‘i’ll remember this trip’ fifty years of study abroad at uw–madison

‘I’ll Remember This Trip’Fifty years of study abroad at UW–Madison

INTERNATIONAL STUDIESDIVISION OF

Joan A. Raducha

‘I’ll Remember This Trip’ Fifty years of study abroad at UW–Madison

Joan A. Raducha, Ph.D.


“More than anything else in 50 years, I’ll remember this trip.”

Ryan HeRtel, a UW–Madison engineeRing stUdent afteR a seMesteR in floRence

From the article “Worlds Collide” written by Denise Thornton for Wisconsin State Journal, July 24, 2005.

FiFTy years oF sTUDy abroaD aT UW–MaDison

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ....................................................................... page 5

Chapter 1: Changing institution, Changing World ........ page 9

Chapter 2: early Champions ....................................... page 15

Chapter 3: student Pioneers ....................................... page 25

Chapter 4: international academic Programs .............. page 35

Chapter 5: study abroad across the Campus ............... page 45

Chapter 6: study abroad Campus Partners ................. page 53

Chapter 7: Values and Vision ...................................... page 55

Chapter 8: The next Fifty years .................................. page 65

appendices ................................................................. page 73

isbn-978-0-615225-80-7

© 2008 University of Wisconsin system board of regents

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. To view a copy of this license visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by–nc–nd/3.0/us

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THis QUoTe oPeneD the first edition of World Class, the newsletter issued on May 3, 1993. The newsletter was written “by and for students who think internationally” and was a project of the newly formed student advisory Council for international academic Programs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. it was conceived as a vehicle for students to share information about study abroad with each other during one of the several phases when UW–Madison has sought actively to increase the number of students who studied abroad. study abroad is alive and well at UW–Madison thanks to a strong commitment to international learn-ing at the institution. Like many institutions in the United states today, we are committed to providing our students with the types of experiences they need to be globally competent, to become effective world citizens who will advocate for and work toward solv-ing the world’s problems, and to succeed in their pro-fessions. We have created and sponsored study abroad programs with a steady commitment to meet certain objectives that shifted and expanded with the times. but consistently, we have striven to provide experi-ences to allow students to learn about other cultures, to enable them to appreciate other parts of the world, to be able to work effectively with their global coun-terparts, and to understand and appreciate the com-plexities of world systems. i have been associated with the study abroad en-terprise for about twenty years at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. i studied abroad as a student and then served as the on-site coordinator for the College year in india program in Varanasi for two years. These years played a major role in shaping my intellectual direction and, ultimately, my career. During much of the last 18 years, i served as the associate director and then director of international academic Programs while also serving as assistant and then associate dean of the Division of international studies (formerly the office of international studies and Programs), co-ordinating the decentralized infrastructure of study abroad administration on our campus. During those years, i met and spoke with hundreds of students

before, during, and after their experiences abroad and heard many stories of challenges faced, lessons learned, and personal growth. i hired staff both on campus and abroad to work with our programs and made decisions about the direction that program de-velopment should follow. Together with a very able staff, i participated in every stage of the planning and management of programs, from conceiving principles for a solid orientation to middle-of-the-night phone calls about individual emergencies. We managed the repercussions of large tragedies including the evacu-ation of students from sierra Leone after a coup in 1994, advising students and their parents after the events of 9/11, and locating students scattered in many directions during the vacation period in areas affected by the indian ocean tsunami of 2004. This study, focusing on the undergraduate experience abroad, is grounded in all of these experiences. as the university approaches 50 years of study abroad programming, and as i prepare to retire from a career in the Division of international studies, i found myself thinking about how study abroad pro-gramming evolved at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. i was curious about the earliest years when study abroad began. in speaking with colleagues at other institutions, it was always clear to me that Madison had its own approach to study abroad. i wanted to try to define this Madison approach and its roots. My years of direct experience certainly pro-vided me with some insights. For example, my experi-ence confirmed that the decentralized nature of study abroad development and administration throughout its history reflects the very core nature of the univer-sity’s administrative structure. UW–Madison can rea-sonably be described as a federation of schools and colleges with a central administration that provided leadership in some situations and empowered the leadership coming from the constituent units in oth-ers. study abroad development and administration followed very much the same structure. and i was very conscious of the guiding phi-losophy i followed as director. When David Trubek, then dean of international studies and Programs,

Preface“being in a foreign country means walking a tightrope high above the ground without the net afforded a person by the country where he has family, colleagues, and friends, and where he can easily say what he has to say in a language he has known from childhood.”

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

‘I’ll Remember This Trip’

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appointed me as director of study abroad, he clearly stated his expectation: that study abroad would grow with continual attention to quality. He described the process in terms of a bar graph, where quantity (growth in student numbers) was the vertical access and quality (of programs) the horizontal axis. He told me that i would need to avoid thinking only about increasing the number of participants. We joked that we would line students up at the Wisconsin-Canadian border and take them across in buses if a simple nu-meric objective was the only goal (not that a solid program in Canada, Wisconsin’s largest trade part-ner, lacked value). but i was also to avoid too great a focus on any single program or type of program that might be con-sidered by some to be the “ideal.” so, for example, while the ideal for some faculty might be for all stu-dents to spend a full year abroad in an immersion program, using a language other than english, this program model was unlikely to attract every student. Furthermore, to organize and then oversee only this

type of program would demand a disproportionate amount of administrative energy and if it didn’t at-tract many students, perhaps some rethinking was appropriate. in other words, we needed to develop various well-constructed program models that would provide a bona fide experience for students as well as maintain or develop a few of the ideal programs. He told me if i kept the progress line at a 45-degree angle (addressing and balancing quantity and quality) study abroad would thrive. This approach remained a touchstone for my staff and me. beyond my personal knowledge, i have drawn on research in publications, university and office ar-chives—including student reports as well as admin-istrative correspondence and reports, UW–Madison oral history tapes, and interviews i conducted with several key figures who played roles in the inaugura-tion and subsequent development of study abroad in its many dimensions. The generosity of students and colleagues in sharing their memories inspired me as i researched and wrote.

1971–72 College Year in India students, including author (far left front row) in Pan Am terminal in New York. Photo courtesy of Joseph Elder.


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informed by these sources, i have focused this study on the earliest developments and the faculty and undergraduate students involved. i examined the questions of how and why UW–Madison’s programs developed the way they did and what distinguishes them. The development of study abroad offerings for students takes place in a context of institutional as well as national developments and goals. i have tried to illuminate this context in the course of this study. one can read in the papers and reports written over the years, as well in observations of the design of the programs that materialized, how UW–Madison re-thought the objectives of study abroad as the educa-tional and world context changed. The opportunity for students to view other parts of the world firsthand has been the raison d’être for un-dergraduate study abroad: seeing developing nations build their infrastructure after independence, living in a nation as it modernized, becoming acquainted with people in a country recovering from the devastation of a major war or conflict, feeling the effects of major political shifts on everyday life, or learning about the economic realities in another part of the world and realizing possible implications for the United states. The early years of programming focused on lan-guage acquisition and building a commitment to en-gagement with local cultures, their problems, their work styles, their educational modes. as more stu-dents went abroad, considerable attention was paid to the actual course offerings abroad and the compa-rability of this work to Madison coursework. on the one hand, it seemed wise for students to take courses taught by local experts on topics not covered at UW–Madison. on the other hand, questions arose about how such courses should fit into the Madison degree program. in recent years, we have sought to prepare students to work in the global economy, help them develop an understanding of the world’s problems—many of which transcend national boundaries—and train them in the skills (language, cultural) needed to contribute to global security. i have made every effort to portray an accurate outline of the development of study abroad and also have attempted to portray the role played by certain individuals and units on the UW–Madison campus. i explored key events and discovered the challenges faced by some of the first individuals who were in-volved, as well as the motivation that drove their ef-forts to develop and maintain the program. i read the lessons learned by representative students (after all, what is study abroad about if not the student

participants), and viewed the perspectives of the various units within the university that directly ad-ministered or provided infrastructure for the study abroad enterprise. additionally, reports of partner-ships with other institutions and agencies, both U.s.-based and abroad, and documents from these vari-ous sources helped to explain the values and vision that have defined study abroad at UW–Madison. in the process of researching and writing this study, i gained considerable insight into, and appreciation of, the unique character of study abroad programming at UW–Madison. This account attempts to describe the contributions of representative individuals; for the direction of any institution is tied to those indi-viduals who shaped policies and programs according to their interpretation of the values and needs of the institution. a constellation of factors makes UW–Madison’s approach to study abroad unique. First, Madison has an institutional culture that encouraged faculty to be the creative architects of study abroad, hence our program in india—which was the first of its kind for U.s. students. Faculty input is also apparent in the first U.s. professional program abroad designed specifically for engineering students—established in the somewhat less predictable locale of Mexico, no less. Furthermore, the program in aix-en-Provence, France, came to totally imbibe the concept of an im-mersion experience. second, UW–Madison’s strong commitment to area studies created an environment that led to programs outside Western europe (in sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Thailand, for example) before these areas became more widely accepted des-tinations. Third, from the beginning, UW–Madison made a commitment to look to the academic base, to individual faculty or particular departments or schools and colleges, to provide the intellectual basis for deci-sions about the fundamentals of study abroad. This philosophy led to a compendium of programs that were tied closely to specific academic programs and goals, what has become popularly known in study abroad parlance in recent years as curriculum integra-tion. Fourth is a willingness—indeed, eagerness—to change direction in response to new and developing needs and demands. Thus, study abroad shifted from an honors-only system to a more inclusive model with the recognition that study abroad could be a benefit to virtually any UW–Madison student. We learned that programs for science students were not only pos-sible but desirable, given the increasingly international nature of scientific discovery.


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i wish to acknowledge and thank many of those who have assisted me in the course of this study: my husband John Grace, who read drafts at every stage and offered encouragement and, when needed, criti-cism; Joan Krikelas, who skillfully edited the entire text over a period of days for which i can never repay her; Mike Hinden, Cathy Meschievitzs, and silvano Garofalo, who read and offered suggestions after read-ing a first draft; Masarah Van eyck who brought the project to completion with her expertise, energy, and kindness; Marianne bird bear, who lent her profes-sional organizing energy to supply necessary support staff; students andy Guinn, for conducting prelimi-nary research in the university archives and assembling files and data, and sara Jerving, for her work in several areas including data tables, scanning and organizing photos, and other administrative tasks; and Charlie Webster, for producing an excellent set of data tables. Thanks to sue Kummer for help with copy editing the final proofs, and to eileen Fitzgerald and nancy rinehart at University Communications Creative services for designing this book. i also wish to thank those who consented to be interviewed and provided me with their firsthand recollections of study abroad as they knew it, listed here in the order in which i spoke with them: silvano Garofalo, baydallaye Kane, Michael Hinden, rob Howell, r.D. nair, andrea

Poehling, Henry Hart, Mert barry, Tom Trautmann, Ken shapiro, sharon baumgartner, Larry Meiller, bob aubey, Dave Johnson, edwin young, Marianne bird bear, Janie Johnson, Ted Crabb, Warrington Colescott, Tom Chapman, and bob Tabachnick. i am also grateful to Joe elder who loaned me his ex-tensive files on the india program and answered many questions as they arose. i also extend thanks to Joe elder, John Ferrick, amanda Hammatt, Julie Lindsey, Katie sauer, and Judy symon Hanson who provided many of the student photos included in the text, and to sandy nuzback who went with me to storage to find and retrieve boxes of dusty program files from the early years. Jim Delehanty generously provided easy access to african studies Program files. i also wish to thank the staff at the UW–Madison archives, particularly the director, David null, who was gra-cious in response to every request for a box of files in the deep hollows of the library and in orienting me to the archive in general. Finally, i wish to acknowl-edge and thank Gilles bousquet who, as dean of the Division of international studies, gave me the free-dom to complete this study in the last months of my service to the Division of international studies. i have tried to correctly represent the facts and to interpret their meaning; i ask the readers forgiveness for any misinterpretations.

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THe HisTory oF THe University of Wisconsin during the period in which study abroad began is well documented in e. David Cronon and John W. Jenkins’ The University of Wisconsin: A History 1945–1971—Renewal to Revolution, Volume IV. The volume describes the significant growth in faculty, sup-port staff, and students in the quarter century following the second World War,1 including events leading up to the establishment of a University of Wisconsin system of which Madison was the flagship institution. The increase in faculty and staff brought an in-tellectual diversity to the Madison campus. Many of the faculty had served overseas during World War ii, some holding key positions in the office of strategic services. They brought an international perspective to their faculty positions that recognized the vital importance of cultural and linguistic knowledge. at the same time, a number of significant structural changes occurred resulting in an expansion of depart-ments, centers, and institutes including several that were focused on international education. The newly expanded number of faculty alone enlarged the intel-lectual horizons in many traditional departments into the broader international arena.2

During the 1950s and 1960s, several units within the university engaged in international service and training projects at an institutional level. Previously, the faculty who did international work had found their individual way abroad as researchers and con-sultants.3 in the post–World War ii years, the uni-versity began to explore institutional projects to complement the overseas work that faculty had been doing individually. UW–Madison played an impor-tant role in providing technical assistance to india and indonesia in the post-independence years. Dean of education John Guy Fowlkes was an advisor to the newly formed Ministry of education in india. at the same time, Dean of engineering Morton owen Withey was profoundly committed to helping poor countries; and U.s. foundations and the government had recognized newly independent india as one of the poorest and neediest.4 several faculty from the

College of engineering participated in a program to build engineering education in india in the 1950s. They went to india to teach and, perhaps more im-portant, brought many faculty of the budding indian institutes for Technology (iiT) to the United states for an apprenticeship-like program in which an indian faculty member taught alongside a UW–Madison faculty member. They then returned to india with the new pedagogy that they experienced and used it to build their home institutions. From 1957 un-til 1965, both the College of engineering and the Department of economics also engaged in a program to build departments within Gadjah Mada University in indonesia. Foundation and federal funding made these efforts possible.5

in 1960, the university established the Committee on area, Language, and international Programs. This committee compiled information on international programs underway on campus and provided the basis for a request to the Ford Foundation in late 1961.6 in a memorandum dated september 1961 from Professor Clifford Liddle, school of education, to Professor Henry Hill, the chair of the committee, a sub-group of the larger committee expressed its judgment about the need for a coordinative body on campus. (The sub-group was made up of three members from the school of education—Guy Fowlkes, the former dean, Lindley stiles the dean at the time, and Clifford Liddle, as-sociate dean—as well as Dean of engineering Kurt Wendt.) Their five points, summarized here, arrived out of a discussion on ways to facilitate joint plan-ning regarding international education and focused particularly on india programs:

1) “The university is destined to become more and more involved in education on the international level during the next quarter century.”

2) [noted that services would be needed for UW stu-dents, training programs for professions from india, and foreign students from across the world.]

3) “We endorse the idea of a coordinator of interna-tional education for the University of Wisconsin

ChApTEr 1

Changing institution, Changing World


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and urge that steps be taken in the very near future leading to the establishment of such a post.”

4) [encouraged joint planning between the schools and colleges.]

5) “adequate financial support is absolutely essential.”7

With the promise of Ford Foundation support on the horizon, and perhaps influenced by the opin-ions of faculty such as the one expressed in the memo above about the need for a coordinator, the univer-sity created the office of international studies and Programs (oisP) in January of 1962. oisP served as an administrative unit and became the home for administering year-abroad programs centrally as well as coordinating campus international efforts. History Professor Henry Hill headed the office first as coordi-nator, then as director, and eventually as dean. oisP was established to coordinate campus plan-ning for international activities in education, develop-ment, and research. in particular, it was to coordinate the applications for both federal and foundation fund-ing for the newly expanding area studies programs. in addition, the new office set about developing study abroad program models, creating the mechanisms for the academic, financial, and student service adminis-tration related to study abroad programs, and then managing them. oisP operated within a policy framework estab-lished by the University of Wisconsin system board of regents in March of 1961:

With the passing years, the welfare of the peo-ple of Wisconsin has become increasingly tied to national and international developments. it is logical, therefore, that the scope of the Wisconsin idea should be broadened. The years ahead certainly will see the University of Wisconsin more active on the national and in-ternational scene, the public sphere as well as in research and instruction.

