Summer 2015

Global Programs’ Newsletter: Spreading the news from our Global Support, Study Abroad, CELOP, and ISSO teams

In this issue:

• The Academic Internship: Spotlight on LA & DC
• BU, University of Padua Exchange Continues
• SAR & CELOP Students Team Up
• History Lesson: BU’s Earliest International Students
• Get to Know CELOP’s New Director
• Did You Know: Travel to Cuba

The Academic Internship: Spotlight on LA & DC

A pillar of BU’s Study Abroad programs, the academic internship combines classroom learning in a student’s academic area with professional work experience. Completing an internship is among the best ways to increase employability after graduation, connect classroom learning to potential future careers, and help students “test” what they might want to do post-graduation. Internships can also be a foot-in-the-door that can eventually lead to full time employment with an organization.

Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA offer students career-focused internship opportunities without leaving the U.S. Once a student is accepted to the Study Abroad internship program, they meet one-on-one with a program manager who assesses their interests and skills, and coaches them through the internship matching process. This includes fine-tuning resumes and cover letters, identifying potential employers, interviewing, and finally matching them with an internship.

Bill Linsman is director of BU in LA which specializes in the media industry and where students work at internships during the day and take classes at night. “In the past twelve years, we’ve hosted over 1,700 students, all drawn here by the fact that entertainment and media are, for the most part, created and managed in Los Angeles,” shares Linsman. “Today 72% of all former LA study abroad students are working in some subset of the communication industry.”

As you might expect, Washington, DC attracts many international relations and political science majors, but the range of internships also attracts students from other CAS disciplines, as well as COM, Questrom, and Sargent. The program connects interns with the more than 12,000 BU alumni all across DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia. “We like to tell students that Washington, DC provides more opportunities per square mile than any other BU program,” says Walter Montaño, director of DC programs. “Many never realize until arriving in Washington that it’s truly a vibrant, youthful city that is just as hip and cool as New York, Los Angeles, or even Boston.”

BU, University of Padua Exchange Continues

In our last issue, we profiled two scholars from the University of Padua in Italy who visited BU this spring as part of our faculty exchange agreement. To bring the exchange full circle, we meet the Boston faculty members who visited Padua this summer.

This year three BU faculty members opted out of a quiet summer break, instead packing their bags in search of scholarly research in Padua, Italy. BU has a number of agreements with international universities which include support for collaborative research, and this exchange draws on a longstanding connection to Padua, where BU also offers numerous study abroad programs. Professors Karl Kirchwey and Emma Previato began their stay in June and have since returned. Professor James McCann arrived in early August.

Kirchwey, who joined BU last fall as the New Creative Writing Program Director within CAS, was already familiar with Italy from his time as Arts Director at the American Academy in Rome. In addition to brushing up on language skills, which he admits had languished since leaving the academy in 2013, Professor Kirchwey made the most of his four weeks in Padua writing drafts of new poems as well as translating works by major twentieth-century poet Giovanni Giudici, whose poetry has yet to be published in book form in English. Before returning to Boston, Kirchwey visited BU’s Study Abroad program based in Padua and read some of Giudici’s poems, talking with students about the challenges of literary translation.

The Padua summer students also benefited from a talk by Emma Previato, professor of mathematics, who offered a general interest discourse titled Art, History, Sustainability: What’s Mathematics got to do with all that. Previato sang the Study Abroad student’s praises, saying, “The scholarly spectrum of the audience was among the most inspiring I ever experienced. Meeting the students was delightful.” Professor Previato was also hosted by the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) during her month-long stay. She described Padua as “a natural choice for a mathematician like myself,” given its historical relevance to many math and physics-related discoveries.

More recently James McCann, a professor of history affiliated with both the African Studies Center and Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range Future, arrived in Italy to work on a research project which investigates landscape history and the ways that human settlement interacts with the physical setting of water, soils, and food systems. In this endeavor, Professor McCann teamed up with Elisabetta Novello, whom readers will recognize as one of the Padua scholars here this past April, and archaeologist Armando DeGuio. McCann keenly observed the value of scholarly exchange, “In my experience, working with other academics while on exchange not only allows for real-time interaction and sharing of ideas, but also forms a basis for continued, long-distance collaboration.”

