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April 16, 2001

Faculty groups journey abroad for study

Elizabeth Kurylo is communications coordinator for the Office of International Affairs

 

Emory professors will journey all over the world in the coming months, participating in study trips to Germany and Spain and a conference on globalization in Turkey.

Two of the trips are sponsored by the Halle Institute for Global Learning, and the third is sponsored by the Spanish department with support from the Institute for Comparative and International Studies and the Center for International Programs Abroad. All offer faculty the opportunity to expand their intellectual horizons overseas. The hope is that exposure to another country and culture will benefit research and teaching.

For the second year, a group will travel to Germany, departing shortly after Commencement. The 17-day trip, sponsored by the Halle Institute, will include stops in Frankfurt, Dresden, Bonn and Berlin, among other destinations. The group includes 15 professors from law, public health, history, political science, economics, film studies, English, theology, nursing, business and Oxford College.

Before they leave, participants will have attended four orientation sessions and done extensive readings in order to prepare for meetings in Germany with officials from banking, politics, education, government and the media.

Another group of 13 faculty from a variety of schools will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, to attend a conference on globalization at Bogazici University. These professors are participants in the Halle Faculty Seminar, which has been researching the effects of and responses to globalization this semester.

The conference in Turkey is the culmination of the group’s work, according to Thomas Remington, the Halle distinguished professor who organizes the faculty seminar.

“We set this up in order for Emory participants to acquaint their Bogazici colleagues with their work and to learn from colleagues from Bogazici and other colleagues in Turkey,” Remington said, adding that Bogazici was chosen in part because it is an English-speaking university and all the programs are presented in English. “In addition, we were all interested in Turkey as a particularly important country undergoing dramatic change.”

The faculty going to Spain will participate in an intense, four-week language course at the University of Salamanca, two hours northwest of Madrid. They will also study Spanish culture, history and politics, and meet with scholars in corresponding or related fields at Salamanca.

Karen Stolley, the Spanish professor who arranged the trip, said eight faculty members from six departments will go this year. This is the third year of the program, which runs
May 28–June 30.

The Emory Faculty Language and Culture Program in Spain is designed to allow faculty to study in Spain at very little personal cost. Each faculty member can take up to five credit hours (covered under the courtesy scholarship program) within the framework of the Emory Spanish Study Abroad Program in Salamanca. The program covers all expenses related to tuition, room and board, and excursions; participants cover their own travel costs and are encouraged to seek department funding.

The program was designed to help faculty gain the linguistic and cultural competency to undertake research projects in Spanish-speaking countries and to help them incorporate international themes into their pedagogy. Participants are able to learn Spanish quickly and achieve a high level of cultural
literacy.

In addition to those trips, plans are under way for a faculty trip to India next year, which the Halle Institute would sponsor for 15 professors who are not India experts. They will be selected through a competitive process and be drawn from several schools.

 

Back to Emory Report April 16, 2001