The university’s contribution to international understanding also shall include exchange of students and faculty, official visits, research ap-plicable to problems of underdeveloped coun-tries, and similar functions it is uniquely able to perform. The interdependence of the world’s people, the ease of travel and communications, the rising importance of other cultures, and the quest for peace have tended to make the globe our campus. This trend we encourage.8

The period between 1945 and 1971, during which much of this international expansion occurred, was marked by three “insider” presidents, edwin b. Fred (1945–58), Conrad a. elvehjem (1958–62), and Fred Harvey Harrington (1962–70).9 Fred and elvehjem were both biological scientists and neither placed the highest priority on developing the interna-tional dimension of the university; their interests were on the sciences and growing the university in general. Harrington, a historian whose field was U.s. for-eign policy, was another matter. in the late 1950s, Harrington, a professor of history, joined the campus administration without a specific title, however “in correspondence he called himself coordinator of so-cial science research.”10 subsequently, he became vice president for academic affairs and then vice president before becoming president. one of his goals was “to attract outside foundation and federal support for UW social science programs.”11 among the areas with the potential to attract support were international educa-tion, research, and training. along with his faculty col-leagues, he pursued Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation opportunities as well as federal funds through the national Defense education act. The importance of available outside funds cannot be un-derestimated. Harrington’s vice president, robert L. Clodius, is quoted as having said, “there is no question that the Ford Foundation approach helped us to pull our university structure together.”12

H. edwin young emerged as a campus leader who encouraged international activity. He himself had been involved in a number of development proj-ects as well as in higher educational seminars overseas. in fact, he was called back from a project in Pakistan to assume the role of dean of the College of Letters and science, which he held from 1961–65. His sup-port of the newly formed office of international studies and Programs included critical administrative support for the fledgling office such as the delegation of staff to work on specific projects and to process necessary financial transactions. Faculty interest, new structural changes, leader-ship from the top, and new external resources together encouraged the expansion of international curriculum, research, and service programs across the campus. The local interest in increased international opportunity re-flected the commitment of national leadership in this area, with the Peace Corps and the Fulbright program soon to be launched. recognition in Madison of the need to develop study abroad opportunities for stu-dents occurred naturally within this context.


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The Beginning of Study Abroad

UW–Madison was not among the very first univer-sities in the United states to develop or offer study abroad programs. However, interest in international learning via sponsored programs emerged in many venues in the post–World War ii era. as early as 1949, students noted the need for organized international experiences. an editorial entitled “Travel abroad enriches education” in the Daily Cardinal13 praises the national student association (nsa) for organiz-ing summer tour experiences abroad. These tours enabled students to see and then report firsthand on conditions in various european countries. The nsa, not without controversy over time (including ques-tions about its backers), continued to operate such tours for years, though financial problems did arise.14

in 1958, oisP began plans for the first three University of Wisconsin study abroad programs for credit. Without any centralized study abroad office in place, the programs were administered by the University of Wisconsin–extension division. While extension had been offering off-campus programs, this was the first venture outside of the United states. University of Wisconsin–extension at that time was the administrative home for experiential education. and the summer session was a popular timeframe for off-campus courses.15

The study abroad programs were scheduled for four to eight weeks in length, to coincide with the sum-mer session in 1959. The participants were required to demonstrate or acquire knowledge of the area prior to participation. This was accomplished through prior class preparation for students and through a series of special lectures that were open to the general public, and were mandatory for participants.16 The emphasis on prior preparation to ensure the educational nature of the program, making these more than “tours,” re-flected the general approach that characterized the efforts that followed. These pilot programs for study abroad opened a campuswide discussion on the rel-evance of study abroad for credit. While two of the three overseas programs ended up operating as noncredit programs for community participants, and thus are not to be considered truly study abroad designed for UW–Madison students, there was one program that offered university credit to both undergraduate and graduate students. in fact, the brochure announcing the program, entitled “art Classes in europe,” prominently highlighted that it was “approved for Credit.”17

some in the academy in the 1950s viewed travel-study tours with skepticism. Their concern focused on the extent to which the travel venue truly enriched learning and whether there was adequate faculty su-pervision. “art Classes in europe” adequately ad-dressed these two areas of concern. The logic of creat-ing art in the presence of the original rather than from a reproduction was compelling and obvious. and hav-ing Warrington Colescott, who was then chair of the Department of art and art education, design and lead the program erased any concerns about adequate faculty supervision. Colescott had taught courses for UW–extension prior to developing the idea for this seminar. He en-joyed teaching classes to the community, remember-ing fondly the “sunset painters” class that met at loca-tions around Madison, and the class taught in a bank in racine. These experiences supported the idea that out-of-classroom locations were a viable and in many cases superior place to teach the arts. He had spent years in europe, including one as a Fulbright scholar and an-other on a Guggenheim fellowship. He had, himself, studied masterpieces in museums. He had also studied and worked in well-known art schools and workshops in several european cities. in addition, he had developed a wide circle of acquaintances in the art world in each of the study abroad countries, and laid plans to introduce students to european colleagues and budding artists. He developed a plan that enabled students to re-ceive credit for the courses taken abroad as though they were on campus. He then personally pursued the idea, “selling it” to the administration in extension, the school of education, and the Graduate school. Colescott’s plan received an enthusiastic reception. extension took care of the business side (advertising, collecting funds), Dean rudy of the Graduate school agreed to the suggestion of credit for graduate stu-dents, and Dean Palmer of the school of education, a supporter of the arts, was “on board.”18 The bro-chure advertising the program described Colescott’s plan for the program (depicted on page 12). The summer session in europe is, in effect, an extension of the University of Wisconsin 1959 summer session…offering a number of graduate and undergraduate credit courses regularly given by the Department of art and art education. These courses have been reorganized to take advantage of firsthand experiencing of the art treasures of england, France, italy, and spain. The brochure further noted that the aim of the seminar was to work from originals rather than


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reproductions of great art works and highlighted the low-cost nature of the tour. it also declared that class work would be restricted to the mornings (except for graduate students where research was expected on an independent basis), to allow students to enjoy related cultural experiences, especially in music and theater. This first program allowed students to register for a variety of courses: basic Drawing, Watercolor, art survey, advanced art Problems, independent study, and advanced art survey. students traveled to england (London), France (Paris, Les eyzies, albi, st. remy, Juan Les Pin), italy (Verona, Padua, Venice, ravena, assisi, rome, siena, Florence, Milan), and spain (Madrid, Toledo, segovia, el escorial) during an eight-week time span that matched the summer session on campus. The fee of $1,115 covered travel, hotel, and breakfast plus one other meal. in addition, students were assessed tuition at the current rates: $10 per undergrad credit and $16.50 per graduate credit. Together with some spending money, the total cost was estimated at $1,300.19

Professor Colescott described the program that resulted from his “bold idea” as an unmitigated suc-cess. The students were hardworking and motivated and the group size, limited to 18 participants, was kept small enough to allow him to oversee each of their work. He described the atmosphere in europe at the time as warm and welcoming to americans and noted that certain arrangements made the ex-perience easy for student travelers—museum passes were secured and living arrangements inexpensive and reliable, for example. Museums allowed students to work in front of the great works of art. His col-leagues were happy to meet with his class. in ad-dition, he had organized meetings of the program participants with students from art schools in the cities they visited—providing the opportunity for a robust exchange of ideas during a period when there was considerable interest in how americans were thinking. Colescott remembered the “unbelievable” opportunities such as the ability of students and professors to “trot down” close to the 16,000-year-

Brochure proudly announcing first UW–Madison study abroad program “approved for credit.” From the personal files of Warrington Colescott.


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old paintings in the Lascaux Caves, standing near the delicate paintings wearing lighted mining caps. Throughout the program, students had worked in sketchbooks at his direction. He wanted to maxi-mize portability, allowing students to work in many different locations. These sketches provided partici-pants with ideas they could bring home and develop and expand into more meaningful works of art in the studio setting. Upon return, some of the work of the participants was exhibited in the department gallery and the group itself formed such tight bonds that years of group reunions followed.20

The beginnings of study abroad, conceived as an ongoing activity, extend to 1960 when a faculty member from the Madison campus, in an informal ar-rangement with the host institution abroad, helped a student from beloit College to be admitted as a casual student at Delhi University for the 1960–61 year. at the same time, another student was encouraged to study at the University of aix-en-Provence in France. These students represent the vanguard that opened the door to two of UW–Madison’s earliest college year abroad programs. one of UW–Madison’s first two study abroad planning objectives of the inaugural phase came to fruition in india in 1961–62. students studied lan-guage during the summer before they participated.

During the program year they continued language study and also took tutorials from local experts. They participated initially in a service-learning project and subsequently in various fieldwork projects that result-ed in a lengthy paper and, in some cases, a film. The second was the creation of a program for en-gineering students in Mexico. it was an extraordinary departure from the traditional year-abroad model common among those U.s. universities engaged in study abroad at that time. (Most often, study abroad participants were liberal arts students who primarily traveled to Western europe to take classes that often were taught especially for them, although some were affiliated with local institutions.) The next major step was the creation of an infra-structure that would support the expansion of study abroad opportunities in future decades. This resulted in the deliberate creation of a “model” Junior year abroad program, with a carefully selected location in aix-en-Provence, France. This program, shared with the University of Michigan, created a paradigm for several other european programs developed in some-what quick succession. These programs became the foundation on which future opportunities developed over the years in response to student demand and the growing awareness across campus of the value and opportunities presented by education abroad.

1 e. David Cronon and John W. Jenkins, The University of Wisconsin: A History 1945–1971: Renewal to Revolution, iV (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1999), 228.

2 Cronon and Jenkins, The University of Wisconsin, iV, 228–33. 3 education and World affairs, The University Looks Abroad: Approaches to World Affairs at Six

American Universities (new york, Walker and Company, 1965) 136. 4 Henry Hart, oral history, University archives, 1982. 5 The University Looks Abroad, 138. 6 The University Looks Abroad, 168. 7 University Faculty Series #5/55, University archives, Clifford Liddle to Henry Hill, 28

september 1961. This memo summarized the deliberations of a meeting held on 1 september 1961).

8 The University Looks Abroad, 139. 9 Cronon and Jenkins, The University of Wisconsin, iV, 5. 10 Cronon and Jenkins, The University of Wisconsin, iV, 243. 11 Cronon and Jenkins, The University of Wisconsin, iV, 243 ff. 12 The University Looks Abroad, 167. 13 The article describes a “new phase” of education available through which “the education they

[students] receive in one summer is worth as much if not more than we on campus get in a year.” earlier that week, the Daily Cardinal had printed stories by two students about the life and conditions in spain and Greece. Daily Cardinal, 11 august 1949.

14 Daily Cardinal, 24, 25, 26 and 29 May 1951.


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15 Clarence a. schoenfeld and Donald n. Zillman, The American University in Summer. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1967, 58–59.

16 Daily Cardinal, 21 november 1958. 17 University of Wisconsin–extension Division program brochure, Warrington Colescott

personal files. 18 Warrington Colescott interview, 10 March 2008. 19 University of Wisconsin–extension Division, “extension insights” Vol.3, no. 1, January

1959, 5–9 and UW–extension program brochure. 20 Colescott interview, 10 March 2008.

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aMonG THe FaCULTy, there are four cham pions who stand out in the years in which study abroad was established at the University of Wisconsin– Madison. The leadership styles and personal mo-tivations of these faculty influenced the direction of study abroad programming. Henry C. Hart (political science) and Joseph W. elder (sociology) in-augurated and built the College year in india Program. Merton r. barry (engineering) oversaw the growth of the engineering program at Mexico’s Monterrey in-stitute of Technology. and Henry b. Hill (history, and first coordinator and then dean of the newly established office of international studies and Programs) built the infrastructure that would go on to support the main study abroad office of the campus. Hill established the paradigm of the early Junior year abroad with a pro-gram in aix-en-Provence, France. These programs, re-lying on the campus infrastructure, still continue today. They reflect the core of UW–Madison’s commitment to study abroad; they incorporate creative approaches to structuring overseas educational experiences, pay attention to high academic standards, and ensure that the coursework completed abroad becomes an inte-gral part of the student’s undergraduate curriculum. The vision of these early champions reflects themes prevalent in higher education today: the value of experiential and service learning; the importance of nurturing civic responsibility; the importance of stu-dents leaving the university with an awareness of and a commitment to helping to solve world problems; the need for students to prepare to work in a global marketplace; the value of a team approach to problem solving, as well as an individual one; and the value of studying in an alternative learning system while being immersed in the local academic and social culture.

henry hart and Joe Elder — Moving out-side traditional geographic boundariesTwo faculty played key roles with the launch, growth, and development of the College year in india Program (CyiP). These are Henry Hart, a professor of politi-cal science and south asian studies, who launched

the program, and Joseph elder, professor of sociol-ogy and south asian studies, who has overseen the program through its years. They created and built the program at a time when the commonly held assump-tion among U.s. institutions was that it would be impossible to mount a successful academic-year pro-gram in india for undergraduates.1 They proved this assumption wrong; more than 1,000 undergraduates have participated in the program since its inception. Hart joined the campus as an instructor in 1948 and became an assistant professor in 1950 upon com-pletion of his dissertation. elder joined the campus in 1961, as an assistant professor after completing his dissertation (focused on the caste system in india) and a two-year teaching position at oberlin Col-lege. While Hart conceived of the idea and convinced campus administrators to provide the necessary infra-structure support, elder assumed the role of faculty overseer from the program’s second year and has filled this role until the present (2008). Henry Hart’s academic training prior to coming to Madison focused on regional planning and river valley management with a focus on american river systems. He developed an interest in comparative analysis and was exploring the possibility of a research project in Columbia, but the river valley authority was not sufficiently developed there. The Ford Founda-tion suggested that he conduct his research in india instead. Hart had spent his childhood in india but had not pursued any academic agenda there. How-ever, a bit of curiosity coupled with the promise of funding from the Ford Foundation and a Fulbright teaching year, in which he came to appreciate india’s rich culture, turned his interest in this direction. His book New India’s Rivers, published in 1956, estab-lished him as a scholar on the indian subcontinent within his discipline for the remainder of his career. Henry Hart recalls weekly meetings in the mid- 1950s that drew faculty from across campus to discuss ways to enlarge and support the growing constituency of faculty with an interest in india. The campus was reluctant at the time to create any structure as for-mal as a center, concerned that it would threaten the

ChApTEr 2

early Champions


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strength of departments.2 However, one important outcome of the discussions was support for an inter-departmental course on india. and in the spring of 1958, a course on the Modern Civilization of india was taught for the first time—with 23 students and 13 guest lecturers, including Henry Hart. Participating in the discussions about broadening the base of faculty with a focus on india was Profes-sor Murray Fowler, a sanskritist. Fowler developed and successfully advocated his bold vision of an aca-demic department focused on india that would bring together faculty from various disciplines in the hu-manities—literature, religion, language—to develop a deep understanding of the culture of india. The de-partment was established in 1959, marked by the ad-dition of faculty experts in Telugu (Gerald Kelley) and Hindi (braj Machwe) language and literature. While Hart voiced reservations about the establishment of the department at the time, he later became a strong supporter. Fred Harvey Harrington, then vice president for academic affairs, recognized Hart as a potential faculty leader who could help him prove one of his

assumptions: new program areas could be developed and supported with outside funds if the right faculty were involved. Harrington, therefore, encouraged Hart to develop a Center for indian studies with sup-port from the newly established and generous federal funding through the national Defense education act; the funding became available in 1960. Hart be-came the first director of the Center for south asia (distinct from the newly formed department) which focused on supporting courses in areas not previous-ly taught and building a strong cohort of graduate students.3

Hart became convinced that there was potential for undergraduate students to have a productive aca-demic year in india. He developed his thoughts on the essential value of such an experience to an under-graduate’s education in a concept paper4 in which he reflected on how to foster a learning environment to support the associated learning. in this paper origi-nally titled “Proposal [later edited to read “Consid-erations”] for an Undergraduate year in india,” he opined that “the pattern of a year of undergraduate study which has worked well in europe is unlikely to succeed in india.”5 His year of teaching in india as a Fulbright professor, his general knowledge of the teaching and learning style of indian universities, his judgment that the pedagogical methods utilized in india at the time would not foster the kind of ana-lytical thinking appropriate for U.s. students, and his belief that indian culture would be foreign to most U.s. students, led him to conclude that “spending a year in india is a serious investment. it ought to be planned on the basis of the educational values toward which a year in india can make a highly distinctive contribution.”6 Further he argued that study in india offered a different kind of learning experience than study in europe: “in a junior year in europe one can have the exhilarating experience now denied all home-land americans of arguing with a communist. india offers a further challenge. This is because the earth-shaking issues show up in india as personal problems, whose solution is open.”7

in the post-independence years, india’s system of higher education experienced a period of rapid growth. at Delhi University, the location of the first College year in india Program, the student body grew by 677.7 percent, from 3,436 to 23,286 students, between 1947–48 and 1961–62. Faculty expanded from 173 to 1,458 during the same period.8 in a pe-riod of such rapid growth Hart developed a model that responded to three key values that he identified:

A student, seeming to understand Professor Hill’s interest in the unfolding Junior Year in Aix Program, sent this photo/postcard about the group’s first days in France during the inaugural year of the program. From the Aix-en-Provence Director program files.


