Fairleigh Dickinson is adding to its growing list of international partnerships, while students are immersed in a variety of study-abroad programs.

Currently, FDU’s partnership with institutions in Asia are the most numerous, which is not surprising considering that nationwide, Asian students make up slightly more than half of all international students. But FDU’s Latin American connections are growing rapidly.

In particular, two recent links to Latin America were forged. Under a recent agreement signed with the Organization of American States (OAS) and LASPAU, which administers OAS academic and professional programs, Latin American students will be studying at FDU.

Also, FDU has named the World Trade Center (WTC) Montevideo, Uruguay, to represent it in the MERCOSUR countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay). The WTC Montevideo and its president, Nelson Pilosof, will represent FDU in its efforts to establish academic partnerships in the region. In addition to his position as president of WTC Montevideo, Pilosof chairs the committee on tourism, hospitality and cultural exchange for the World Trade Centers Association.

These links come on the heels of agreements signed with Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) in the Dominican Republic and Galen University in Belize. As part of the program with PUCMM, students from the International School of Hospitality and Tourism Management traveled to Puerto Plata on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic in January for a three-credit course titled Club Management taught by Vilma Mueller, assistant to the director of the hospitality school.

Vilma Mueller, left, assistant to the director, international hospitality/tourism management (Metro), and Lisetty Nigrinis, right, coordinator of multicultural programs, global partnerships (Metro/Flor), joined students at the colonial fort of Fortalez de Puerto Plata during a cultural excursion in the Dominican Republic. Students from left are Sarah Wood, Linh My Ho, Nao Yoshimura, Keisuke Hirosaki, Michael Breitenbach, Mathew Thomas, Tan Tong Ma, Heather Boyle and Joannie Cruz.

The students had the opportunity to compare characteristics of private-club operations in the United States and those rapidly developing in the Dominican Republic. Participants were provided with an overview of the unique world of private-club management with emphasis on the analysis of skills required in managing club operations. Lectures were enhanced with practical experience and included touring a local private golf and country club. Away from the classroom, the students enjoyed the beach facilities and a guided tour of the capital city of Santo Domingo.

Also this winter session, 11 marine biology students from the College at Florham traveled to the Virgin Island Environmental Resource Station on St. John, Virgin Islands, for an in-field experiential learning course. The weeklong program was designed to provide students with a practical learning experience in tropical marine systems. Field activities included a kayak tour of mangrove forests, snorkeling in remote portions of the island, whale watching and hiking tours. Prior to the trip, the students read and analyzed background papers on the systems they would be studying.

The Florham Scholars took advantage of the semester break by traveling to Wroxton College for one week. The 15-student study group participated in a course on Contemporary Britain and visited London, Oxford, Warwick Castle and Blenheim Palace. During this spring semester, the students will enroll in a special section of The Global Challenge. Director of the Florham Scholars Program Naomi Weinberger, political science (Flor), accompanied the students on this overseas learning experience.

Finally, as part of its three spring semester offerings in Spanish, the department of modern languages and literature at the College at Florham provided a cultural excursion for 21 students to Spain in January. Laureano Corces, Spanish (Flor), and Patricia Bazán-Figueras, foreign languages/literature and chair, modern languages/literature (Flor), accompanied the group.

This spring, students are studying at Wroxton College in record numbers. At the end of January, Wroxton welcomed the largest class in more than 25 years. The spring enrollment of 66 students stands as one of the largest classes in Wroxton’s 40-year history. The Metropolitan Campus is home to 12 of the students, and the remaining 54 are from the College at Florham.

More travel adventures are scheduled this summer. The School of Natural Sciences, Metropolitan Campus, is leading an Environmental Field Study in Costa Rica for K-12 teachers as well as offering a three-credit undergraduate course, Human Impact on a Natural Environment, from August 3–14. And, the department of mathematics, computer science and physics, College at Florham, will be offering the three-credit course Math of the Renaissance in Florence, Italy, from June 5–19.

For more information on these and other study-abroad programs, see http://www.fdu.edu/studyabroad.

February 2004

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

Metro =
Metropolitan Campus, Teaneck, N.J.

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