Faculty interested in scholar exchange opportunities can learn more here.

SAR & CELOP Students Team Up

CELOP’s history of partnering with BU’s other schools and colleges continued this past academic year when the intensive English-language program teamed up with the Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. The educational experience was developed for combined BS/MS students in the Speech-Language Pathology program and bridges undergraduate academic classwork and the graduate clinical practicum by offering SAR students one-on-one interaction with new English language speakers.

In the program, each Speech-Language Pathology student (known as an SLP) was paired with a CELOP English language student. The SLPs met with their CELOP counterparts weekly but also attended a monthly seminar discussion. Weekly meetings allowed Sargent students to gain confidence in their ability to interact with other adults in a goal-focused manner, prior to working with clients who have communication disorders. In return, the meetings gave CELOP students another opportunity to converse in a group setting and expand their contextual understanding of language. Sargent faculty member Elizabeth Gavett led the experience this year, with support from CELOP’s Student Life Coordinator Shelley Bertolino.

“Our students are uniquely positioned to serve as conversation partners for international students,” explained the Dean of Sargent College, Dr. Christopher Moore. “Even with the training that remains ahead of them, they already have academic background on language content, form, and use and are eager to interact with individuals in a helping capacity.”

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive from all involved. In fact the experience was so successful that Sargent faculty decided to require this experience for the combined BS/MS students next year. For its part, CELOP was grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Sargent.

 

History Lesson: BU’s Earliest International Students

The International Students & Scholars Office (ISSO) as it exists today was envisioned in the mid-20th century, but supporting international exchange has been a part of BU’s DNA since decades before. Starting in the 1870’s, curious individuals hailing from countries like England, India, Japan, and Russia became BU’s earliest international students.

The School of Theology (STH) was the first school on campus to welcome an international student in 1874, from Wales, while the School of Medicine matriculated a student from England in 1877. In 1878, BU admitted several students from Japan into the School of Law as well as the now-defunct College of Agriculture. Throughout that decade, students from China, India, and present-day Turkey enrolled in non-degree programs through a special student status.

Special thanks to the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center and Institutional Research for their contributions to this history lesson.

Get to Know CELOP’s New Managing Director

2015 has been an especially noteworthy year for CELOP, BU’s Center for English Language & Orientation Programs. In addition to celebrating its 40th anniversary this fall, the center also witnessed a changing of the guard. When longtime Managing Director Margot Valdivia retired in May, Alan Broomhead took over the leadership position, bringing his experience as former Academic Programs Manager and later Associate Director for CELOP to the role. We sat down with Alan recently to learn more about him and how he got started working in English language education.

On the decision to pursue an English language education career

While teaching in Switzerland, I decided to pursue a master’s in TESOL. It was probably then I knew I’d be committing to a career in language education. Later my work with the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) brought me into contact with many peers from university-based intensive English programs, confirming for me that this was the environment I wanted to work in.

Alan’s most memorable cross-cultural experience

Working in a Japanese high school was especially unforgettable. The idea of strength through cooperation contrasted sharply with the individualism I’d been brought up with. There, uniformed students sat in rows in classes of 45. Discipline involved no yelling but lots of silence. All the students cleaned the school at the end of each day, and teachers would visit students’ homes to talk to parents.

On CELOP’s distinctive and special culture

CELOP attracts faculty and staff who have had intercultural experiences and are passionate about working closely with students who are going through their own intercultural journey. Our lives are enriched every day by our interactions with these amazing students from diverse national and cultural backgrounds who have come from around the world in order to learn English, gain new experiences, and further their education.

Favorite travel destination

It’s hard to choose a favorite, but I love Japan, where I lived for three years and learned the language. I’d also love to visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Did You Know: Travel to Cuba

The recent warming of relations between Cuba and the U.S. has led BU’s School of Theology (STH) to begin undertaking experiential learning trips to the island country. Read the Global Reflection.

Though there have been great diplomatic strides between the U.S. and Cuba, a comprehensive travel and trade embargo still exists. This affects any planned travel, along with the carrying of items, technology, and software to and from Cuba. If you are traveling on University-related activities, you are still required to ensure that your travel falls within the General License as stipulated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and BU provides general license letters to faculty, students, and staff for that purpose.