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1) “appreciation of the luxuriant creativity of the human imagination,” though he was “skeptical whether this job can best be done in india via existing college classes.”9

2) “Learning how an elaborately established society and culture revolutionizes itself.” and he further wrote “…that the social science disciplines do not as they now stand here, and generally even less in india, possess much knowledge of the revolu-tions that are going on…that makes it necessary to look into these matters firsthand in india.”10

3) “Permitting students to develop a conscience or sense of responsibility about the high-stakes problems of their lifetime.”11

Hart saw a program as an opportunity to have students participate firsthand in various aspects of a rapidly changing society, and from that to gain not only a sense of responsibility but also to gather “good raw material for analysis.”12

interestingly, in an interview in 2007, Hart ac-knowledged another motivation for establishing a program in india. in the context of the newly estab-lished Center for south asia, he realized that the best way to develop a cohort of well-prepared potential graduate students was to have them study a few years of language and to have direct experience in india so that they could enter graduate school prepared to concentrate on learning in their discipline. one year before the pilot program began, Hart had helped a colleague at beloit College create an op-portunity for a junior from beloit to study at Delhi University. This student’s experience informed the eventual program model. The student, Tom Traut-mann, went on to a distinguished career as a scholar of india. at the time, he arrived in india with no prior Hindi language training but managed reasonably well since all classes were conducted in english. He en-rolled as a “casual student,” the typical category for international students at the time, in the anthropol-ogy and philosophy departments. not finding these courses to provide the type of educational experience he hoped for, he found his way to the Delhi school of economics where he was welcomed into seminars with graduate students in the newly established soci-ology department. His experience was a positive one, but overall it reinforced Hart’s belief that students might find the most productive educational experi-ence through a blend of a few university classes com-plemented by language training and an experience through which students would directly observe the

great changes going on in society and reflect upon them in a systematic fashion. in 1961, when UW–Madison established a pro-gram, albeit as a pilot, the program’s format strongly reflected the educational values identified by Hart in his earlier paper. rather than an academic program based solely on classes, the india program had three compo-nents: first, a year of language study before departure to be followed by a year (six credits) of language study while abroad; second, six credits of coursework at a local university or tutorials that closely resembled an independent study course; and third, a twelve-credit project that gave students “a chance to participate in an ongoing phase of india’s developmental effort with concurrent scholarly analysis of their experiences.”13 over time, this scholarly analysis included seminars with local faculty and/or one-on-one supervision by local experts, as well as a lengthy paper. The enrollment in the College year in india Program has varied from five in its inaugural year of 1961–62 to as high as 33, with an average of 22 students per year over its history. Federal funds sup-ported the program for many years. and it accepted applications from students across the country, with an occasional application from a student of a Canadian or european university. The program began at the Delhi school of social Work, Delhi University, but over the years added other institutional affiliations and sites while the program also closed specific locations. Cities included Varanasi in Utter Pradesh, Hyderabad and Vizakhapatnam in andhra Pradesh, and Madurai in Tamil nadu. The Varanasi site, launched in 1962, is the location with the longest history. The choice of locations has been tied to the basic objectives of the program outlined in a letter from Jo-seph elder to sri r.s. Chitkara, Deputy educational advisor, Ministry of education and social Welfare, Government of india in 1973. These are the devel-opment of language skills, the study of appreciation of india’s civilization, and the exposure to alternative systems of education.14

While Hart sparked the creation of the program, Joe elder built it into the premier program that it has become. He inherited the rudiments of a program model and molded it into a viable framework, revising it over the years as circumstances demanded. elder, the son of missionaries grew up in iran. His interest in india grew out of an unusual situation. He attended oberlin College and upon graduation was scheduled to spend two years teaching in China on an oberlin-sponsored program. The political upheaval


18

of the time prevented him from traveling to China. instead, oberlin offered him an opportunity to spend a year in Madurai, Tamil nadu, india. This experience was the beginning of his interest in india. after that year, he started graduate study in sociology at Har-vard University, where he focused on the Hindu caste system. in 1961–62, five students were sent to india as a pilot. Henry Hill, the coordinator of international studies and Programs, asked Professor elder to travel to india to find out how the students were faring. elder determined that U.s. students needed more infrastructure to deal with problems that arose and to foster an atmosphere of adjustment to a very dif-ferent style of education and living than that to which students were accustomed. on a research leave during the next academic year, elder lived with his family in Lucknow. He spent a good deal of the year helping students who were living in two cities, Delhi and Vara-nasi, and associated with three institutions: the Delhi school of social Work at Delhi University, Jamia Mil-lia islamia in Delhi, and banaras Hindu University in Varanasi. students with a wide range of needs relied heavily on elder during that year for guidance. elder saw clearly the demands of administering this ambitious program in india. From the start, he also recognized the benefits to the students. He de-voted considerable time over the next four and one half decades to the several roles that fell to him as faculty coordinator: fundraiser, administrator, liaison with local indian institutions and staff, and intellec-tual mentor to individual students. The Carnegie Corporation generously provided funding that allowed the program to build its in-frastructure during the first three years. elder rec-ognized the importance of the support in keeping the program affordable for a wide range of students. He personally wrote applications for grants over the next decades and received funding for many of those years. For the first several years, his grant applications benefited not only UW–Madison’s program partici-pants, but also students in a program operated by the Great Lakes College association in Madurai. This is one of many concrete demonstrations of elder’s col-legial approach. While he believed that the CyiP, a year-long program with intensive language study and independent fieldwork components, was the best op-tion for students with a serious interest in india, he recognized that other programs, including those of shorter duration and without language preparation, had a value as well.

as an administrator, elder steered the program through numerous financial, staff, and academic chal-lenges. He initiated and oversaw changing affiliations with different institutions in india, and shifted and/or expanded locations as more suitable ones were identified. He solved financial crises when partici-pant numbers dropped unexpectedly. He also devel-oped and then adjusted the administrative structure in india and developed model language instruction programs.15

but perhaps elder’s greatest contribution has been his interaction with the student participants of the program. He initiated and operated a summer orientation with intensive language instruction for students before their departure. During the course of the summer, students receive detailed practical infor-mation about arrival in india, day-to-day living, and cultural norms. elder’s role-playing exercise has be-come legendary, and more than one former student has reflected on encountering just the situations he introduces. elder has visited the program sites virtually every year they have been in operation. He meets with in-dividual students to discuss their projects, providing a focus for the undergraduates, most of whom are conducting fieldwork for the first time. While the students have local faculty advisors, their discussions with elder provide encouragement and direction. His profound knowledge of the subcontinent, his broad intellectual interests, and his openness to the differ-ent ways in which students learn and approach a topic offers students a safe yet challenging faculty mentor. These two champions, Henry Hart and Joe elder, created a program that has played a role in the training of many scholars of south asia in the U.s. today. Professor elder has kept track of the program alumni and can document that they are in virtually every major university in the country with a south asian program, as well as in positions in government and business. Furthermore, they have produced more than 50 books, hundreds of articles, and dozens of films related to south asia.

Merton Barry — Engineers abroadMerton barry doesn’t remember the exact source for the germ of the idea that resulted in the creation of study abroad program for engineering students at the Monterrey institute for Technology in Mexico (MiT), but he does recall being invited as a junior faculty member to a dinner at the home of Dean of


19

engineering Kurt Wendt. also around the table were Fred Jackson from the Carnegie Foundation, associ-ate Dean of engineering W.r. Marshall, and officials from Monterrey. Together they discussed the concept of a program in Monterrey. barry had been involved in administering a pro-gram through which UW–Madison engineering fac-ulty trained engineering faculty from india. When asked why he became involved in study abroad ad-ministration, barry answered that when the idea of a study abroad program for students came up, Dean Wendt “assumed i would be a part of it.”16 associate Dean Marshall was the first director of the program while barry built and oversaw the program from its inception until his retirement 27 years later. Merton barry came to the engineering program-ming via an unconventional route. He was halfway through a master’s degree program in jewelry design when he was called into the army in the late 1940s. barry was sent to Germany and, on an excursion to switzerland, became interested in a program there. He subsequently spent a year in Zurich studying jew-elry design. He finished his M.a. in the states, having earned 3 credits for the full year he spent in switzer-land, and later spent a year at Utrecht University in the netherlands studying art history during the first year of the Fulbright program. When barry arrived in Madison to join the engineering graphics program, he was selected by Wendt to work with the international activities of the college, based on his personal experi-ence abroad in educational settings. That experience eminently qualified him for the various campus com-mittees being formed to look at a number of potential international activities. He was joined on these com-mittees by many faculty who had received intensive language and foreign culture training as part of the office of strategic services (oss) in World War ii.17

MiT–Monterrey was a relatively new educational institution in Mexico, and one of its lead administra-tors had earned a Ph.D. at UW–Madison. Perhaps it was this connection that led to the president of the Monterrey institute of Technology, Fernando Garcia roel, to send a letter to then-President Conrad elve-hjem in the winter of 1959 asking if UW–Madison would consider establishing some kind of student exchange.18

The Carnegie Corporation had taken an inter-est in this institution started by a group of forward looking Mexican businessmen. its caliber had already been confirmed by accreditation in the U.s. southern association of Colleges and secondary schools. The

Carnegie Corporation was interested in determining whether an exchange program for engineers could work in addition to the programs for liberal arts stu-dents. Carnegie gave some indication that it would support a pilot if approached. The fact that they used the same textbooks as UW–Madison at the time gave the faculty confidence that the courses taken at MiT–Monterrey would be reasonable substitutes for cours-es that would have been taken in Madison. and so, Professor Merton barry set about deal-ing with myriad details to make this program work. He recognized that the students needed language in-struction. They also needed to be supported financial-ly—after all, during this first year when the success of such a program was unknown, they were risking the loss of a year of academic progress if it didn’t work. UW–Madison had a solid spanish department with a chair, e. robert Mulvihill (who would later become a study abroad director), interested in organizing lan-guage instruction for these engineering students. in response to a grant proposal, Carnegie agreed to pro-vide funds to pay practically the full expenses of these students. and so in 1961, the first group of seven students went off to Monterrey. barry had considerable support from the college. The dean appointed an international engineering Foreign Program advisory Committee to “aid and comfort”19 barry in his efforts to build and oversee this program. From the start, barry received ample administrative assistance to help organize the nuts and bolts of the program, from the selection and ori-entation of students to important issues like health insurance. The central study abroad office on cam-pus included this program in its general advertising to students. barry rightly took considerable pride in the organization of the program. He arranged lan-guage preparation and worked carefully on curricu-lum matches believing firmly that the “year abroad shouldn’t impede progress to degree.”20 He knew his faculty colleagues well and developed a system whereby faculty advisors received reports on students’ experiences so that they, too, came to support the program. barry responded to circumstances with innova-tive developments of the program. He added an ex-change element after the first year to receive students from Monterrey in Madison. He also attempted to engage colleagues at other peer institutions to send their students on the program (Carnegie Mellon Uni-versity students participated in the program for a brief time, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee students for


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longer). Cultural adjustment was a fascinating subject for barry and he was delighted when Marianne Mc-Manus, a campus counselor studying for a degree in psychology, participated in interviews and evaluated which students were more (or less) likely to succeed. Various campus administrators visited this pro-gram in its first year. Fred Harrington, recently made president of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, visited the students while vacationing in Mexico. He came away so impressed that he agreed to set aside $25,000 in special funds to support the program. Henry Hill, accompanied by bob Mulvihill, visited the program as Hill was preparing to establish a pro-gram in France. barry trusted that the lessons they learned from the program would have an impact on their home campus as well. He took note when student reports mentioned that learning in Monterrey was a collec-tive activity and appreciated the significance of this approach to engineering problem solving. and he could not help but observe that student reports about classroom instruction, where topics were covered in more depth, had an effect on “the way we [faculty] did things here [in Madison] too.”21 His firm be-liefs that engineering as a field was headed to greater

interaction across national boundaries, and that stu-dents needed to be adequately supported when par-ticipating in study abroad programs, guided the MiT–Monterrey–UW–Madison program for more than 20 years and laid the groundwork for the program that continues today.

henry hill — Building the infrastructure and the Junior Year Abroad modelHenry b. Hill played a key role in the development of international studies administration at UW–Madison. Given his academic training as a French historian, and his military service in World War ii, where he was in charge of the Western european research and analysis desk for the oss, he was well qualified for the administrative leadership positions to which he was appointed. in the early 1960s, Hill was active in several committees. He chaired the Committee on Languages, area studies, and in-ternational Programs that met in 1961 and 1962 to prepare a proposal for the Ford Foundation. at the same time, he concerned himself with the coor-dination of international activity across the schools and colleges and began to think about how the

NO 1962–63 College Year in India students were met at Delhi’s Palamairport by representatives of the students in the Delhi School of SocialWork (as well as by the school’s bus). Professor Elder (second fromright) was in India to conduct research and came to the airport to receive the students as well. Photo courtesy of Joseph Elder.


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university should systematically approach the develop-ment of study abroad opportunities for undergraduates. in March of 1960, even as Hart and berry were independently initiating their programs, the univer-sity created a Junior year Committee to begin explor-ing a formal process of program development. in the fall of 1960, Hill, accompanied by another member of the committee, toured several universities in europe. based on their report, the committee chose France as the site of the specific program, specifically the Uni-versity of Provence in aix-en-Provence.22

Hill was an obvious choice to develop the pro-gram due to his involvement in various committees that focused on the growth of international education efforts and also given his background in French his-tory. at the same time UW–Madison was developing this program, the University of Michigan had a similar plan in mind. The two universities decided to become partners in developing a program, and jointly sub-mitted a proposal to the Carnegie Corporation which resulted in $60,000 of support for the first three years of the program, from 1962–65. in october 1961, Hill was named coordinator of international studies and programs for the univer-sity. in november he left for a planning trip to France accompanied by a.W. Peterson, vice president for finances. They coordinated their trip with a visit by James robertson, an associate dean at the University of Michigan. Hill advocated for a program that would integrate the U.s. students academically, culturally, and socially with their French counterparts at the host university. in the words of a report issued by Hill and the others on the committee: “the basic objective of our program, viz., to involve honors caliber students in a close living and studying relationship with regular French university students.”23

This deep integration set the program somewhat apart from the other two programs operating in aix and in fact from many of the american programs throughout europe at the time.24 This approach was not lost on the French government and university officials with whom Hill had consulted. in a letter to Hill dated December 20, 1961, edouard Morot, Conseiller Culturel representant des Universités Françaises aux États-Unis wrote: “i am particularly pleased that academic integra-tion between French and american students will be realized at aix. it is important that american stu-dents mingle with the others and not remain isolated in little groups. This is one of the original and most valuable aspects of your program.”25

The program began in 1962 with students tak-ing classes at the university alongside French students under the guidance of a director from one of the two home institutions, a pattern that continues today. The files covering the early years of the aix program are filled with evidence of Hill’s direct in-volvement with the multi-levels of program admin-istration still typical of a study abroad director today. He provided guidance and input on decisions about how students would travel to aix (by ship the first year), made sure that the appropriate visas would be secured, and that students would carry appropriate insurance. Hill chaired the Madison contingent of the faculty committee that determined selection criteria and admission decisions in consultation with the Uni-versity of Michigan counterparts. He hammered out and then implemented the details of the partnership with Michigan. Hill approached the French embassy officials in new york for advice, and consulted with the U.s. embassy in France for guidance. His meet-ings with the administration and faculty in aix ex-plored and then settled the details of this new style of partnership. Hill was committed to a meaningful partnership with the university in aix, one that would benefit the three institutions involved. For the U.s. students from Wisconsin and Michigan, he wanted an integrated ex-perience—in terms of classes and everyday living. as a result of his negotiations with the university in aix, the university gave the program ten and eventually more rooms in the Cité, the university dormitories, at a time when housing was extremely tight in aix. He arranged for all of the students to have access to the university cafeteria, an obvious place for meeting and interacting

Sparsely worded telegrams were the principle mode of commu-nication before inexpensive phone lines and then the Internet materialized. From the Aix-en-Provence Director program files.


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with French students. at the same time, he arranged for a significant donation of books to the american studies library in aix through his conversations with the United states information agency in Paris. When the program began, two U.s.-based fac-ulty were in aix each year, one to direct the program and provide assistance for the students and the other to teach courses at the university there. Perhaps as a result of cultural sensitivity acquired in his academic and military experience, Hill’s honest and humble approach to his partners was an important factor in cementing the long-term relationship. in 1963, at the end of the first program year, he wrote to a govern-ment official in Paris that, “our guiding principle is to be as modest and as undemanding as possible. We want to be neither burdensome nor conspicuous.”26

at the same time that he and others were orga-nizing the specifics of the program in aix, Hill was also arranging the infrastructure at the home cam-pus. With only limited secretarial support available to him in the newly formed office of international studies and Programs, he drew on the resources of the College of Letters and science for assistance. This included significant help from internationally minded staff in that college’s dean’s office. He re-mained personally involved in various aspects of the program, including recruiting top students, provid-ing student services support, making decisions about refunds to students, and planning for the stateside

orientation. it was not until 1967 that Hill was able to add a faculty assistant dean, sieghardt riegel, a German professor, to his staff. riegel assumed the re-sponsibility for student services for all Madison-based study abroad programs which Hill had said “are be-coming an increasing responsibility of the office.”27 by that time, oisP had consolidated advertising for all sponsored Junior year abroad programs and pro-vided student services for approximately 70 students. These early champions of study abroad clearly shared a commitment to broadening undergraduate education to include the option of international expe-rience. it was intended to develop a deep understand-ing of the local culture, an adequate command of the language, and a familiarity with the local educational system. These faculty shared values and goals that rec-ognized a new understanding of the active part that students were likely to play in business and politics, and thus their need to comprehend world problems. The area studies programs that were expanding exponentially at the same time reinforced the need for students to gain such international knowledge as undergraduates in order to prepare a cohort from which future graduate students would be drawn. and as early as 1965, the campus realized the pay-off; almost all of the Junior year abroad participants in the aix-en-Provence program continued into gradu-ate studies and records show that many of the india participants did as well.

