International Affairs and the Public Sphere, Fall 2009

The UF Paris Research Center is pleased to announce the inauguration of a new international opportunity for UF students campus-wide. The International Affairs and the Public Sphere program is designed for students who seek to gain an international perspective and to prepare for the global challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century.

• Download the 2009 Program Brochure (PDF)
• Download International Affairs and the Public Sphere 2008 Scrapbook (PDF)

Program Highlights

The Paris Research Center IAPS program promotes cross-cultural understanding for students of diverse career paths through a broad-based, cross-disciplinary approach to international education. The program offers challenging interactive on-site and online courses taught by top UF faculty members and enhanced by excursions, guest speakers, and site visits.

Created to provide high-caliber academic experiences for motivated students campus-wide, the interdisciplinary fall semester IAPS program is designed to benefit from the unique resources provided by the city of Paris. In addition to activities planned to complement on-site coursework, students will participate in exceptional opportunities addressing a broad spectrum of global issues: site visits to Paris’ financial and commercial centers; guest lectures by internationally renowned experts drawn from diverse sectors including government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), and multinational corporations; seminars and workshops organized at the Paris Research Center.

The International Affairs and the Public sphere program will be enhanced by cultural visits and exchange activities, as well as a wide array of optional activities designed to provide an insider's view of Paris. These include networking activities with European business students, language partner activities, openings, concerts and much more.

This program is open to student from all majors; you do not have to speak French to attend. All students with a 3.0 GPA or above are encouraged to apply. This is a competitive program, we advise all interested students to apply as soon as possible.

Students earn 12-16 credit hours for course work completed.  This is a UFIC program so credits earned will satisfy major, minor and university requirements while you live and study in Paris with top UF professors. Bright Futures scholarships cover the tuition for the courses in which you are enrolled.

For more information, please contact Dr. Gayle Zachmann, Director, Paris Research Center (paris-research@clas.ufl.edu or Dr. Susanne Hill of the UF International Center (shill@ufic.ufl.edu).

International Affairs and the Public Sphere – Fall 2009
Instructors & Courses

On-site

• Comparative Political Institutions
  (POS 4956, 3 Credits); Dr. Jeremy Jennings
  Pending CLAS approval
• International Relations and Strategic Communication for Public Diplomacy:
  Relationship Building between Governments and Citizens of Foreign Nations
  (PUR 4932, 3 Credits); Dr. Deanna Pelfrey
• Modern Paris & Contemporary French Culture
  (FRT 4956, 3 Credits); Dr. Gayle Zachmann
  Pending CLAS approval
• Beginning French Language & Culture
  (FRE 1182, 3 Credits)

On-line (choose a maximum of two):

• Principles of Management
  (MAN 3025, 4 Credits)
  MAN3025 is required for the business minor and fulfill Social Sciences Gen-Ed requirements.
  
• Principles of Marketing
  (MAR 3023, 4 Credits)
  MAN3023 is required for the business minor and fulfill Social Sciences Gen-Ed requirements.
  
• Legal Environment of Business
  (BUL 4310, 4 Credits)
• Entrepreneurship
  (GEB 3113, 4 Credits)
  GEB3113 is required for the entrepreneurship minor
• Computing in the Business Environment
  (ISM 3004, 4 Credits)

Course Descriptions 2009

On-site Courses

Comparative Political Institutions
(POS 4956, 3 Credits)
Professor Jeremy Jennings
Pending CLAS approval

This course offers students from across disciplines the opportunity to theorize about, analyze, and grasp the central importance of political institutions and their actors on policies and procedures that affect both the private and public spheres.  The course emphasizes formal institutional structures as well as 'informal' forces of influence on legislatures and executives, including public opinion, media relations, and their intersection with electoral politics on social, regulatory, and economic policy.  The mix of scholarly literature, practitioners' perspectives, and site visits will enable students from different fields to comprehend how the choice of governmental structures, political norms, and socio-cultural forces affect lawmaking across different types of systems.

This course will cover the core debates in the study of comparative political institutions (legislatures and executives and their interaction).  It will begin with a rich theoretical overview of major issues and frameworks for analysis, including constitutional “engineering,” parliamentary versus presidential and semi-presidential systems, electoral rules, party systems, representation, legislative rules of procedure, and “veto players” and their impact on legislative outcomes and executive-legislative relations.  We will then devote ample time to comparing institutional politics in several countries according to their classification: the United States as presidential/“separated” system, France as a semi-presidential or hybrid system, variations of the Westminster parliamentary model in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, and Italy, the impact of bicameral politics in federal countries such as the United States, Germany, and Australia, and an overview of European Union institutions in a supranational federal arrangement.  

