P R O G R A M S
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The following feature story appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in February, 1996. Although some of the courses, students, and faculty members referenced in the story may have changed in the meantime, it still provides a full and accurate picture of International Programs. For the most current course information and faculty listing, we encourage you to visit the program's homepage.
International Programs
An interdisciplinary approach yields a "complex and textured" understanding of other cultures
Sandra Quiterio '96, an Individualized Degree Program (IDP) student, began her Trinity career as a biology major. But after spending a summer working alongside many Mexicans in an Alaskan salmon-canning factory, she became passionately interested in Mexico and the issues faced by its people. She returned to Trinity, changed her major to Latin American studies, and subsequently spent a semester studying in Guadalajara, where she lived with a working-class family.
Recently, she traveled to Mexico with a human rights organization. She can't wait to return, either as a graduate student or as a human rights worker. At Trinity she found a rigorous academic program that helped her explore her passion for Mexico. Where would she be now if Trinity didn't have an International Studies Program? She is at a loss for words. "I'd hate to think," she says.
Trinity's International Studies Program comprises African, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Russian studies. Students in the program generally choose one region of the world for concentrated, interdisciplinary study. "Some also choose to compare two regions by focusing on a theme such as modernization or ecology," explains Carol Any, associate professor of Russian, and director of the program.
Focus on language
Advanced study of a language relevant to the chosen region, such as Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Russian, or Spanish, is required, as is a battery of courses in history, economics, sociology, political science, religion, literature, and the arts-all of which enable students to achieve a comprehensive understanding of a region and culture. "This requires students to look at a particular country or region from lots of points of view," says Michael Lestz, professor of history and former program director, "and gives them a complex and textured sense of the area or areas."
Over the course of her studies, Sandra Quiterio has learned about the history of Mexico as well as current matters, such as the NAFTA treaty. Her interdisciplinary background has helped her to locate the "clear connections" between the country's history and, for example, the current poverty of many Mexicans and the recent uprisings of indigenous peoples. "These are legacies that date back to colonial times," she says.
Monique Lee '97, an Asian studies major, says the exciting thing about studying a region in the International Studies Program is learning about something that is "living and breathing." It's not a mathematical problem that has already been deciphered or knowledge that has already been understood for centuries, she says. "It's constantly changing. I'll never learn enough."
Illuminating culture
Understanding other cultures is important, says Any, in large measure because of the personal growth and development that usually accompany it. "When you learn about another culture, you find a standard of comparison that helps you to evaluate your own society and yourself," says Any. While many students who go abroad for study return with a certain amount of self-knowledge and a different view of the world, this is even more true of international studies majors, whose curriculum enables them to examine a region using many different methodologies.
Ian Waggett '96, President's Fellow in International Studies, spent his junior year living in the home of a widowed woman and attending classes in the large, industrial city of Irkutsk in central Siberia. "Trinity has a bizarre tradition of sending Russian studies majors to Siberia," he jokes. It sounds like a Soviet-style punishment, but actually, says Waggett, the motivation is to give Trinity students a unique and valuable experience, an experience of Russia rarely available to Westerners.
In addition to the understanding he gained about the place from experience, he was provoked into thinking about his own life. "It made me re-evaluate what it means to live in a prosperous country," he says.
International careers
Many Trinity students choose the major simply because they have an interest in a particular region or culture. This personal interest often translates into a degree that serves graduates well in international business, economic development, or human rights organizations. Julie A. Holt '90, for example, traveled in Guatemala and then joined the Peace Corps after earning her degree in Latin American studies at Trinity. She is now a program recruiter for Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance, an organization based in Washington, D.C.
Greg Milbourne '90, a Russian studies major, is now country manager, based in Moscow, for the world's third largest corporate travel agency. Monique Lee hopes to be a foreign correspondent based in China for a Western publication.
Carol Any believes Trinity's program is distinguished by the depth of the faculty and their qualifications. "We've received our training in these countries," she says. Students have high praise for the professors who teach in the curriculum. Monique Lee gives the example of Ranbir Vohra, Dana Professor of Political Science, who wrote the textbook used in his class about the modernization of Japan. Many of the courses in the international studies curriculum are cross-listed, and faculty from a number of different disciplines work together, sometimes team teaching, to make the major as integrated and comprehensive as possible. Support also comes from other areas of the college, such as the International Programs department, which helps students find appropriate programs of study as well as internships abroad.
Whether students are international studies majors or not, Any urges all students who are considering going abroad to start planning in their freshman and sophomore years to acquire language skills and other knowledge that will enrich their experiences abroad.
Both Any and Lestz point out that the world is more and more becoming a global village where it is necessary for people to understand other cultures and speak other languages. Multiculturalism is increasingly important to employers and educators alike, and the International Studies Program, which has been evolving for more than 15 years, is ready to meet the challenge. Says Lestz, "I think the International Studies Program will play a vital role in the internationalization of Trinity."
- Leslie Virostek