1 Henry Hart, oral history, University archives, 1982. 2 Hart, oral history, University archives, 1982. 3 Henry Hart, interview, 13 november 1977. 4 Henry Hart, “Proposal [later edited to read “Considerations”] for an Undergraduate year in india,”

undated paper circa 1958–59. 5 Hart, “Proposal,” 1. 6 Hart, “Proposal,” 1. 7 Hart, “Proposal,” 2. 8 a. M. Khusro, A Survey of Living and Working Conditions of Students of the University of Delhi.

asia Publishing House: bombay, 1967, (Tables 1 and 2). 9 Hart, “Proposal,” 1. 10 Hart, “Proposal,” 1–2. 11 Hart, “Proposal,” 2. 12 Hart, “Proposal,” 3. 13 Hart, “Proposal,” 3. 14 india General Correspondence file, Division of international studies, Joseph elder letter to

sri r.s. Chitkara, 10 april 1973.


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15 Many changes were made to the administration of the program in india. one of the most significant was the change in the leadership of the program on site. From the 1960s through 1972, a U.s.-based faculty member accompanied the students to india, with a graduate student assistant during years with sufficient enrollment. in 1973, the indian government announced it would no longer allow U.s. faculty to accompany students. elder proposed a model wherein graduate or recently graduated students would accompany the group as “monitors” who served as the on-site coordinators. This staffing structure continued for more than 30 years when it was decided to hire local staff to fill this function. another transition occurred when the american institute of indian studies agreed to both provide the necessary document for students to obtain visas, thereby replacing the cumbersome system of obtaining such permissions from indian Universities. aiis now also serves as the administrative home in india of the program, employing local staff and managing bank accounts for the Wisconsin program. elder played a major role in imagining and then navigated these changes.

16 Hart, interview, 13 november 2007. 17 Hart, interview, 13 november 2007. 18 Wendt papers, University archives, Fred Harrington letter to President Fernando Garcia roel,

MiT–Monterrey, 29 February 1960. 19 Merton barry, oral history, University archives, 1997. 20 barry, oral history, University archives, 1997. 21 barry, oral history, University archives, 1997. 22 education and World affairs, The University Looks Abroad: Approaches to World Affairs at Six

American Universities (new york, Walker and Company, 1965), 143–44. 23 1961–62 aix Correspondence file, Division of international studies, Hill/Petersen/robertson

report, october 1961, 2. 24 1961–62 aix Correspondence file, Hill et. al. report, 3. 25 aix directors file, University archives, letter from Henry Hill to edouard Morot, 20 December

1961. 26 1962–63 aix Correspondence file, Division of international studies, Hill memo to M le

recteur Loyen, Directeur du Centre national des oeuvres – Paris 4 June 1963. 27 The Capital Times, 3 March 1967.

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iT is CerTainLy Fair to think of the first UW–Madison students who went abroad on programs for credit as pioneers. They engaged in programs that were in many ways a high risk, but also had the poten-tial to help them realize their dreams. in the 1960s, students would live in another country without the easy and accessible communication tools of cell phones and computers. They studied in classrooms with unfamiliar modes of instruction. They commu-nicated in foreign languages for everyday needs, as well as in the academic setting. They had to sort out and face the uncertainties about how classes taken abroad would “count” toward their degrees, and if they would prepare them for the next classes they would take upon return to Madison. Most of the first students to go abroad were performing at the honors level in Madison and their concerns about how grades would translate were reasonable. The program organizers were aware of the signifi-cant personal challenges associated with study abroad, even as they actively recruited students to participate. in order to be selected for participation, students’ grades were generally required to be at an honors level and students needed to perform satisfactorily in in-terviews; and for many years, a counselor determined the likelihood of a student’s ability to make the nec-essary adjustment to the culture abroad.1 students studying non-european languages took tests meant to judge their aptitude for studying languages with different forms of alphabets.2 an aptitude test in the target european language was a common tool utilized in the selection process. assessing the probability of success was the job of the administration, but the first step towards participation came from students’ self-evaluation. since the first UW program for credit was of-fered in 1959, the number of students going abroad has increased steadily. The range of places, the types of programs, and the number of fields of study from which students hail have also expanded over time. in comments made in the immediate aftermath and in alumni surveys from years after program participation, students frequently cite their time abroad as the most

valuable, exciting, interesting term of their under-graduate academic careers.3 To unravel the thoughts and realities behind general statements of satisfaction, the words of students themselves are the most reli-able source. an examination of the threads of student motivation, the challenges encountered, discoveries made, and the lessons learned weave a tapestry that portrays the student pioneers who ventured into the unknown worlds opened by study abroad. While not a scientific sample, records in university archives and files include the written evaluations of students from the first several years of the academic-year programs submitted immediately upon return, as well as correspondence from some of these students to administrators in Madison. in addition, we are for-tunate to have responses to questionnaires sent to a reunion of students and to a survey sent to students who participated in the first year of their particular program. The issues they raised and the insights they articulated fall into a pattern. Taken together, they illuminate the importance of the overseas educational experience to the students who were the initial trail-blazers and many of their followers as well.

MotivationWithin each individual student it was rare to find a single motivating reason to study abroad. Four dis-tinct strands weave throughout the comments and represent many of the remarks students continue to make today about their motivation to study abroad.

Attraction to the unknown — The statements take many forms, but a fundamental interest among stu-dents was to have the opportunity to see new places. The two practical forms often stated were the op-portunities to learn a foreign language and to learn about another culture. students in fields like en-gineering regularly noted that they never thought it would be possible to study a language as part of their engineering curriculum and that participation in the study abroad program made this possible. in the early years, virtually every UW–Madison program

ChApTEr 3

student Pioneers


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attempted to house the UW students in dormitories alongside students from the host country or in family situations, thus providing an opportunity for students to experience up close student and/or family life of their host country. one student wrote that he entered UW–Madison with no thought of going abroad. but over time, “i realized the program would be my one big opportunity to look beyond the purely technical side of engineering,” in the course of his education.4

Practical considerations — Many of the earliest pro-grams provided students with financial incentives to study abroad. several of the earliest participants noted that they came from poor families (though in their time abroad, they came to reexamine their notion of poverty) and so the promise of a scholarship, com-bined with the opportunity to live in another country while earning credit toward a degree, was persuasive. another student participated in a newly estab-lished summer program in Mexico partly because, “the $800 i received to cover some of my expenses was greatly appreciated, especially since my parents still had seven younger siblings to take care of.”5 stu-dents also realized and articulated their appreciation of the potential value of an experience abroad in terms of future job opportunities. one student, reflecting an awareness shared by others in his cohort, wrote in 1962, “an engineer who knows two or more lan-guages and works for a large company with branches in other countries will be extremely important to that company; and also his salary will be raised accordingly and he will rise much faster in the ranks.”6

Idealism — not surprisingly, given the age of the typical undergraduate who studied abroad (19 to 21 years of age), students wrote about an awareness of their unique role representing their country. “i went to Mexico to study engineering, spanish, and infor-mally Mexican culture and people and to be a good will ambassador,” wrote one mechanical engineering student in the early 1960s.7

Faculty mentors emphasized the importance of students representing their university and country well, as richard schoenherr, assistant dean and coor-dinator of study abroad, wrote in 1983, “our students attend world-renowned universities, and we expect them to do a good job of representing the UW and their country.”8

another student went abroad to Mexico after meeting numerous immigrants from that country here in the U.s. and “wanted to communicate more

effectively in spanish” with them.9 This student is now a teacher in arizona near the Mexican border and her knowledge of spanish helps her to communicate with the parents of her pupils.

Personal history and parental encouragement — Many students mentioned an interest in connecting with their own heritage, even when not in the immediate past generation. “i have always been fascinated with ireland, since my ancestors came to america during the Potato Famine,” wrote one student who partici-pated in the first year of a summer program in Dublin. While in some cases students have studied abroad in spite of discouragement from parents, others noted that the idea was first suggested by a parent. one stu-dent participating in the first year of the university’s program in Freiburg wrote, “my mother encouraged me to go to a university which had a study abroad program, for she saw this as a wave of the future. as my father was of German heritage, pursuing the Ger-man year abroad seemed logical.”10

Challenges The study abroad experience at its best challenges stu-dents in many ways, in how one deals with the mun-dane aspects of life as well as in identifying and rethink-ing deeply held beliefs. not surprisingly, students are anxious to, and yet often struggle with, how to articu-late the challenges they confronted and to explain how they met them. sometimes the struggle with everyday living can sound like a series of complaints when, be-hind the veneer of words, is actually a profound con-frontation with one’s personal strengths and needs. The nature of the program presents a different range of outer challenges. students participating in a residential program where central housing is pro-vided in a renaissance-period villa will have to tread carefully in well-groomed gardens and carefully main-tained rooms. other students arrive and within days of the first class instruction must find their own hous-ing, learn how to read a map, use public transpor-tation, evaluate newspaper ads, and understand the local rental system. students in a country where the water supply isn’t reliably safe will face circumstanc-es that those in a fully developed country will not. students who are away for a full academic year will go through stages of adjustment that a student on a three-week guided seminar is unlikely to experience. and yet, each experience abroad opens a new way of seeing the world and oneself. one student captured


27

this reality with lines from T.s. eliot’s “Four Quar-tets” in an article for the Saturday Review she penned after her return:

We shall not cease from explorationand the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedand know the place for the first time.11

Everyday living — one must not minimize the chal-lenges associated with everyday living in a new coun-try both in terms of difficulty and the lessons to be learned. This remains true today as the world seems to be shrinking because of availability of goods and modes of communication. it was even more evident in the early years of study abroad. Today students ex-pect to and have available to them organized orienta-tion meetings and extensive booklets of information about the program and its location. Past participants, the internet, and their own personal travel are addi-tional readily available resources.

During the first years of any program, students often encountered situations that arose from the cir-cumstances of the local environment. The basic ne-cessities of life were a daily challenge as students dealt with unfamiliar food, concerns about clean drinking water, housing problems, and health and safety issues. in a published article, a student participant in our Del-hi, india program in 1963–64 wrote, “the problems we faced our first week of classes in september had never existed in the american academic world. They were physical problems, basic and immediate. a search for the library became secondary to locating a source of cool, safe drinking water…a twenty-minute walk to class was an adventure in outwitting a barrage of animals, people, carts, scooters, and bicycles…Three-fourths of our battle for survival concerned food, shel-ter, quiet, cleanliness and dysentery.”12 This student, as well as a host of others who followed, worked her way through these challenges, directly learning about the hardships that many in india faced on a daily basis.

The unique program for U.S. engineering undergraduates in Monterrey, Mexico, was featured in a story in the American Society for Engineering Education, International Engineering Education newsletter, published in Colorado in 1963. From the University Archives, College of Engineering files.


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it was not only in far away places like india where such basic needs were a challenge. in 1962, a student in the aix-en-Provence program wrote to the admin-istrators in Madison that they were not prepared for the minimal conveniences in their basement apart-ment with one window and a cold shower, and that some female students were living with a toilet that was “a hole in the very floor with a water faucet aimed at it from above.”13

over time, students came to understand firsthand that housing in aix was indeed tight as the region struggled to deal with the recent influx of French citi-zens returning from newly independent algeria, and that dormitory space was insufficient even for French students as the university grew and the country con-tinued to recover in the aftermath of the second World War. a postcard to the dean of oisP dated March in the same year illustrates the resiliency of students to adjust. it begins with the phrase “Tout va bien” (“all is going well”).14

Language — students noted again and again the sig-nificant difference between learning and using a lan-guage in a classroom in Madison and using the lan-guage in the study abroad setting. The initial weeks are often especially difficult as students adjust to hearing the spoken language with whatever regional nuances may exist and also hearing it all the time. Programs have made many attempts at easing the transition for students, including instituting intensive language in-struction programs prior to the regular academic term. some students found themselves so insecure that they contemplated withdrawing from the program, such as the student in aix in the early 1960s who wrote about “my own inadequacy in the language” that caused him to fear he would not perform well in his classes and that resulted in his “general reaction against France and the French people.”15 eventually, the student ad-justed and remained for the year. an engineering student who also went on to suc-cessfully complete his 1968–69 year in Mexico cap-tured the depth of the problem that many students then faced. He reported on his first day of class in a manner not dissimilar from one that we sometimes still hear from students today, despite increased course requirements. “My first engineering class in spanish was an experience i don’t think i will ever forget,” he wrote. “i tried to understand what the professor was saying but i didn’t do very well. i didn’t even recog-nize my name when the roll was called.”16 Using the language of the host country in classes as well as for everyday living is a challenge indeed.

Different ways of teaching and learning — students found many differences between the academic experi-ence at UW–Madison and those they encountered in their host countries. engineering students in Mexico in the early 1960s were surprised at the small size of the classes, the lack of syllabi, and the amount of written work required, which was much more than in Madison.17 They noted that students had many more tests—up to four per month in some classes. but standing back from the techniques, on a whole, students reported that, like in Madison, some classes drew their interest and others less so. after participat-ing in the first program year in Mexico, one engineer-ing student reported that a course he took in chemical thermodynamics “got to the heart of a basic subject in chemical engineering.”18 another student from this same year learned that grading was much more strin-gent.19 and yet a third noted that most of his fellow Mexican students failed one course each term—not an

A newspaper article from 1965, at the end of the second year of the program, documents how the fructuese school year in Aix-en-Provence was celebrated. One hundred fifty people at-tended a reception including the 40 students, the director, Professor Alexander Kroff, Mme. Bussenius, the local pro-gram assistant, and distinguished guests including the U.S. consul to France as well as faculty and administrators from the University of Provence. From the Aix-en-Provence Direc-tor program files.


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acceptable situation to most Madison students. The retaking of exams seemed not only more common, he wrote, but even an acceptable, standard practice.20

Director after director of the aix program re-ported that students struggled to adjust to the French method of developing an argument in their papers and to the prominence of the lecture format rather than the socratic discourse method found more often in the U.s. classroom.21

students in india found formal classroom instruc-tion to vary widely—from classes that seemed outmod-ed in both instructional method and subject matter, to cutting-edge scholarship in seminar format into which they were surprised and delighted to be welcomed as undergraduates. Virtually every student participant in this program felt intellectually challenged by the inde-pendent fieldwork project that was, and continues to be, an intrinsic part of the program.

DiscoveriesThe opportunity for discovery, the chance to obtain knowledge for the first time through direct personal experience is a key factor in the decision of many stu-dents to study abroad. and on a whole, students are not disappointed. students learn about other parts of the world, about different economic and political systems, about the impact of problems they have ex-perienced only in theory. but they also gain insights about their own country and, perhaps most impor-tant, about themselves.

Firsthand learning — When deciding to go abroad, students often voice an interest in seeing new places. They cite the desire to see how other people live and they keenly relish the prospect for adventure. it is common to hear a statement such as that of this en-gineering student in Monterrey in the 1960s: “The academic part of my year in Mexico was not the most important for me. The people i met and the things i did are what i look back on as the most important.”22 students describe an excitement about participating in another way of living: enjoying sports with local students, visiting a home that had a maid, participat-ing in local holidays or traditions, like socializing in a town square. seeing great monuments of the past were considered significant opportunities in the first years of study abroad and this continues today.

Insights — However, students also write about pro-found insights gained while abroad. seeing the

poverty and suffering in a village in india, early par-ticipants in the india program were compelled to action—their efforts to start a university newspaper to explore such issues led to a further set of insights. as one student remembered, “the americans insisted on one editor-in-chief; the indian students wanted a committee with collective responsibility.” slowly the american students faced a characteristic of american culture that they hadn’t realized before—the focus on the individual versus the community group.23

interestingly, this same realization appears again and again in the comments of students who partici-pated in the early years of the program in Mexico. Many discovered that study abroad provides an op-portunity for learning about their own culture as well as the culture of the host country. one student wrote, “i examined my own country through the eyes of a foreigner and saw many things to be thank-ful for and proud of, but i also saw policies of my own government that disturbed me when i observed them from afar and still disturb me now that i have returned.”24 another, musing over the friendliness of Mexican society, quoted octavio Paz, “americans with privatism and technological efficiency are alone among machines.”25 seeing issues in a new and differ-ent context also provided students with a chance to view major societal systems and problems as they had not before. one student wrote that her time in india, “gave me permanent and early appreciation of differ-ences in scale of energy use worldwide.”26another’s comments captured the way in which everyday activi-ties made big-world issues real and immediate. “i ate unrefined sugar because of the imminent U.s. eco-nomic embargo of Peru. i noted in the papers the competition between the tomato growers of Florida and of the state of sonora in Mexico for a share of the U.s. market.”27

Life Impactin a summary of a recent survey of study abroad par-ticipants, one of the major conclusions is, “alumni who studied abroad viewed it as a life changing experience in which they expanded their worldview, grew person-ally and gained confidence.”28 This generalization is supported by comments from students over 50 years.

