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 groups 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 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 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. |