Study Abroad with CLAS
International Studies programs continue to thrive
This article was originally printed in the November 1999 issue of CLASnotes.
This
past summer , CLAS students and faculty participated in a record number of
CLAS-sponsored UF programs in France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Holland, Russia,
England, Morocco, Israel, Mexico, Brazil, and China. Profiles of some of the
study abroad ventures follow.
The UF in Provence program, in its first year, brought 44 students to France from June 13-July 23. They were accompanied by Sylvie Blum, George Diller, Susan Read Baker and Carol Murphy (RLL) and took an array of multi-disciplinary courses in French at Avignon and in both French and English at Aix-en-Provence. Students lived with host families and participated in several excursions which included visits to many sites on the French Riviera as well as historical and archaeological sites in the south of France. Program Director Gayle Zachmann (RLL) looks forward to another very successful program next summer.
Thirty-six students from UF, representing each of the colleges of the University, studied on the CLAS/CFA Rome Program. Co-directed by Michael Paden (RLL) and Barbara Barletta (CFA), they were joined by Gerald Murray (ANT) and Gianfranco Balestriere (RLL). Students took courses in Italian, anthropology of religion, or Etruscan and Roman art history. Classes were supplemented with field trips to Florence and Pompeii and a number of on-site lectures at museums, churches and synagogues. The students were housed in a two-star hotel in the heart of ancient Rome, a five-minute walk to the Pantheon. Preparations are underway for next year's program, which coincides with the Catholic Church's designation of the Holy Year, a pilgrimage initiated by Boniface VIII in 1300 and now held every 25 years.
During Summer B, 17 CLAS students spent six weeks in Mannheim, Germany, taking both beginning and intermediate German language and culture courses. Students were assigned German conversation partners from the University of Mannheim, with whom they met twice a week to introduce them to the local culture and improve their linguistic abilities. Also, the students enjoyed a cruise on the Rhine, excursions to Bonn, to nearby Heidelberg, and to Speyer. One of the highlights of the program, according to Program Director Chris Overstreet (GSS), was a four-day stay in the exciting new capitol of reunited Germany: Berlin.
Now in its 19th year, the highly successful Rio program attracted 24 students for six-weeks of Portuguese language study at the IBEU Language Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Students were hosted by local families and participated in excursions to local historical, cultural and geographical sites, like Sugar Loaf Mountain. Co-directors Charles Perrone and Elizabeth Ginway (RLL) look forward to recruiting for next summer's program.
During the 1998-1999 academic year, more than a dozen UF students studied at Israeli universities in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv and Beersheva. The new Director of Jewish Studies, Kenneth Wald, is actively involved in promoting 2000-2001 study abroad for one year, one semester or the summer.
The Merida program is a 15-year old program that attracted 30 students to the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan this past summer. Students had the choice of a course in Tropical Ecology, with Mark Brenner of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, or a course in Anthropology of the Yucatan with Allan Burns, chair of UF's Anthropology Department. All students also studied Spanish at the beginning, intermediate or advanced levels. The UF program is integrated with the local culture; faculty from the Universidad make frequent guest lecture appearances in the UF courses, and students are hosted by local families. Students spend two or three days in local villages or different ecological zones.
The Utrecht program (July 5 - August 13) attracted 17 UF students, one of whom was a University Scholar researching minorities in the Netherlands and Germany. The program, directed by Sharon DiFino (GSS), covered European and Dutch cultures. In addition to a three-day trip to Antwerp and Brussels, UF participants took Friday field trips with a group of 60 other international students to various locations including their favorite, den Haag (Hague).
The application deadline for these and other Summer 2000 UF Study Abroad Programs is March 1. Please have interested students contact the UF International Center, 123 Grinter Hall.
NOTE: Because many faculty have expressed interest in joining study abroad efforts, this spring a full issue of CLASnotes will be devoted to presenting the varied international opportunities for faculty through CLAS and UF.
Credits
Writer
Carol Murphy, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