Career — students often described the way in which study abroad influenced or shaped their career inter-ests. Perhaps not surprisingly students reported of-ten that the study abroad experience led them into


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development work, issues of social welfare, education, or the Foreign service. in some cases, study abroad offered the opportunity to conceptualize an interna-tional dimension to their chosen field. “i felt that the place for me was in research and development,” wrote one mechanical engineering student. “However, be-cause of my participation in the program, i have also recently been giving thought to going back to Latin america for work. i enjoyed living there.”29 and in some cases we read of students whose study abroad drew them into a field totally different than anticipat-ed. one student who spent a year in bologna, chose music composition informed by literature rather than a career in law.30 in other cases, interest in their cho-sen field was solidified, “i think it was also during this past year [1968–69] that i began to develop a real interest and enthusiasm for my major field of electrical engineering.”31

Cultural understanding — Understanding of another culture develops in classes and university activities as well as in living and traveling. one engineering stu-dent wrote, “best of all, i was studying the history of Mexico in a Mexican classroom with Mexican class-mates, and hearing a Mexican point of view.”32 and

another engineering student stated, “the program has also given me the chance to step back and look at my own country from the outside and appreciate what i have.”33

students glimpsed their own culture as others did. one student noted that Mexicans think of all U.s. citizens as rich with money dripping out of pockets, a large car and five cameras around one’s neck while people in the U.s think of Mexicans as migrant work-ers, taking siestas and wearing sombreros.34 at the same time, some came to realize that in the U.s. the only news about Mexico focused on murders or riots, for example, never anything good. Having lived there for a year, one student’s opinion changed in light of the “warm reception” that welcomed him into the home life of his fellow students.35 Many students noted the warm welcoming Mexican culture as they were invited into homes.36 students from several pro-grams commented on how the cultural understanding from their time abroad applied to their home environ-ment in later years. as one student who studied in banaras, india wrote, “the interpersonal relationships with eastern culture populations in our home town of boulder is [sic] made much more easy and relaxed”37 by the experience abroad.

Pan American World Airways welcomed student travelers in the early years as they departed for India, as shown in this photo of the 1962–63 group, for the second year of the program. From the files of Joseph Elder.


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Personal Growth — During a year abroad in a very different culture students often describe the devel-opment of a feeling of self-confidence. For a student who studied in Delhi, the experience had a way of “opening a new culture to me and letting me prove to myself that i could learn and grow in india.”38 anoth-er from that program site and year reported that “it profoundly changed my world view.”39 and another who studied in banaras suggested that personal values were deepened and rigidly held ideas challenged: “i consider my year in india the most important year toward my personal growth. The me that went to india carried all the characteristics of a small town girl…coming from a family whose associations were with people of similar ideas…i found in india a whole new world of thinking and approaches to living, so that each of my values had to be closely examined, considered, and either tossed aside or held onto as even more worthwhile.”40 an engineering student in Mexico developed tolerance: “obvious to me now is my newly found concern and understanding for a people who live a little differently than i do, a people who may seem to have strange customs but are really working toward many of the same goals in life that i seek.”41 Declarations of personal growth are among the most common and meaningful observations made by study abroad participants.

Student Leadershipstudying abroad fosters a culture of leadership as demonstrated by activities that study abroad students engaged in while abroad and upon return. Many who study abroad have made valuable contributions to their host communities while abroad and to campus life upon their return. students return eager to share what they have learned, to apply their skills to newly recognized problems, and to build their understand-ing of the greater world. each year, some students find ways to act upon these desires, in some cases developing relationships with administrative units on campus that provide a home base for their efforts. each fall, returning student volunteers staff tables at the annual study abroad fair, sharing their experi-ences with prospective students. The energy in Great Hall in UW–Madison’s Memorial Union reverber-ates throughout the room. The range of activities in which students engage is considerable and extends in many directions. a representative sample of activities illustrates the ways in which students have exercised leadership.

Advisory council — in 1992, a group of returned study abroad students agreed to form an advisory council for international academic Programs (iaP). iaP staff was searching for a stronger student voice in promoting study abroad and was anxious to hear more about the students’ view on study abroad. a group of six students served on the committee. Collectively, they had studied in Japan, russia, spain, oaxaca, and sierra Leone. in addition to providing advice and a student viewpoint on a wide variety of matters, the students developed and implemented two projects. They decided it would be good to have a news-letter “to share information on study abroad with other students.” The first edition was published in May of 1993 and was titled World Class—“by and for students who think internationally.” The coun-cil members both wrote and solicited articles from others. The topics extended from reflections on their own experiences negotiating the culture in which they studied (“The Fine art of standing in Line…Moscow style”), to practical considerations related to study abroad (“Talking Money—you Can afford to study abroad!”), to commentary on returning to Madison (“Welcome back? experiencing re-entry shock”).

Student-to-student communication became an important component in building encouragement for study abroad. From the files of Joan A. Raducha.


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They sought to engage students to think about going abroad with such devices as “Top Ten reasons to stay in Madison” (dial-a-dean, ice fishing, hike up bascom, 7:45 a.m. lectures, Pizza from the Pit…) versus “Top Ten reasons to study abroad” (no dean, live your classroom, crêpes in France, witness political history in Moscow, corner pub in London/Germany).42

The council members also inaugurated the first annual photo contest, inviting students to send in photos with accompanying statements that captured the experiences of students on UW–Madison study abroad programs.43 They secured donations from area businesses and the winning photos were mounted in a display case on the ground floor of Van Hise Hall where they would be seen by many passing students on their way to classes. The volunteer energy of the advisory group helped to reshape student services provided to pro-spective study abroad students. The advisory council disbanded a few years later and its basic role was as-sumed by peer advisors who were hired to staff the new resource room once iaP moved to bascom Hall, thus establishing the role of students in the promo-tion of study abroad.

Peer advisors and administrative work — Two factors led to an increased role for students in the administra-tion of study abroad starting in the early 1990s. The university’s increased interest in attracting more stu-dents to study abroad required new staffing structures that would provide new and better student services. The information age had arrived and there were an ever increasing number of program options. Prospec-tive students wanted more information as they made their decisions, including information about issues of particular interest, such as how to spend their free time. Many of their questions were better answered by their peers who had studied abroad. a staff of well-trained peer advisors was an obvious way to meet the demand.

Local chapter of IAESTE — student leadership has played a significant role in maintaining an infrastruc-ture for international engineering internship experi-ences each summer. The international association for the exchange of students for Technical experi-ence (iaesTe) was formed in england in 1948 and iaesTe U.s. in 1950. it is a network of technical universities worldwide that provide technical leader-ship training through their programming. initially operated centrally, members formulated an expansion

strategy in the 1990s that resulted in the formation of local committees to enlarge the program. in 1998, students at UW–Madison formed the second U.s. chapter of iaesTe (the first was formed at the University of Michigan in 1997). The stated mission of iaesTe is to develop “global skills in to-morrow’s technical leaders.” students join iaesTe and manage the program with the help of local advi-sors. (at UW–Madison Marianne bird bear and Chad Jansen were the founding advisors.) Chapter members have five main responsibilities: seek job placements for incoming interns; engage in fundraising activities to support student members, events, and international interns; help organize and attend national and region-al conferences; act as a reception committee to help international interns adjust in their placements; and participate in the international co-op opportunities. six to 12 students from UW–Madison participate in co-op experiences each summer, and about the same number of international students participate in co-op positions in Madison or elsewhere in Wisconsin. stu-dents can arrange to receive credit through the co-op program, gaining paid engineering professional work experience. but they can also use the opportunity for experience without academic credit. The Web site for the Madison chapter proudly notes that “Madison won the first iaesTe United states Local Committee of the year in 2000.” The silver pail trophy that travels to the winner each year is in recognition of “UW–Madison’s College of en-gineering, in the dairy state, as the first awardee.”44

CALS students water project — in 2005, a group of 14 students enrolled in the College of agricultural and Life sciences participated in the second year that Professor James ntambi led a three-week winter break program in Uganda. as their Web site states, “this study abroad experience not only opened our eyes to a rich culture and history, but also to the many problems of a developing country. The neces-sities that one may take for granted, such as clean drinking water, food security, and physician availabil-ity, are daily struggles for the majority of Ugandan citizens.”45 Determined to address the disparity they witnessed, the students developed a grant proposal, applied for, and received a Wisconsin idea Fellowship to help them get started. The students formed the Village Health Project incorporating it into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi-zation. Through sales of small craft items and dona-tions, the work of this student-created organization


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continues. Leadership is passed down through gen-erations of student leaders and has raised funds to support several projects since its inception to improve water safety, to promote food safety and nutrition, to repair and provide supplies for a primary school, and to support local efforts for those with HiV-aiDs. The scope of their projects is extraordinary. The study abroad program continues to run each winter, with an integral service learning component. students work with local organizations in Uganda to make decisions about the projects on which they will focus their fund-raising and other efforts.

WUD Travel Committee (later named Global Con-nections) — students have long played, and continue to play, an important role in programming at UW–Madison’s Memorial Union and Union south. The Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) is an all stu-dent volunteer programming board of the student union. The board has a number of working commit-tees. The Travel Committee was established in the fall of 1980 as a sub-committee of Campus Commu-nity services. after two years, the Travel Committee was shifted to become a sub-committee of the Cross Cultures Committee. in 1990, it was elevated to the status of Committee, and in 2002–03, it changed its name to Global Connections. Throughout the name and structural changes, student leadership developed the activities of this committee to meet the changing

demands of the student body. The leaders of the Travel Committee have always been students. The leadership worked collaboratively with the staff of the Travel Center to encourage and support student interest in international travel. While the staff of the Travel Center had organized a small international study, travel, and work fair in February 1980, the Travel Committee, once formed, took an active roll in organizing this fair in subsequent years. in addition, each year, the committee organized a series of seminars on various aspects of travel, responding to student interest. These “Tips for Travelers” or “How to Plan…” seminars covered topics such as women traveling alone, travel to particular countries, and the nuts and bolts of rail travel in europe. as interest in study abroad grew, the Travel Com-mittee worked with other campus units including: admissions, international academic Programs (the central study abroad office), international business, international engineering, and international student services to provide information for students interest-ed in going abroad. it provided a venue to interna-tional students and U.s. students to socialize and con-front issues related to intercultural communication. students interested in going abroad, students who returned from study abroad and have sought ways to further develop their cultural learning, and students with global interests who could not study overseas all have benefited from this programming.

1 Merton barry, oral history, University archives, 1997. The counselor was named Marianne McManus, who was a counselor on campus working toward her Ph.D. she became involved with the student selection process for the india and then the Mexico programs. Merton barry remembered that she “hit the nail on the head” in terms of her assessments. Joe elder recalls her interest in predicting student adaptation but remembers her predictions as being less than 100 percent.

2 Henry Hart, interview, 16 october 2007. Hart recollected utilizing a language test involv-ing Chinese syllables to test the ability of student’s aural ability to adapt to a non-european language.

3 The office of international studies conducted a survey of alumni in 2003. 1,360 responses were received. The results were compiled in a report issued in December 2003, “What’s new in international studies: surveys show Where you’ve been, Where you are.”

4 Monterrey, Mexico participant reports, University archives acc# 84/50, electrical engineer-ing student, 1968–69.

5 response to 2007 questionnaire, Joan raducha files, student participant from Mexico City, Mexico, 1977.

6 Monterrey, Mexico, mechanical engineering student, 1961–62. 7 Monterrey, Mexico, mechanical engineering student, 1961–62.

8 Christine Hacskaylo, “The Junior year abroad: ‘The boundaries of the campus’ bump the Taj Mahal,” Wisconsin Alumnus, January 1983, 9.

9 response to 2007 questionnaire, Joan raducha files, student participant from Mexico City, Mexico program, 1977.


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10 response to 2007 questionnaire, student participant from Freiburg, Germany program, 1964–65.

11 Mary Claire VanderWal, “india is Centuries away,” Saturday Review, 21 august 1965, 53. 12 ibid. 51. 13 1962–63 aix correspondence file, Division of international studies file, student letter trans-

mitted through Mr. Milligan to Madison administration, 27 september 1962.

14 1962–63 aix correspondence file, Division of international studies file, student postcard to Henry Hill, 13 March 1963.

15 1962–63 aix correspondence file, Division of international studies file, student letter to elizabeth Tarkow, assistant co-ordinator, international studies and Programs, 27 september 1962.

16 Monterrey, Mexico, engineering student, 1968–69. 17 Monterrey, Mexico, mechanical engineering student, 1968–69. 18 Monterrey, Mexico, chemical engineering student, 1961–62. 19 Monterrey, Mexico, chemical engineering, 1961–62. 20 Monterrey, Mexico, mechanical engineering, 1961–62. 21 resident director reports in files of the Division of international studies are a major source

for program improvement. Many reports over the years state the pressing need for continued or improved instruction for students on how to write dissertations. For example, in his second report, dated 27 February 1971, Lorin Ufenbeck wrote “our students desperately need a course …to prepare them for writing dissertations.”

22 Monterrey, Mexico, nuclear engineering, 1968–69. 23 VanderWal, “india is Centuries away,” 52. 24 Monterrey, Mexico, electrical engineering student, 1968–69. 25 Monterrey, Mexico, electrical engineering student, 1968–69. 26 College year in india 21st anniversary survey, 1982, Joseph elder files, student participant

from Varanasi, india, 1962–63. 27 Monterrey, Mexico, electrical engineering student, 1968–69. 28 “executive summary – Fall 2002 focus group survey,” Division of international studies file. 29 Monterrey, Mexico, mechanical engineering student, 1968–69. 30 response to 2007 questionnaire, bologna program participant, 1969–70. 31 Monterrey, Mexico, electrical engineering student, 1968–69. 32 Monterrey, Mexico, electrical engineering student, 1968–69. 33 Monterrey, Mexico, chemical engineering student, 1961–62. 34 Monterrey, Mexico, mechanical engineering student, 1961–62. 35 Monterrey, Mexico, mechanical engineering student, 1961–62. 36 Monterrey, Mexico, chemical engineering student, 1961–62. 37 College year in india 21st anniversary survey, Varanasi, india program participant 1962–63. 38 College year in india 21st anniversary survey, Delhi, india program participant, 1962–63. 39 College year in india 21st anniversary survey, Delhi, india program participant, 1962–63. 40 College year in india 21st anniversary survey, Varanasi, india program participant,

1962–63. 41 Monterrey, Mexico, electrical engineering student, 1968–69. 42 World Class, newsletter of the iaP student advisory Council, May 1993, 1. 43 World Class, august 1993. 44 www.engr.wisc.edu/studentorgs/iaeste/about.php. 45 www.cals.wisc.edu/index.html and search for the Uganda Health Project.

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in 1960, UniVersiTy of Wisconsin Vice President Fred Harvey Harrington and Professor edwin young, who would soon be named dean of the College of Letters and science (L&s), traveled around the world to check on the Wisconsin idea in action. a primary focus of this trip was the indonesian higher educa-tion development project in which the University of Wisconsin was engaged. in the spring of this same year, the university had formed a Junior year abroad Committee to consider how to create international experiences that would help prepare undergraduate students for their future role in the world. The deci-sion to establish a central office to create and admin-ister programs, as well as to oversee study abroad issues, arose from an atmosphere in which leaders defined a new direction for the campus to include a pronounced international component. Faculty were increasingly internationalized in their outlook and, along with administrators, were conceptualizing pilot projects for students. in 2008, study abroad has become an accepted part of UW–Madison’s campus offerings. it is suf-ficiently established as a core offering to have its own link on the university’s homepage. it is hard to imagine a time when study abroad was considered an exotic program offering, yet many regarded it as such at its onset 50 years ago.

