the rainforest, a volcano, and the waterfront. Class will take place in the ancient capital of Antigua, Guatemala City, Tikal, Panajachel, and native markets among other destinations.
West Indian Identities
Taught by John McCartney, professor of government and law and chair of Africana Studies, and Samuel Hay, visiting professor of government and law
This course introduces students to the key political and economic issues facing the nations of the Caribbean. Attention will be given to the relationship between West Indian culture(s) and West Indian literature(s). The class will take place in the Bahamas.
Scandinavia: Northern Lights (Kierkegaard, Ibsen, Strindberg)
Taught by Joseph Shieber, assistant professor of philosophy, and Alix Ohlin, assistant professor of English
This course examines central themes in the work of Kierkegaard, Ibsen, and Strindberg in their cultural and historical context. It involves reading and discussing a number of their major works, visiting the cities in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden that shaped them, viewing artwork and attending theatrical works that influenced them or that were, in turn, influenced by them, and examining the political, economic, and cultural upheavals in Europe in the 19th century that shaped their thought.
The Geologic Evolution of the Hawaiian Islands
Taught by Lawrence Malinconico, associate professor of geology and environmental geosciences, and Dru Germanoski, Van Artsdalen Professor and head of geology and environmental geosciences
This course provides students with an understanding of how volcanic processes, geomorphic processes, and coastal processes have shaped, and continue to shape, the Hawaiian Islands. The course focuses on volcanism, landform development, and coastal processes. The Hawaiian Islands provide a unique opportunity to study active volcanic processes building the islands in conjunction with geomorphic processes which alter the volcanic landscape. While most people associate active volcanoes with Hawaii, few realize that surface and groundwater flow, glaciers, and coastal processes are actively reshaping the landscape. The Hawaiian landscape ranges in age from 25 million years to minutes old. Students have the unique opportunity to study the volcanic processes creating the islands and then see how the soils, landscapes, and coasts have evolved through time. In addition, the influence of climatic variation on vegetation and landscapes is dramatically demonstrated.
Two courses will be offered in May/June, following final exams:
Florence: Birthplace of the Renaissance
Taught by Diane Ahl, Rothkopf Professor of Art History, and Rado Pribic, Williams Professor of Foreign Languages and chair of the international affairs program
This on-site course explores the brilliant artistic and literary culture of Florence during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Its primary text is the city and its monuments; its buildings, from church to palace; its art, including masterpieces by Giotto, Donatello, Botticelli, and Michelangelo; and its literature, including such classics as Dante’s Inferno, and Boccaccio’s Decameron. Visits to Venice, Assisi, and Rome enhance our understanding of this extraordinary age.
Ethical and Social Issues in Healthcare in the U.K. and the U.S.
Taught by Alan Childs, professor of psychology, and Stephen Lammers, Manson Professor of the English Bible
This course is a traditional seminar that will explore the ethical and social issues of healthcare from two different perspectives, that of the United Kingdom and the United States. The seminar will focus on discussions of readings which examine how culture, history, and ethical decision-making, along with social and psychological factors, have influenced how health care is delivered and consumed in these two countries.
Healthcare and Society Internship
This is part of the Ethical and Social Issues in Healthcare course. It will involve an internship experience in a healthcare organization in London. The student will spend four days a week, for five weeks, in this placement. These internship opportunities include medical and psychiatric hospitals, clinics, shelters, research laboratories, rehabilitation clinics, special schools, drug awareness programs, advocacy groups, governmental agencies, non-governmental agencies, members of parliament and veterinary clinics just to mention a few possibilities.