March 7, 2008
Now nearing the end of its second year, the Petters Internationalization Initiative has allowed Rollins professors to travel the world to enrich their teaching.
Experience the Petters Internationalization Initiative Through the Eyes of Rollins Faculty Members...
Assistant Professor of Art Dana Hargrove Traveled to South Africa in August 2007
Assistant Professor of Political Science Shannon Mariotti Traveled to the Czech Republic in May 2007
Professor of Anthropology Robert Moore Traveled to Morocco in January 2007
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Rachel Newcomb Traveled to China in May 2006
Assistant Professor of History Julian C. Chambliss Traveled to China in May 2006
More Information about the Petters Internationalization Initiative
Rollins College has embarked on an unparalleled effort to internationalize. Professors at Rollins are being given opportunities to travel all over the world to see other countries with their own eyes. The Petters Internationalization Initiative, funded by Rollins trustee and parent Thomas J. Petters, enables all faculty and teaching staff to have international experiences. The goal is for teachers to bring what they learn into their classrooms to enrich their teaching. So far, as part of a generous $12-million gift from Petters, almost 100 faculty and staff members have traveled to a variety of countries.
Petters, CEO and chairman of Petters Group Worldwide, is helping Rollins President Lewis Duncan fulfill his goal of enabling every faculty member to have an international experience at least once every three years. Duncan believes “to truly provide a global education for students, you must first internationalize the faculty.”
The first international trip of this initiative was to China in May 2006. For Rollins College Assistant Professor of Anthropology Rachel Newcomb, her trip to China gave her an opportunity to visit a country she never thought she would see. “I have spent a lot of time in the Muslim world and Africa for my own academic research,” Newcomb said. “But China surprised me by being nothing like my expectations for a developing country. It is a place where seeming opposites such as progress and tradition, or communism and capitalism, exist side by side.”
Professor of Anthropology Robert Moore led the group of 22 to China for the inaugural Petters trip. He also went to Morocco, on the northwest coast of Africa, with 15 other Rollins faculty and staff this past January. “As an anthropologist who has done fieldwork in Mexico, Hong Kong and China, I appreciate the educational bonus to be gained from visiting a place—an experience that can’t be matched by reading alone,” Moore said. “Of course, an additional bonus was the simple pleasure of meeting some of the people in Morocco, a people who showed themselves to be extremely hospitable and warm toward us.”
For Assistant Professor of Political Science Shannon Mariotti, taking a trip to the Czech Republic (in Europe) this past May gave her an opportunity to see how a former communist country had transitioned to privatization and capitalism. “This is a subject of relevance to my research and teaching,” Mariotti said. “I learned that privatization in the Czech Republic is, in some ways, a mixed bag with some ambiguous freedoms. The same things some people might praise as liberated progress, others would lament as cultural loss.”
Though the trips focus on faculty and staff, their ultimate purpose is to benefit students. Professors take what they learn during their travels and integrate it into their teaching. “Much of what I learned has stayed with me and will certainly color the way I teach my courses from now on,” said Moore. Newcomb said, “I have managed to incorporate my China experiences into my teaching by offering an in-depth look at China’s rising star as an economic superpower and teaching about Chinese culture. I encourage my students to consider studying abroad in Asia to learn more about this dynamic country.”
“The time I spent in the Czech Republic will help give an added dimension of color and vitality to my classroom discussions of theories of communism and capitalism,” Mariotti said. “I will hopefully be able to translate the feeling of living everyday life under both of these regimes.”
There are other benefits to the trips as well. “One of the most long-lasting changes to come from this trip is new friendships I formed with my fellow sojourners from Rollins,” said Mariotti. “Fifteen of us from across campus went on the trip, and I truly enjoyed spending time with everyone and getting to know people on an entirely different level.”
A trip to Tanzania, on the East coast of Africa, is being planned for next spring. Rollins is also working with three other higher-education institutions to develop a Living and Learning Center in Shanghai. The residential center would create an educational facility in the Chinese city to serve U.S. college students and faculty, U.S. corporate employees and the Chinese business and academic communities. The Center will allow students to take an entire semester’s worth of classes abroad, while continuing to earn credits toward graduation. “This will be an extraordinary opportunity for our students and faculty to study in the world’s most dynamic emerging economy,” President Duncan said.