Establishment and EvolutionThe office of international studies and Programs (oisP), now called the Division of international studies, assumed the role of organizing the infra-structure needed to support study abroad, coordi-nating with schools and colleges across campus, and serving as the primary point of contact for study abroad. The sub-unit now known as international academic Programs (iaP) assumed this role. The organization of study abroad at UW– Madison paralleled the general campus organization. The campus is decentralized in its specific curriculum planning and implementation, but engages in activ-ity and cooperation across school and college lines

when the needs of students, scholarship, or efficien-cies demand it. at any time, however, there is a multi-tude of initiatives underway involving undergraduate education. The establishment of a central unit focused solely on study abroad was critical to the expansion and development of programs and student participa-tion in study abroad. in almost 50 years of service to the campus, six directors and one interim director have led iaP. The faculty who have served as directors have come from the College of Letters and science, and the non-fac-ulty directors had their academic roots there as well. all had an educational background in the humanities and were committed to introducing students to the depth and breadth of another culture. The first two faculty, Henry Hill (1961–72) and e. robert Mulvihill (1972–85), held the title of dean of the office of international studies and Programs and associate dean in the College of Letters and science respectively while serving as director of study abroad. However, the title of director was not utilized until the third appointee, silvano Garofalo (1985–91), was selected. in 1989, Garofalo was also named an associate dean of oisP. successive directors, Michael C. Hinden (1991–95), Joan a. raducha (1995–2005), and robert b. Howell (2006–present), have also held the title of director. Hinden and raducha held dean titles in oisP (associate and assistant respectively) at the time of appointment. Catherine s. Meschievitz, associate dean of oisP, served as interim director in the fall of 2005. The substantial length of service by iaP directors made it possible for specific programs to be gener-ated and subsequently improved, and for overall pro-gram direction to be refined and collaborations with faculty to mature. Directors developed institutional infrastructure and helped shape the coordinative role of the office, providing at different times advice and guidance to the schools and colleges. in consultation with interested parties, the directors developed and coordinated campuswide policies regarding study abroad. a central voice for study abroad allowed UW–Madison to be well-represented in meetings

ChApTEr 4

international academic Programs


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of external bodies including two close partners, the University of Wisconsin system and the Consortium for inter-institutional Cooperation (CiC). each of these directors, along with their staff, shaped the direction of the programs offered within the office, while also coordinating the study abroad enterprise campuswide. The directors’ academic departments were diverse, but they shared a philos-ophy that valued language and cultural immersion gained by studying in various parts of the world, as well as the importance of international experience as preparation for life beyond the university. The part-nerships with other units on campus recognized the important role that colleagues across campus could play in providing a full palette of experiences for UW–Madison students.

Junior Year Abroad — The early years1

The central study abroad office at UW–Madison has been known by a series of names over the years, with each new name representing a shift in the direction and main goals of the office. When the office of international studies and Programs was established in 1961, the creation and then administration of study abroad programs was one of its primary functions. Henry Hill, professor of history, was first named coor-dinator (1961) and then dean (1964) of oisP. He set about creating study abroad programs and the cam-pus infrastructure necessary to support them. as the programs developed, the College of Letters and science, from which the vast majority of study abroad participants derived in those early years, generously provided administrative staff towards the effort. in a memo from Hill dated september 18, 1967 to Donald Percy, vice president for budget and administration, Hill noted that the College of Letters and science provided the financing for junior year pro-gramming at UW–Madison, with the exception of the program in Monterrey, Mexico, which the College of engineering administered and financed. The financ-ing from L&s included the salaries of the faculty who served as directors of the programs. This contribution helped keep the programs affordable for students. as the number of programs increased and the mis-sion of the office expanded, the office of international studies and Programs required additional adminis-trative staff. over time, oisP recognized a sub-unit called the Junior year abroad (Jya). When the UW system board of regents approved a half-time assistant dean position for study abroad in 1967, sieghardt M.

riegel, a professor of German in the College of Letters and science, was appointed to lead the student services component of the Jya. The duties of the assistant dean included the critical role of establishing equivalen-cies for coursework completed overseas. Most of this coursework completed abroad fell within the academic scope of L&s at UW–Madison. The link between L&s and study abroad has remained strong though the areas of responsibility have shifted over time. During the early years, 1961–72, the central office created and managed seven programs. The number of students participating in programs grew from zero to almost 80 students per year. Perhaps more significant than either the number of programs or students, these years saw the launching of study abroad as an ongoing activity of the campus and established the direction that study abroad development would follow. The program in india had been created before the establishment of the Jya unit and provided a model for an undergraduate, research-based pro-gram. administratively, however, it came under the general guidance of oisP/Jya. The other six were immersion programs through which students spent an academic year taking classes at a foreign university, all in european countries. Four of the programs, aix-en-Provence, bologna, Freiburg, and Madrid shared structural similarities. a consortium of universities guided the programs with one university taking the administrative lead. students from U.s. colleges par-ticipated in an intensive language course before the start of the school year. and students took some, if not all, of their courses in the local universities along-side students from that country. at each of these program sites, a rotating U.s.-based faculty director provided advice and guidance to the students with the support of local staff. Warwick was the first of oisP’s student exchange programs. it focused initially on history and later philosophy before adding a more generalized study abroad program. The programs at universities in bonn and Warwick were the result of bilateral arrangements between UW–Madison and the host university. student participants took classes at the local universities and, in the case of bonn, relied on locally supplied student services. Correspondence and reports from this period trace both the emerging philosophy and the devel-opment of the infrastructure. Vice President for business affairs alfred W. Peterson traveled to aix-en-Provence as UW–Madison was negotiating its first contract with a foreign university to host its students. He and others within UW–Madison administration


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helped to develop the methods by which necessary elements such as financial transfers could be expedited. administrators needed to develop rules about student payments and refund policies. accordingly, corre-spondence between these administrators describes a process of abstract planning in the initial phases and then modifications in response to specific cases as they arose. Practical considerations often determined pro-cesses and procedures. For example, while the campus had not necessarily planned to be involved in paying for travel arrangements, better rates for students could be secured if the university negotiated and then rolled the cost of travel into the student fee. UW–Madison built relationships with host uni-versity officials based on detailed discussions and cor-respondence about the objectives and the concept of an ideal junior year program. The collective efforts included firm commitments to a program that would be mutually beneficial to the host institution as well as Wisconsin, a commitment that UW–Madison has maintained throughout its history. The fact that UW–Madison sent a visiting professor to the univer-sity in aix-en-Provence to teach in the early years and the more recent scheme whereby students or recent graduates from aix-en-Provence come to teach in Madison both illustrate this commitment. Thus, by 1972, after 11 years of existence, oisP was the office to which questions were addressed about policies and procedures regarding study abroad for the campus. it was the home for the Jya and man-aged virtually all undergraduate study abroad with the exception of the engineering program in Monterrey.

Academic programs Abroad — Expanding opportunities and participationin 1972, Henry Hill retired and David Johnson was named dean of the office of international studies and Programs. With seven year-long programs to manage and more on the horizon, a new position was cre-ated for the management of the Junior year abroad programs. e. robert Mulvihill, an associate dean in the College of Letters and science, accepted the assignment with the proviso that he would maintain his title of associate dean in the college.2 Thus, the reporting line shifted from the dean of the office of international studies and Programs to the dean of the College of Letters and science. This shift occurred while a number of staff, as well as office space, con-tinued to be shared with the office of international studies and Programs.

With almost 100 percent of student participants from L&s, it was a logical shift at the time. Faculty who served as directors of programs were usually from L&s, and courses taken abroad were most often determined to be equivalents of L&s courses. The close working relationship of the study abroad office with L&s benefited the student participants who were eager to ensure a smooth articulation between the coursework taken abroad and their degree program. Furthermore, it encouraged the involvement of more L&s faculty in a variety of roles, including oversight via participation in programs reviews and serving as director or instructor at programs overseas. The name of the unit was changed from Junior year abroad to academic Programs abroad (aPa) as a result of changing circumstances which included the introduction of one-semester and summer programs and the participation of students in various years of their university career. neither “junior” nor “year” were appropriate descriptors any longer. Upon Mulvihill’s retirement in 1985, silvano Garofalo, professor of italian, assumed the portfolio for study abroad, with the title of director rather than associate dean. He continued to report to the dean of

The composite handbook includes description of 100+ pro-grams and serves as a resource for advisors and students. The cover of the handbook in 2007–08 depicts photos contributed by student participants.


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the College of Letters and science until 1989, when the reporting line changed once again. Fred Hayward, acting dean of oisP, named Garofalo associate dean of oisP in the summer of 1989. With this appoint-ment, the reporting line changed from L&s back to oisP. Thus, when richard L. barrows, a professor in the College of agricultural and Life sciences (CaLs) was appointed interim dean in January of 1990, Garofalo reported to him. The change represented a shift in the cam-pus goal for study abroad. Donna shalala had been named chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. she wanted study abroad participation to grow throughout the campus and determined that an office located in oisP rather than in one of the colleges would facilitate the expansion.3 The relation-ship between iaP and L&s remains strong to this day, particularly with programs iaP directly manages. However, iaP was asked to take the role as the cam-pus leader for study abroad, and did so by consulting with and encouraging other campus units to develop programs for their students. at the same time, iaP engaged in efforts to set standards for the operation of study abroad and to educate campus staff on their implementation. among the new programs introduced during this period were a series of exchange agreements with partner universities in europe, asia, and africa. in addition, the first residential program staffed by UW–Madison (as well as University of Michigan) and local faculty was established in Florence. This repre-sented not a departure from the early UW–Madison

commitment to immersion programs, but rather an expansion on the fundamental concept of what con-stituted quality in study abroad. These new models broadened the spectrum of students who could and would study abroad for credit. The period from 1972 to 1991 was one of con-siderable growth. Mulvihill’s observation in 1985 captured the image of the growth of student interest: “in the early 1970s, we’d hold informational meet-ings on the study abroad programs at the beginning of the semester and no more than a hundred or so stu-dents would attend… Last year our turnout was about 350 students and this year the turnout was well over 500.”4 Garofalo wrote about the continuing growth of interest during his tenure as director: “a grow-ing number of students see an academic semester or year abroad as an integral part of their undergraduate education.”5 During Mulvihill and Garofalo’s years, the number of programs grew from seven to 42.

International Academic programs — Building study abroad into the academic coreafter the summer of 1991, Garofalo chose to return to his faculty position full-time. David M. Trubek, professor of law, assumed the position of dean of oisP in 1990. He appointed Michael C. Hinden, professor of english, as associate dean of oisP and director of aPa. Under Hinden’s leadership, the name of the unit was changed to international academic Programs (iaP) to reflect the broad reach of programming and also the expanding role of the unit in on-campus pro-gramming related to study abroad and international education. in 1995, Hinden stepped out of the position of director to assume a broader range of duties as asso-ciate dean of oisP. Joan a. raducha, then deputy director of iaP and assistant dean of oisP, was appointed director of iaP. she was the first academic staff member to be named director, a reflection of Dean Trubek’s opinion that the significant growth of study abroad required the attention of a full-time director in order to continue expanding and to main-tain the quality that the campus demanded. raducha was also the first female director, a sign of the times as more women assumed administrative leadership posi-tions. in 2004, raducha, while remaining the director of iaP, was promoted to associate dean of oisP. The fall of 2005 was a time of transition. raducha stepped out of the role of director of iaP and focused

Through the Senegal Exchange program, students like Maimouna Barro (right) from the Université Gaston Berger studied in Madison while U.S.-based students, including Allison Brown (left), studied in Senegal. Photo by Joan A. Raducha.


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on her duties as associate dean. Catherine Meschievitz, oisP’s associate dean for administration, served as interim director for the fall semester while the search for a director was underway. Dean Gilles bousquet appointed robert Howell, professor of German, to the post of director on a half-time basis in January 2006 and Howell remains the director at the time of this writing. iaP programs grew from 42 in 1991 to more than 110 presently. Part of the challenge has been to achieve the best balance between the older, success-ful programs and new models to meet increasing stu-dent interest. another goal is to encourage students from non-traditional backgrounds and majors to participate in study abroad programs. UW–Madison has long prided itself on the large number of students who participate in year-long programs, even as the national norm has shifted to a shorter timeframe. For some years, iaP avoided creating short-term programs fearing the devastation of year-long pro-grams. However, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the administration decided that iaP could indeed develop short-term programs while keeping year-long programs robust, and the unit set about creating short-term seminars abroad. These semi-nars, first established in 2004 are programs of three to four weeks in length and operate during the sum-mer and winter break. They are developed and led by UW–Madison faculty. They provide an intense learn-ing environment with a small group of students and a faculty instructor whose area of expertise introduces students to aspects of the culture and intellectual envi-ronment they would not otherwise encounter. They have successfully attracted a wide range of students while the semester and year-long programs continue to attract participants as well. The 1990s and 2000s saw many changes includ-ing a rapid growth in program type, length, location, and target participants. The student constituencies for iaP programs expanded beyond the humanities and social science students of the earlier decades. During the first decade, iaP programming efforts were directed to language majors and to students interested in careers related to certain areas of the world. in the next two decades, it became clear that students from many majors in the humanities and social sciences had an interest in study abroad.7 by the early 1990s, a wide range of student interests—personal develop-ment, career enhancement, and specific language and cultural skills—in a wide range of academic fields, led to the creation of more diverse program offerings.

additionally, study abroad planning became intri-cately connected to the needs of the globalizing work-force. in 2000, the budget of the state of Wisconsin provided a line item for study abroad scholarships for undergraduate students. Governor Thompson had asked the Wisconsin international Trade Council to form a task force on international education. one of their recommendations was that the state give schol-arships to UW–Madison students to provide them with an international experience that would serve them well as they entered the increasingly global-ized workforce. iaP heard this message and markedly increased the number of programs, the locations, and academic focus to attract students from many differ-ent fields. Furthermore, iaP supported efforts by the professional schools that were interested in creating programs specifically for their students. as the number of students grew in the 1990s, iaP contended with a proportionately larger number of student-related issues. it needed to provide access to services and to develop protocol for managing situ-ations for students with mental health problems, for example, or who were the victims of a crime or acci-dent. at the same time, student and parental expec-tations of levels of student services grew. The staff expanded in response to the growing numbers of par-ticipants and services, but this in turn required more organizational development and additional physical space for offices and a resource room. a demand for quality assessment led to the creation of systematic student evaluations and a

Sara MacKay, participant in the Cape Town, South Africa, program in 2007. The program was established in 2001 in tan-dem with UW–Madison’s participation in a multinational effort to build a Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.


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schedule of faculty-led reviews of programs. standing advisory committees made up of faculty and aca-demic staff were created and met regularly to review programs and provide advice about general policy and specific world areas. With more students from more majors going abroad, integration of the aca-demic experience with campus programs became necessary. in response, iaP widened its scope of activity to create a strong campus context for study abroad. Hinden spearheaded the creation of the Global Cultures Certificate program (1993). This was a structured plan for students in L&s to fill their gen-eral requirements through courses with international focus, both on campus and abroad. raducha created the Wisconsin international scholars (Wisc) program (2003) to provide a co-curricular experience and multiple opportunities to study abroad for students from a wide variety of majors interested in adding a focused international dimension to their education.

role and responsibilitiesiaP’s vision statement today states that: “international academic Programs (iaP) plays a central role in the internationalization of UW–Madison and in the development of citizens able to act globally with social responsibility. iaP is a recognized leader in education abroad programs and resources serving the needs of the university community, and through its collabora-tive efforts, ensures that education abroad is an inte-gral part of the UW–Madison learning experience.” This revision of the original statement, first articulated in 1995 as part of the strategic vision and planning for international education, is consistent with several operating principles that have evolved over the years:

1) education abroad will be tied firmly to the edu-cational mission of the campus

2) The development of the “whole student” is key3) iaP will provide excellent programs as well as

resources for others on campus creating their own programs abroad

4) The experience abroad will be recognized as an integral part of an undergraduate education

iaP has adjusted its focus and specific activities due to experience and as the needs of the student, campus, and broader world have changed. its administration has followed the advice of the board of regents in 1894: “the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continued and fearless sifting and

winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.” in creating programs, delivering student services, developing policies, and organizing implementation procedures, iaP has sought to identify and keep the best from the past while changing to meet new and developing needs and expectations. iaP activity can be divided into six broad cat-egories and a few illustrations within each category indicate the challenges faced and strategy with which iaP met them:

Providing quality education abroad opportunities — a primary focus of iaP has been to provide a broad range of programs for students across campus, either through those directly developed and managed by iaP or via programs organized by campus units specifically for their students. in each instance, the definition of quality is the result of deep and broad consultation with faculty that covers every stage of the study abroad continuum from student services to the structure of the programs themselves. iaP has always relied on faculty to provide advice and over-sight of programs, with individual faculty involved in particular programs as directors or instructors, as well as overtime in a significant network of oversight committees. With more than 110 programs currently operating, iaP relies on faculty-approved standards for opening and closing programs and a regular cycle of reviews to oversee ongoing programs. The reviews result in recommendations that lead to a range of program changes including the closing of a program (sierra Leone), relocation (ecuador to Peru), and revamping special courses (aix-en-Provence). one component of a quality program is the assur-ance that students receive residence credit for the aca-demic work they complete abroad. students have a right to expect that courses completed while abroad on a university-sponsored program will count toward the degree in the same way as courses completed on campus do. students share with the institution a desire to see progress toward the degree at the same rate in a term abroad as in a term on campus. This gives rise to a concern for how courses will be listed on the transcript and also to the concept of equivalencies. That is, courses taken abroad are either judged to be equivalent to a specific course on campus or need to be equated through some structure to satisfy require-ments which must be met for graduation. For the first decades, iaP established a system by which every course taken abroad was equated to


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a course title of a UW–Madison-based course. Thus, when students returned from their time abroad, a fac-ulty member would review available materials regard-ing the courses taken abroad and determine the most appropriate equivalent, often in consultation with their counterparts in specific departments. This process worked reasonably well for a time. However, the num-ber of students studying abroad escalated and the pro-grams expanded in number and scope. Furthermore, while still abroad, students were required to make decisions about coursework they would take once they returned to campus. Understandably, students asked not only to be assured that they would receive residence credit but wanted to know what courses they could expect to have on their transcript. The expectation from students now included information about what courses might be available even before deciding to go abroad. They also sought information about what equivalencies they could expect so that they could make informed course selections at their host institution. several measures were put in place to provide the assurance and the information that students sought. Departmental advisors on campus approved equiva-lents not just for individual students but for inclu-sion in tables that all future students could consult. iaP worked with departments to create special study abroad course numbers that allowed students to earn credit within a given department for courses in the field of the department but without a specific equiv-alent. However, these courses often did not carry a breadth designation that would assist in the fulfillment of a requirement. in the fall of 2002, the deans of the College of Letters and science and the Division of international studies appointed a faculty committee staffed by iaP to examine ways to improve the equiv-alency process. based on a recommendation in the committee’s report, a “virtual” study abroad depart-ment was created within L&s in the fall of 2003. This “department” allowed courses to be recorded by their overseas title and to be matched with the appropriate breadth and level. This department also came over time to be the home for non-L&s courses taken on iaP-sponsored programs. The creation of this depart-ment was a major step in improving the equivalency process and the future may hold a way to create a parallel structure for the entire campus.

