Students and faculty recently have spread their wings outside these shores, studying and researching abroad while forming new relationships with people far and wide.

From faculty research in Spain and new links with Chinese institutions to cultural immersion/global experiences and courses held in Europe and Africa, members of Fairleigh Dickinson continue to reach out to the international community.

Global Scholars and other students from the Metropolitan Campus traveled to South Africa during the winter break for a two-week immersion into the culture, life and society of this rapidly developing nation. The one-credit, experiential-learning course is an optional component of the Global Scholars program, which features a diverse group of students who live and study together. The program is run jointly by Jonell Sanchez, associate dean of students (Metro), and Rick Isquith, executive director for global partnerships (Metro/Flor).

Jonell Sanchez, fourth from left, associate dean of students (Metro), and Judy Manton, right, Core (Metro), traveled with students to the Cape of Good Hope, the south-western point of Africa. From left are, Christina Torres, Ken Malagiere, Mike Richtmyer, Sanchez, Dora Argueta, Kimberly Veras, Yalissa Alfaro, Jennifer Torres, Brian Maloney and Manton.

Sanchez, who had visited South Africa five times previously, led the trip along with faculty member Judy Manton, Core (Metro). Sanchez said the students enjoyed a great learning experience. “They were able to see the world is bigger than the United States,” he said. “They saw that people share similar feelings about life. Ultimately, such experiences give them a better appreciation of the interconnectedness of the world.” He added that the major goal of the trip was to study the impact of Apartheid and its implications on civil society.

Among the highlights of the trip were visits to the University of Stellenbosch (north of Cape Town) and Vista University in Port Elizabeth, where students heard a lecture on civil society, politics and education in South Africa. Students also went on a tour of Cape Town, visited the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and the Addo Elephant National Game Reserve, and spent an afternoon on Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was kept prisoner).

Sanchez said that students saw the diversity of the country, traveling to distinctive ethnic communities. In the same day they visited the wealthy Cape Peninsula and journeyed to less affluent townships. Students were assigned daily readings in South African newspapers and were also required to read the autobiography of Nelson Mandela.

This spring semester, two courses, SPAN2011 Spanish Civilization and SPAN3410 Contemporary Spain, survey Spanish culture through readings and assignments and include a cultural excursion to Spain. Students traveled to Madrid, Seville, Cordoba, Granada and Barcelona for two weeks in January and are now completing classroom work. Teaching the courses are Laureano Corces, modern languages (Flor), who has taken students to Mexico and Spain for the past four years, and Monica Cantero, modern languages (Flor).

Eighteen students traveled with Corces and Cantero to Spain and visited major museums and historical sites including the Prado Museum and the Palacio Real (both in Madrid), the Alhambra (in Granada) and the Gothic Quarter and Picasso Museum (in Barcelona). The cultural excursion introduced students to Spanish life through extensive walking tours of the cities and meals at local restaurants. Students also attended performances of flamenco dancing and went to see a contemporary Spanish film.

During the trip, each student prepared a file with information regarding specific cultural topics. They also were asked to take pictures and notes for their topic files. Corces said, “Hence, Spain became an endless classroom in which readings in the text came to life as students discovered its cultural legacy.”

Left photo: Laureano Corces, left, modern languages (Flor), explained a painting to College at Florham students Kathryn Tirrell, center, and Kimberly Edmond, right, in the Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain. Right photo: Raymond Baylouny, left, chemistry (Flor), and Jaume Vilarrasa, organic chemistry, University of Barcelona, Spain, discussed their research during winter sesssion in Spain.

Raymond Baylouny, chemistry (Flor), spent a semester last year at the University of Barcelona in Spain working with Jaume Vilarrasa, professor of organic chemistry, head of five professors and 31 research students. His work involved the molecular modeling of antibiotics plus a review of the Staudinger reaction as it applies to the formation of peptide bonds. During this winter session, Baylouny returned to Spain to work with Vilarrasa and prepare their research findings for publication.

In late fall, New College of General and Continuing Studies’ Public Administration Institute held a nine-day international program at FDU’s Wroxton College and the Center for Superior Studies in Barcelona, Spain. The graduate study course, titled “Global Preparedness for Catastrophic Emergencies,” was attended by 24 community leaders from the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area who studied numerous subjects including emergency management, hazardous risk analysis, social dimensions of disasters, disaster recovery and organizational continuity, the psychology of terrorism, counterterrorism, weapons of mass destruction, bio-defense mobilization and cyber security and forensics.

New College Executive Associate Dean for Off-campus Programs Ronald Calissi (Metro/Flor) facilitated the program, which began with an introductory session in Dickinson Hall on the Metropolitan Campus with guest lecturer Ron Lachan, an Israeli counterterrorist expert, and ended with a networking/student project presentation session.

New College Dean Kenneth Vehrkens (Metro/Flor) said, “The combined Britain and Spain experience, with leading authorities presenting their perspectives on the subjects covered, made for a complete immersion of knowledge and strategies to compare with the United States’ position on these critical issues.”

Additional courses of this nature will be regularly scheduled with Wroxton College and other European cities, added Vehrkens.

The Samuel J. Silberman College of Business Administration has signed agreements with Northeastern University (NEU) and Shenyang University (SYU) in Shenyang, China. These agreements are general and delineate preliminary objectives that FDU, in conjunction with NEU and SYU, will work toward. Ronald Heim, associate dean, Silberman College (Flor), traveled to China in January to help establish the programs.

In January, Ronald Heim, second from left, associate dean, Silberman College (Flor), was in China to sign agreements with two Chinese universities. From left are Li Kai, professor, PhD supervisor and dean, School of Business Administration, Northeastern University; Heim; Cai Qingkui, professor, PhD adviser and president, Shenyang University; and Yingxue Gao, secretary of C.P/ Branch Committee, College of Network Education, Northeastern University.

The agreement with Shenyang University involves developing a dual-degree undergraduate program. Students from SYU may spend one or two years at FDU and receive a degree from both universities.

At NEU, the goal is to establish an MBA program that will be taught by FDU faculty over a cable network linking seven cities in China. The feasibility of the instruction originating at FDU and being broadcast interactively over NEU’s cable network currently is being explored.

Eamon Doherty, computer science (Metro), has worked with Cheshire Home, a long-term care facility with locations in Florham Park, N.J., and China, in developing brain-computer interfaces and communication/robotics programs to help the disabled since 1997. In 2002 Doherty and graduate student Tam Wai Wah created a prototype telephone and robotic monitoring system that allows paralyzed people to drive a robot around their house to check on a potential problem. If there is a problem, the person can dial the telephone with a facial/thought-activated computer interface to contact emergency response personnel. In December, Wah delivered a three-page paper, co-written with Doherty in Chinese, to 50 doctors and nurses at the Cheshire Home in Shatin, China. He demonstrated the robot, video camera, dialing program and the bio-controller (interface).

February 2003

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Flor =
College at Florham, Madison, N.J.

Metro =
Metropolitan Campus, Teaneck, N.J.

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