Loss of a Study-Abroad Pioneer

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports the death of Alan Hall, an associate professor of history at Gateway Community and Technical College in Kentucky. Hall pushed the college in a number of directions, including leading the institution’s first study-abroad course — to France — earlier this spring.

Internationalization Chat Transcript is Online

If you missed today’s live chat on “Innovations in Internationalization” with the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Karin Fischer and Ann Anderson of the University of Washington’s Global Support Project, you can find a transcript here.

Italian Earthquakes Impact Study Abroad

At least two American universities have study abroad programs in the Italian city of L’Aquila, which sustained heavy damage in the earthquakes that struck east of Rome on Monday.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Miami University has an exchange relationship with the University of L’Aquila, where Rector Ferdinando di Orio says the campus was “practically destroyed” and four students were killed in the collapse of a dormitory. 

Officials at Miami say they’ll help out by opening the university to more exchange students from L’Aquila this fall. Miami has no students at L’Aguila this spring and will wait to see the progress of rebuilding before deciding on whether to send students in 2010.

Meanwhile, Georgetown University officials told the The Hoya student newspaper they aren’t yet sure whether a group of 10 Georgetown students planning a summer at L’Aquila will be able to go. Another group of Georgetown students currently in Italy were unaffected by the earthquakes.

Keeping Global Projects Running

Karin Fischer, the international education beat writer at the Chronicle of Higher Education, has a story in the upcoming Friday edition (temporary free access) on the Global Support Project at the University of Washington, which assists faculty and students with research and program abroad.

The Chronicle is planning a live chat on the program on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. EDT. While much of the Chronicle’s site is behind a pay wall, the story and chat will be available at no charge.

The chat guest on Thursday will be Ann Anderson, associate vice president and controller of the University of Washington. As leader of the Global Support Project, Anderson interacts with faculty and staff members in many departments across the university, working on accounting and reporting, grants and contracts, procurement and payment processing.

The story and chat are the first in an “Innovators in Internationalization” series that the newspaper will be publishing over the coming weeks and months.

They’re Americans, Not Canadians

Memo to American students abroad from Amy Elizabeth Smith: Tell the truth when your hosts ask where you’re from. You’re Americans, not Canadians.

Smith, an associate professor of English at the University of the Pacific writing in the new Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required), says she’s noticed too many American students denying their nationality when asked abroad.

Smith spent a semester teaching in Chile and found a good many students who admitted that they’d passed themselves off as Canadians when encountered by locals. The American students are afraid that they’ll be identified as part of the Ugly American that’s such a part of world popular culture.

It’s precisely because of the Ugly American stigma that culturally sensitive students from the United States need to stand up and be counted. Americans aren't all ignorant, aggressive, and badly dressed, but the stereotypes will stand unchallenged if Canada gets the credit for our better-behaved students.

What study abroad is supposed to do — give students a greater sense of independence, not just of action but also of thought — is to give students the ability to critically evaluate the criticisms of their culture and politics and to understand the cultural differences in the purposes of conversation in different lands. But too many students simply choose to hide their selves from the locals. A vital learning experience is lost.

Smith adds:

We don’t need our students to parade the streets of Beijing or Oslo waving American flags. When telling the truth would be genuinely dangerous, then by all means, Vancouver is as good as any port in a storm. But in general, the best policy anywhere is to blend in, respectfully. That is the heart of the matter. Lying about one’s nationality is disrespectful.

Institutions Pursuing Abroad Partnerships

Karin Fischer in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education reports that U.S. universities are getting more serious about pursuing formal relationships with overseas institutions. (Subscription required.)

The arrangements, Fischer reports, “involve multiple departments and disciplines, square with institutional goals, and even tackle global challenges like sustainable agriculture or clean energy.”

Among the institutions currently working on such relationship are Washington University, Indiana-Purdue and New Mexico State. But, Fischer finds, the relationships are often difficult to establish and maintain.

One hurdle is finances. Washington’s relationship with partners in India was bolstered by a $10 million gift from a trustee. Lack of resources, especially in budget-cutting times, keeps more institutions off the global-education stage.

“Differing expectations can derail deals,” Fischer writes. “And in designating preferred partners, college leaders risk alienating professors who don't see the relevance of overseas work to their fields or who are frustrated that an institution they work with was passed over.”