Coordinating the development and implementation of strategic planning to increase and improve study abroad — in the first decades, the Jya and aPa

relied primarily on the director in consultation with individual faculty to decide on strategic planning. as Director Garofalo left office in 1991, he advised that increased staffing levels and better coordination with the schools and colleges should be considered.8 in the following years, iaP coordinated a series of stud-ies, both internal and involving the broader campus constituencies, to develop appropriate strategies for study abroad. The reports that emerged from these studies led the campus forward. in 1993, Director Michael Hinden coordinated a process leading to a self-study of iaP that was later reviewed by a joint oisP and L&s committee. The ten recommendations of this committee guided the next several years of iaP operations: study abroad advisory committees were formed, greater emphasis was placed on fundraising for student scholarships, student services were improved, major developments of the equivalency process were instituted, increased opportunities for consistent faculty involvement were devised, student evaluation forms were regularized, and efforts were strengthened to recruit a more diverse student body, to include ethnicity as well as academic discipline.9

The expanded access to Global Learning experiences (eaGLe) report, written by Director raducha in1999, reported on the status and future of overseas education at UW–Madison according to the views of a task force made up of representatives from across campus. This report recognized the urgency of preparing UW–Madison students for the global economy by addressing staffing shortfalls in a period of expansion and better integration of overseas educa-tion into the academic core. The recommendations in the report addressed these issues and focused the efforts of the campus international education com-munity in subsequent years and led to the creation of a strategic plan for overseas education approved by the University international activity Council (UiaC) in 2006.

Offering grants to encourage broader participation in study abroad — in the 1990s and 2000s, iaP worked as the representative of the Division of international studies to provide grants to units on campus. The purpose was to encourage growth in international education by underwriting the process of examining the curriculum to see how overseas education might fit within their campus course framework. The Fund for international education (Fie) provided grant opportunities in two stages to area studies programs


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and offices in the various schools and colleges to develop new programmatic ideas. in the aftermath of the eaGLe report, the schools and colleges were encouraged to apply for grants to develop programs specifically for their students. among the activities supported by the eaGLe grants were: a one-credit overseas spring break module created for a campus course, “russia: an interdisciplinary survey”; a short-term overseas module for global online teams devel-oped by the school of business; and CaLs awarded grants to students participating in a new exchange with Thammasat University in Thailand. Through the supplying Undergraduates with resources for Global education (sUrGe) initiative, iaP provided funds to the area studies programs from 2001–03 to increase undergraduate awareness of and participation in the courses and activities of the areas studies programs. The programs utilized these funds for creating infor-mational materials, development of certificate pro-grams, connecting students with local organizations, and developing a short-term overseas module.

Creating an infrastructure to support the campus’ study abroad efforts — iaP worked with offices across cam-pus to create the infrastructure needed for efficient administration of study abroad programs. To stream-line the transition from campus to study abroad and back, mechanisms had to be put into place to facilitate student services for both incoming exchange students as well as our outgoing students. iaP generally took the lead in planning with campus offices on behalf of all the units on campus that were administering study abroad programs. over the years numerous processes were adapted so that students who studied abroad on UW–Madison programs would be able to do so with the confidence that they would continue to make progress toward the degree in the same manner as their cohort who remained on campus. Processes also were developed to facilitate the experience of incom-ing students on sponsored exchange programs. in order to operate successful student exchange programs, clear policies were articulated regarding balances and effective mechanisms needed to be cre-ated to monitor those balances. Thus, standards were established allowing departments, schools, and col-leges three years to balance exchange numbers and to balance across all exchanges of a particular unit rather than program by program. as the number of student exchanges increased, a new category of “uni-versity special” was devised to replace the system of each school or college admitting every individual

incoming student as a college special. The adminis-tering unit could certify students as eligible for admis-sion through the Division of Continuing studies. Through planning with the registrar’s office, a process was created to integrate incoming exchange students into the registration queue. These structures made UW–Madison a good host for incoming exchange students and thus allowed the opening and ongoing availability of numerous placements at peer institu-tions abroad that were happy to receive UW–Madison students in turn. Many student service processes needed adapta-tion for UW–Madison study abroad students to have the same advantages as their cohort on campus. The adaptation necessary for the registration process illus-trates iaP’s role in the adaptation procedure. For many years, registration was scheduled for the days immediately before classes began. students would go to appropriate departments around campus to have their registration form stamped and would end up in the red Gym to finalize their course selection. During that era, study abroad students simply joined their cohort upon returning to campus. However, in 1988 this process changed.10 registration was scheduled for the semester before the one for which classes were being selected and the mechanical process was shifted from paper to touch-tone phone. For students on campus, this minimized running around campus and mechanized the controls for admission into classes. For students abroad, how-ever, this new process presented a number of chal-lenges. students would not be in a position to consult with advisors before selecting classes (this was the era before computers and the internet were in common use, and in most countries students did not have access to phone lines that were compatible with the touchtone system). Furthermore, the timetable came out only days before registration was scheduled to begin and so students abroad had no way of knowing the scheduled times of classes. in order for students to be able to register in their appropriate place in the registration queue, a system was established whereby the records of students abroad received a notation that recognized they were registered for a full load of classes and a special form was developed for stu-dents to note their class selections with alternates in the event that their first choices were filled. staff in the registrar’s office entered these requests into the system. early copies of the timetable were procured and dispatched to sites overseas via courier so that students could plan their course schedules prior to


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filling out the form. While the system was less than perfect, it approximated to some extent the process followed by students on campus. When Web registra-tion was inaugurated in september of 2002, students overseas were able to participate directly in most cases, though those in locations with limited internet access called on friends or family in the U.s. to assist them. over the years many changes were made in the fiscal aspects of program administration. iaP worked with the bursar’s office to develop a system for direct billing of students. The system is now in place for par-ticipants in programs organized by any campus unit and gives students one billing, allowing a more effi-cient articulation of financial aid and fee payment than was possible before.

Setting campus standards and advising campus col-leagues — one area in which iaP took the lead was in the creation of practices related to student safety. safety has always been a concern for students travel-ing abroad. The range of concerns included exter-nal issues: road safety, crime, and political instability, as well as concerns for students’ health due to local threats such as food and water hygiene. individual physical and mental illnesses that students brought with them were also a concern. as the number of students going abroad increased, the demands for accountability for the institution also increased. The Persian Gulf War had

implications for our students studying in the region and beyond as threats against U.s. citizens were voiced. internal instability in countries such as sierra Leone necessitated evacuation of students. instances of students abroad who experienced bouts of men-tal illness grew in number as the number of students overall increased. Taken together, it became expedi-ent to develop procedures and policies for managing these situations. The issues to be addressed ranged from the immediate safety and security of individual students to academic credit and refund policies. iaP developed a series of guidelines for handling such situations and shared these with the campus com-munity. iaP provided training in these procedures not only for its own staff but also for staff working in smaller offices on campus. standard procedures now mandated that all pre-departure orientations address safety risks. students now receive copies of U.s. state Department warnings and advisories before departure and while abroad. in the aftermath of significant world events—9/11, avian influenza (bird flu), and the indian ocean tsunami—it was imperative to have a 24/7 contact number for students. While iaP’s philosophy has always been to have good staff or a clear support structure at the site, the back-up management from the U.s.-based staff was increasingly in demand. iaP brought professional standards in line with national best practices, to the campus. iaP created a manual detailing the appropriate procedures for handling real and perceived emergencies that included contact infor-mation for staff and for outside resources. it also out-lined appropriate information to gather and described the chain of command for reports.

Chief campus representative for study abroad — iaP has represented the campus in many ways. iaP typi-cally coordinates responses to requests for data about campuswide study abroad including the annual national survey conducted by iie Open Doors. it also answers press questions and is the UW–Madison representative on standing committees such as the UW system Council on international education and the Consortium for inter-institutional Cooperation study abroad Director Committee as well as on ad hoc committees that are formed. in the course of these activities, iaP presents the public face of study abroad through television and newspaper media, often in times of crisis. in commit-tees, iaP represents the interest of UW–Madison’s study abroad community. This has resulted in several

Peer Advisors staff the International Academic Programs resource room. Photo by Katie Sauer.


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major developments in the administration of study abroad. The transition of student fees for study abroad from tuition to cost recovery was spearheaded by iaP while serving on a UW system task force. This allowed fees to be tied to actual program costs, adding financial stability to the study abroad enterprise. The alliance for expanded study in overseas Programs (aesoP), founded in 1999, “a cooperative program designed to match unused study abroad capacities with the unmet study abroad needs of other CiC institutions,”11 includes a stipulation about voluntary participation on a program-by-program basis. iaP

was among the most strident proponents, for without this stipulation, there would have been limits to the number of our students who could be accommodated on well-subscribed UW–Madison programs, as well as competition with our own programs to the dismay of faculty sponsors. as the unit serving the largest number of students going abroad, iaP has considerable experience that it lends to the campus in forging a robust study abroad enterprise. in keeping with the culture of the cam-pus, that role may be characterized as one of collegial leadership.

1 sources for this section include program brochures and correspondence in the files of the Division of international studies.

2 e. robert Mulvihill, oral history, University archives, 1985. 3 silvano Garofalo, interview, 18 June 2008. 4 University news service, press release, 29 January 1985. 5 silvano Garofalo, “The Universal student,” Interdependent World, newsletter of the office of

international studies and Programs, september 1987. 6 This section is drawn largely from personal memory of the author. 7 Christine Hacskaylo, “The Junior year abroad: ‘The boundaries of the campus’ bump the Taj

Mahal,” Wisconsin Alumnus, January 1983, 9. 8 silvano Garofalo, personal papers, Garofalo memo to David Trubek, 19 March 1991 on “re-

sponsibilities of the Director of academic Programs abroad.” 9 Michael Hinden, Self-Study: International Academic Programs, office of international studies

and Programs, 1 March 1993; David bethea, Review Committee of Study Abroad Programs Report, submitted to Dean Phillip r. Certain, 24 May 1994; Michael Hinden memo to Cer-tain, 11 september 1994 copies in raducha’s files.

10 Thomas L.W. Johnson, History, UW–Madison Registrar’s Office Strategic Plan 2003–2008, 2003.

11 Citation drawn from the internet: www.cic.uiuc.edu/programs/aesoP.

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THere HaVe been brieF periods when there was a tendency to bring the administration of all study abroad programs under the centralized office. However, for most of the past 50 years the campus’ schools and colleges have organized and managed programs specifically for their students with consid-erable independence. The school of engineering began their programs as early as 1961 while the school of business and the College of agricultural and Life sciences (CaLs) both started program-ming in the mid-1980s. as noted in chapter one, a faculty member in the Department of art and art education led the first program for credit. Then, in the 1970s, the school of education began plac-ing students in student teaching programs overseas. The institute for environmental studies operated a few student exchange programs for about a decade. each developed programs where students could take courses that would count toward requirements in their majors. The programs of each school and col-lege took on their own characters, tied to the mission of the particular unit.

School of Educationindividual faculty from the school of education engaged in projects to help develop the educational systems of several newly independent countries as early as the 1940s and international students have long been present among the graduate student body in the school of education. However, programs abroad spe-cifically designed for education majors began in 1959. as noted earlier, in the summer of 1959, Warrington Colescott professor of art and art education (a department within the school of education) created and led the first UW–Madison study abroad program for credit. in the mid–1970s, robert Tabachnick and Kenneth Zeichner, professors in the curriculum and instruction department, began to consider possibili-ties for students in teacher education. They learned of a program operated by the University of Wisconsin–river Falls that placed teacher education students in classrooms in england, scotland, ireland, and Wales

for ten-week periods. recognizing the value of stu-dent teachers undertaking part of their student teach-ing abroad, Tabachnick and Zeichner facilitated the participation of UW–Madison students. While day-to-day supervision was provided by local colleagues, Tabachnick visited students at their placement sites the first year to determine that the placements were satisfactory. For the next five years, a handful of students, primarily elementary educa-tion majors, participated in the program. in the early 1980s, faculty recognized that while small, there was a steady stream of UW–Madison students interested in student teaching placements abroad. This recog-nition led faculty to inaugurate UW–Madison’s own program abroad for teacher education students. This new program, located in Petersboro, east anglia, england, placed all students in one area with con-sistent local supervision and allowed UW–Madison faculty more control over the design and implementa-tion of the program. since 1983, Ken Zeichner has coordinated opportunities for education students to student teach in england and several other countries, includ-ing australia, France, namibia, and new Zealand. between six and 15 students participate each year, with the greatest number in england and australia. The largest number of participants has been in ele-mentary education. Faculty organized the elementary education curriculum to accommodate a term abroad without students adding time to degree completion. For secondary education students, the best option remains studying abroad before education courses are taken, since the program is organized such that a cohort moves through the stages in unison without the option of taking a semester, or part of a semester, to go abroad. england has remained a popular destination for student teachers. instruction in english is one fac-tor in making these programs accessible and popular. However, faculty recognized early that england was “a fooler” in terms of experiences abroad. Faculty knew that student teachers stood to learn a great deal about cultural differences in england that would help

ChApTEr 5

study abroad across the Campus


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them to deal with diversity in their classrooms. Many students supposed that with english spoken, they would encounter a rather familiar culture. in fact, they often found themselves in front of classes with students from more than one of the formerly british colonial countries. Further, student teachers observed regional differences, whether in accents so strong that they had to train their ears to understand their pupils, or in noticing the pleasant way in which social nice-ties passed between themselves and their english col-leagues, while observing strains between the Welsh and english teachers. in about 1990, the program in britain was moved from its location in Petersboro after a change in the personnel that made the location less compatible with the school of education’s requirements. education faculty identified placements in diverse socio-eco-nomic, racial, and ethnic school settings as a goal. a new partner institution roehampton University pro-vided student placements in diverse school districts and was willing to place and oversee student teachers from UW–Madison. Dr. Julie shaughnessy has super-vised the program since its move, providing “crisp and

clear” guidance to the students. The program suits UW–Madison students well and in recent years it has placed one to five students per year in classrooms in London.1

College of Engineering2

study abroad in engineering was administered through an office of international engineering Programs which oversaw both development activity as well as study abroad. Professor Merton barry served as its direc-tor from 1961 to 1988. The program at Monterrey described in a previous chapter was the main study abroad program for almost twenty years. in the 1970s, a handful of students studied in France and Germany at schools where there were faculty who had been vis-iting professors at UW–Madison.3 in the early 1980s, Thomas W. Chapman, professor of chemical engi-neering, learned about an opportunity for chemical engineering students to study at University College in London in a lab-based program that paralleled a cam-pus offering. He arranged for a few UW–Madison engi-neering students to attend as a pilot project and subse-quently established a UW–Madison program that was offered every summer. students from several other U.s. institutions attended the University College program as well, creating a broader student body. The summer tim-ing of this program fit well with the course sequence for students. after about a decade, the location moved to oviedo, spain, where an alumnus who had taught reg-ularly in UW–Madison’s engineering summer school was on the faculty. interest in Japan’s management of technology grew rapidly around 1980. Dean of engineering John bollinger obtained financial support from several companies to launch a “Japan Leadership Program” through which students studied Japanese and then went to Japan for a work experience. in the mid–1980s, the dean formed a committee to review the international Programs office that oversaw devel-opment projects as well as study abroad. in 1988, barry retired and Tom Chapman, who had chaired the review committee, assumed responsibility for international engineering Programs (ieP). He was named to the newly established position of associate dean for international engineering. Under Chapman’s tenure, many individual arrangements were made for students to study abroad. However, he realized that a consortium was likely to be more efficient in providing a range of opportunities to attract more students. several attempts were made

Andrea Hiliker studied at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Weekends and vacations allowed her to visit the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in Sydney. Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.