The format of the course is that of a small research seminar.  Students will prepare short analytical papers, develop a longer research project, and make occasional in-class presentations.  Guest lecturers by faculty from Sciences-Po in Paris, prominent French and American government officials, and faculty from other institutions in Western Europe will form an important component of the course in addition to field trips to French and European Union government offices.

International Relations and Strategic Communication for Public Diplomacy: Relationship Building between Governments and Citizens of Foreign Nations
(PUR 4932, 3 Credits)
Professor Deanna Pelfrey

The purpose of the course is to analyze the use of strategic communications (e.g., public relations and advertising) in both mediated and human forms to plan, execute, monitor, and evaluate public diplomatic strategies and tactics.  This course, taught as an intensive module, introduces participants to a multidisciplinary approach for the study of international relations and communication: global public relations and public affairs, international business, international strategic management, international affairs, and international communication.  Case studies are an important component of the module, such as the “Shared Values” Campaign of the US Government targeting Middle Eastern citizens, “Citizens for a Free Kuwait” and “Kuwait Thanks America” campaigns, and Colombia’s campaign to gain support for the aid package called “Plan Colombia.”  Experts in public diplomacy and international strategic communication are invited as special guest speakers as part of the course.  Visits to government offices for foreign affairs, international media, and global public relations and public affairs firms allow participants to put concepts and theories into context.

Modern Paris & Contemporary French Culture
(FRT 4956, 3 Credits)
Professor Gayle Zachmann
Pending CLAS approval

What is Contemporary French Culture? What contributes to a society’s world image and its image of itself? Much of modern thought leads us to conceive of the fabric of identity, history, culture and names as historically and situationally determined, a matter of circumstance. To better understand the Paris of today, what is referred to as French culture, and what “French culture” might mean in the context of a modern-day Europe, the goals of this study will be to trace the principal historical events which have formed and transformed the nation state, the mentality and the cultural production for which the country is so well known: its literature, art, cinema and “fashion.” In this survey of the principal political, intellectual, religious, social, and artistic currents that have marked France and France’s image since the Second World War, we will ask what it may mean to be French within a unified Europe. The course is designed to provide a deeper understanding of the historical relations between political and cultural identities and communication. The course will use a background text, program site visits and guest lectures, as well as the students’ own initiatives in Paris. Students are asked to take their learning outside the traditional classroom and into the streets, companies, institutions and cultural happenings of the daily life of the cosmopolitan center. It is recommended that students read the newspaper daily and, if possible, to watch news broadcasts.

Beginning French Language & Culture
(FRE 1182; 3 Credits)
Instructor: TBA

This course, which constitutes the basic sequence in French for the development of skill in the language, is a student-centered, communicative language class that integrates the experience and impressions of students living in Paris. Emphasis is placed on the development of language proficiency and cultural awareness. The student will work on all language skills and is asked to take his or her learning outside the traditional learning environment. Class includes many outside activities. Combines FRE 1130, FRE 1131.

Online Courses (Choose TWO)

Principles of Management
(MAN 3025, 4 Credits)
Prerequisite: junior or sophomore standing with ECO 2023

Fundamentals of management underlying the solution of problems of organization and operation of business enterprises. Required for the business minor and fulfills Social Sciences Gen-Ed requirements.

Principles of Marketing
(MAR 3023; 4 Credits)
Prerequisite: ECO 2013 and sophomore standing

Functions, institutions and methods of marketing goods and services. Relates marketing to the larger economic structure and emphasizes the importance of the consumer. Required for the business minor and fulfills Social Sciences Gen-Ed requirements.

Legal Environment of Business
(BUL 4310; 4 Credits)
Prerequisite: junior or sophomore standing with ECO 2023

Introduction to the legal environment of business and organizations. Emphasis on public and regulatory law and on the social, political and ethical aspects of legal issues in business. Subjects include the nature of law and legal process; administrative law of contracts and torts; business and the constitution; statutory and common law; contracts and torts; business organizations and securities, antitrust, consumer protection and employment law.

Entrepreneurship
(GEB 3113; 4 Credits)
Prerequisite: ECO 2023

Practical, hands-on understanding of the stages of entrepreneurial process. Focus on the decision-making process within a start-up company.  Required for the entrepreneurship minor.

Computing in the Business Environment
(ISM 3004; 4 Credits)
Prerequisite: basic skills for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Internet

This course presents fundamental concepts from two perspectives—that of the individual business computer user and corporate business computing environment. The course familiarizes students with common business computing application; it is not a computer training or programming course. General studies majors (BA-GBA) can take this course to satisfy part of their restricted elective requirement.

Past Programs

• International Affairs and the Public Sphere 2007
• International Affairs and the Public Sphere 2007

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