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to establish a workable consortium. The first attempt was to join a consortium of several U.s. and european engineering and technical schools to create a clear-inghouse for one-to-one student exchanges. This program served only a small group of students but the potential was clearly recognized. subsequently, a group of U.s. universities that had both strong engi-neering programs and Japanese language instruc-tion, joined forces to apply for a federal grant. it was intended to support students who participated in a summer program in Japan that provided courses on Japanese culture and language. These partner universities formed the engineering alliance for Global education, and took advantage of the federal government’s interest in Japanese manage-ment of technology and the availability of funds from the Peace Dividend initiative. The alliance received an initial grant of three million dollars, followed by a renewal, to provide experiences for engineering stu-dents in Japan. During the period of the grant, more than 150 engineering students from 15 U.s. univer-sities studied in Japan, some of these students from UW–Madison. Many of the Madison participants went

on to study during their senior year at a Japanese uni-versity or gained work experience under the auspices of the Japanese Leadership program. Unfortunately, once the grant ended, few students continued to par-ticipate in the program in the absence of the financial subsidy provided by the grant. as a result of the efforts of ieP during Chapman’s tenure, more than 40 engineering students studied abroad in 1993–94, with a larger number expected the next year. in addition, close to 50 percent of the U.s. citizens in the undergraduate graduating class had an international experience; and lines of communication regarding the possibilities of student exchange had been opened with more than 50 universities in 20 countries. in 1994 the college was reorganized and stream-lined, and the international engineering Programs office was disbanded. The management of study abroad was placed in an office in engineering Hall with aca-demic advising moving into the various departments. For a period of time, the engineering admissions office assisted students who wished to study abroad, par-ticularly with credit transfer. but it became clear that

In the summer of 2008, the College of Engineering ran a program in China for engineering students for the first time. Students earned eight credits for courses in thermodynamics and technical communication while also participating in industrial and cultural tours. Photo courtesy of International Engineering Studies and Programs.


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someone was needed full-time to advise students and manage the study abroad function for engineering. in the fall of 1995, a new position of study abroad advisor was created to be located in the dean’s office. Marianne Machotka was hired, and she built and managed the new study abroad office for the next 12 years. This point of transition coincided with a major development in engineering study abroad options. For several years, Tom Chapman has worked with other universities through the institute for international education (iie) to create a network of engineering peer institutions. The idea was to create a general clearinghouse and pool that would allow institutions to send individual students to any partner institution and accept a similar number of students at their institution. The Global engineering education Program (Global e3) became fully operational in the mid–1990s. This consortium of engineering schools encouraged student mobility and networking among the engineering study abroad offices on various cam-puses. The institutions agreed to recognize each oth-ers’ courses. individual students could travel to a wide number of destinations rather than being limited to a few institutional destinations since the exchange oper-ated as a pool rather than bilaterally. staff was able to discuss problems and to share solutions that were par-ticular to programs for engineering students studying abroad. Furthermore, this network served as a lobby-ing force which spread the word about international opportunities through the various educational engi-neering associations, and work out ways to address the needs of particular student groups. bilateral exchanges continued to develop. Typically, these were initiated by a faculty member and given three years to achieve success—defined by a balanced number of students traveling in each direc-tion and satisfactory academic experience for students. Thus, the exchanges that found interest from students at both partner institutions succeeded and continued while others ended. in order to significantly boost enrollment, and in recognition of the fact that not every field of engi-neering easily supported a semester abroad without consequences for progress toward the degree, Dean of engineering Paul Peercy decided in 2005 to add a summer program that could attract students who would not likely otherwise study abroad. a new con-cept developed—a summer program through which students could take required courses common to several majors. Two UW–Madison faculty agreed to

teach intensive courses that allowed students to ful-fill two required courses—the college had experience teaching these courses on campus in the summer in a compressed fashion and knew it was possible. at the same time, in the setting abroad, visits were organized to local industries providing students with an expo-sure to the international engineering culture in which many of them were likely to work after graduation. The program, offered for the first time in the summer of 2006, was set in Toulouse, France. it was a success and led to the establishment of another similar pro-gram in Hangzhou, China, that began in the summer of 2008. since the 1970s, the international association for the exchange of students for Technical experience (iaesTe) presented a major vehicle for engineering students wishing to work or study abroad. While many students used this opportunity simply for work expe-rience, others chose to earn co-op credit. in the late 1990s, students took over the leadership of iaesTe. University of Michigan students led the way and University of Wisconsin–Madison students formed the second student chapter. The students met with companies to secure placements, and hosted students from abroad who came to fill these placements. This student-led initiative is a notable example of student leadership and commitment to international educa-tional experiences among student engineers.4

School of Business5

UW–Madison had a robust international business faculty in the 1960s when the earliest study abroad programs on campus were developed. but the busi-ness school did not develop programs abroad for its students until the 1980s. The earliest study abroad program in the school of business served M.b.a stu-dents. it was a year-long program with an exchange of students between the University of aix–Marseilles and UW–Madison school of business that began in 1985. The program remained small, since it was based on a one-to-one exchange and the number of UW–Madison students that were prepared to take courses in French for an entire year was small. robert aubey, a professor of international business, was asked to serve as the liaison to the program. With this assign-ment, he became the resident expert for study abroad in the school for the better part of a decade. subsequently, representatives from London’s american institute for Foreign studies (aiFs-London) approached then acting-Dean edward James blakely


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and proposed that UW–Madison send students to London for a semester of study. The courses would be in english and would introduce students to the british business culture. For the next decade, aiFs-London was the primary host for business students studying on an official UW–Madison program in London. When James C. Hickman became dean in 1985, he signaled to aubey his support for developing study abroad programs for undergraduate business students on the condition that a faculty member champion the

program. aubey, based on his experience with the Marseilles exchange, his personal research interests that focused on the international field (specifically Latin america), and his position on the faculty of the Department of international business was the obvi-ous candidate. over the next several years, study abroad oppor-tunities, mostly one-semester in duration, were added in Paris and Freiburg. The selection of locations was based on a number of factors. Locations where courses were taught in english appealed to the school since many UW–Madison business students lacked suffi-cient language skills to take classes in the host country language. in the case of Paris, a partnership between a faculty member in UW–Madison’s French depart-ment and another in the school of business, together with support from the office of international studies and Programs, were factors in the development of a program at the sorbonne’s business school, École supérieure du Commerce extérieur in Paris.

The programs were designed to give students an international experience that would complement their studies on campus. aubey observed that many of the business students were from Wisconsin and most had never been out of the country—in fact, many had never left Wisconsin. as a professor of international business, aubey felt it was imperative that students be given an opportunity to live abroad, to come in contact with different people to learn how they think, and how other cultures operate. in the early 1990s, aubey and rod Matthews, an instructor in real estate and international business, organized a series of three-week programs abroad for M.b.a. students. Many M.b.a students couldn’t be away from campus for an entire semester but still recognized the value of an international experience. This model of three-week programs scheduled to run after the conclusion of the spring semester became an option for undergraduates as well. For the first decade of programming, study abroad opportunities in the school of business were modest and handled by aubey as part of his faculty responsibilities. When Dean Policano arrived in 1991, he encouraged faculty to consider the most effective way to build the international activities of the school. at this time, business schools nationwide were focus-ing more and more on international experience, due in part to the encouragement of the association to advance Collegiate schools of business (aaCsb), the national accrediting agency for schools of business. in 1991–92, and again in 1995, a grant appli-cation for federal funds was unsuccessful but these were followed by a successful application submitted in 1997 for a grant that was awarded in 1998. This funding resulted in the establishment of the Center for international business education and research (Ciber). During the same time period, the dean made several trips overseas that resulted in exchange agreements that included the possibility of student exchanges (Copenhagen, Vienna, and China). 1997–98 saw a period of significant expansion in opportunities offered to business students to study abroad. senior associate Dean of the school of business r.D. nair had determined that exchanges rather than one-way student abroad programs would be optimal for business students. exchanges with peer business institutions abroad would allow students to take advanced business courses while overseas, would keep the cost of instruction comparable to the cost on the home campus (since students pay tuition to the home institution when participating in an exchange),

Professor John Eichenseher and Judy Symon Hanson accom-pany students on a visit to Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in May 2005. The four-week course provides an overview of business, economics, agriculture, the environ-ment, and natural resources in China. Photo courtesy of the School of Business International Programs.


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and would bring international students into the school of business. at that time 15 percent of the business school’s faculty were born in countries other than the U.s. and this helped the school to identify appropriate peer institutions in various countries. Comparability of course level was important since students would be earning credit in their majors. The school assumed that the faculty not born in the U.s. could vouch for the quality of institutions they knew and could play a key role in translating grades. in the spring of 1997, nair hired a full-time staff member, andrea Poehling, to assist with developing and administering the study abroad and exchange opportunities for business students. in addition to cost, the continued development of programs attempted to address three key challenges: first, the academic con-tent offered had to be largely in english and advanced courses had to be accessible to UW–Madison students since the faculty wanted students to take their basic business courses at UW– Madison; second, academic-term calendars had to match so that students could step out for a semester without any break in progress toward degree; and third, recognizing that american students in general, and perhaps especially students who hadn’t traveled abroad before, needed support to succeed, the host institution must have sufficient infrastructure to provide adequate support services. as the programs grew and the advantages and disadvantages of various program models became apparent, the school of business developed a broad portfolio of programs to satisfy diverse student needs and interests. it developed exchange programs, study abroad options—particularly in english- and spanish-speaking countries—and three-week seminars. students were particularly partial to London but the program that had been in use for about a decade at aiFs-London had only a limited number of courses: four classes that all participants took. students had discovered that another site in London, the american international University (aiU), offered a wider array of courses. They began to attend this program on their own and brought back transfer credit. The adminis-tration evaluated the aiU program and decided that it would officially sponsor that program for a period of time. The official sponsorship offered the opportunity for some input into curricular issues, but the school of business continued to search for a partner that was a better curricular fit. after some time, City University London displaced aiU as the London destination for business students. City University London offered the opportunity for students to integrate themselves

into a regular curriculum at a respected university and the curriculum fit well with the course offerings at UW–Madison. With the encouragement of the dean’s visiting board, the geographic reach of the program offer-ings spread into the developing world, though stu-dent interest in Western europe remained strong. beginning in 1996, Cargill Corporation funded a program in China for several years, making it afford-able and building student interest. The increasing role of China in the world economy combined with posi-tive reports from past participants made it so popular that it continues today with a waiting list of future participants. in May 2006, the school of business’s faculty and staff approved a revision to the undergraduate curriculum proposed by the Undergraduate studies Curriculum Committee that effectively set the ambi-tious goal of having each of their graduates gain an international experience: Provided that adequate funding can be secured and an appropriate list of exceptions is developed, all undergraduate students are required to complete an international experience from one of these three options: (1) an intensive three-week study abroad learning experience (2) a semester abroad (3) an international internship.6

With this goal in mind, the school of business is structuring plans for expanded study abroad oppor-tunities for business students that will allow them to fulfill their requirements in general education as well as in their major fields.

College of Agricultural and Life Sciences7

since the 1960s, CaLs faculty have been involved in many overseas technical assistance projects. it estab-lished an international agricultural Programs office (now CaLs international Programs) in 1963 with the primary purpose of managing two projects, one in brazil and the other in nigeria. over time, the office assumed other responsibilities related to foreign visi-tors and international projects. Professor Ken shapiro, the director of international agricultural Programs, stated that CaLs study abroad programming “started when a faculty member walked through the door” with an idea to start a student exchange program with the University of the West indies in Trinidad.8

Larry Meiller, professor of life sciences commu-nication, spent the 1985–86 academic year at the University of the West indies (UWi) on an agency


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for international Development (aiD) funded project. He taught at the university and helped them set up an extension unit to serve other islands. Meiller was impressed with the british-style education offered, and as his year drew to a close, he approached several faculty at UWi with the idea of a student exchange. The responses to his queries were overwhelmingly positive. Upon his return to the U.s. he proposed the idea to shapiro and associate Dean for academic affairs George sledge. associate Dean sledge and Dean Leo Walsh were enthusiastic about the idea; Trinidad hosted the UWi campus that focused on agriculture and natural resources, a good fit for CaLs students. The faculty carefully perused the courses offered to determine which would be good matches. sledge and Walsh made a trip to UWi to determine that the academic and student living facilities were appropriate and to discuss the dimensions of an exchange. The first students traveled to UWi in the spring of 1988 after taking an introductory course in the fall of 1987 that included practical matters in addi-tion to providing an overview of the culture in which they would study. The first year a faculty member John Murdoch, professor of soil sciences, accompa-nied the group to evaluate the program firsthand as it unfolded. since that time, a local faculty member, Professor richard brathwaite, has acted as the liaison for the students on site. overall, the program covered an entire academic year—the course in the fall followed by the time abroad in the spring. once in Trinidad, the students took three courses at the university and also under-took an independent study. The independent stud-ies allowed students to engage more fully in a special project resulting in a substantial paper. The proj-ects ranged from service to the local community to research in the laboratory of local faculty. one student studied plant disease and brought back samples which a faculty member used as the basis for a research study. The integration of the study abroad experience into the campus and other projects has become a hallmark of many of the CaLs study abroad programs as i will describe below. During the 1990s, the CaLs international Programs office explored and established numer-ous study abroad opportunities for students along the same model as the UWi program. The exchange model appealed to CaLs in part as a continuation of the contact resulting from projects in which CaLs faculty were engaged. There was interest in sending

UW–Madison’s CaLs students overseas but also in receiving students from the partner institutions to enrich the student body at UW–Madison. several of these programs operated briefly, but were not sustainable due to low enrollment on one or the other side of the partnership. Many CaLs stu-dents were not prepared to take courses that were not taught in english. others were in programs whose course sequences made it hard to be away for an entire semester without falling behind in their academic progress. Despite the international Degree option created in 1992, few students availed themselves of these exchange opportunities. in 1990, elton aberle was named dean and one of his stated goals was to have more CaLs students go abroad as part of their degree program. He created a task force with representation from every depart-ment in CaLs and delivered a report setting goals and offering suggestions about how to meet the objec-tive of greater participation among students. one of the options the task force identified was short-term programs that would be offered in January between semesters or in the summer. During the same time, oisP held a competition and CaLs was awarded funds to support a program in Uganda. The basic concept involved a course in the fall to be followed by a field component in December and January between semesters. (UW–Madison does not have a formal term during the winter break.) This highly successful program became a model for CaLs. short-term programs with related prior coursework preparation in UW–Madison became a successful vehicle for CaLs to send its students overseas.

The CALS Uganda Program introduces students to health and nutrition issues through classroom learning and field visits. Here students construct a water tank. Photo courtesy of John Ferrick.


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The success of CaLs study abroad programming is in part a reflection of a concerted effort to inte-grate programs with other activities of the college. a program to Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico, is supported by a UsDa grant and pairs UW–Madison students with high school teachers in Wisconsin. Together they create projects that will generate mate-rials the teachers will use in their classrooms thus addressing CaLs’s commitment to serve the needs of the state of Wisconsin. Programming in Thailand developed through

links with Thai alumni committed to maintaining the connection with their alma mater. students in the West indies program have carried back samples that were used in faculty research laboratories. acting on its interest and commitment to interdisciplinary cooperation across campus, CaLs developed a suc-cessful winter break study program in Uganda. it also provided the faculty in the health sciences with access to its linkages at Makarere University in Kampala so that they could develop a program for students in the health sciences.

1 b. robert Tabachnick, 9 april 2008. 2 The information in this section is largely taken from these sources: Marianne bird bear

(formerly Machotka), interview, 26 February 2008; Thomas W. Chapman, interview, 12 March 2008; international engineering Files, Thomas W. Chapman memo to Dean John G. bollinger, 28 september 1993.

3 Merton barry, “Foreign schools attract students,” Wisconsin Engineer, october 1973. 4 bird bear, interview, 26 February 2008 and Chapman, interview, 12 March 2008. 5 robert T. aubey, interview, 13 February 2008; r.D. nair and andrea Poehling, interview, 1

october 2007. 6 Minutes of the school of business faculty/staff meeting, 1 May 2006. 7 sharon M. baumgartner, Larry r. Meiller, and Kenneth H. shapiro, interview, 8 February

2008. This section is largely based on this interview. 8 shapiro, interview, 8 February 2008.

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THe sCHooLs anD CoLLeGes along with the central campus study abroad office worked closely with the academic units on campus to develop pro-grams. it was because of the assistance of other cam-pus student services and administrative units that study abroad opportunities have reached the robust status they hold today. The registrar’s office refined the way in which the coursework for study abroad is added to the transcript, and developed a system whereby banner headlines on the transcript identify the time spent abroad. as the number of students studying abroad rose, the bursar’s office developed a system for directly billing and col-lecting the fees, replacing a system in which the study abroad office performed that function. The office of student Financial services counseled students and ad-ministered the study abroad grant funds provided by the state. student Health services organized cost-effective vaccination days and participated in orientations. The Division of Continuing studies, through which non-degree students are admitted, streamlined the previ-ously cumbersome college-by-college system by admit-ting incoming exchange students. University Counsel provided advice on contracts, liability, and other legal matters. The office of risk Management remained the central point of contact for health and evacuation insur-ance. The collegial attitude of these and other campus units has allowed UW–Madison to develop an efficient and exceptionally student–friendly infrastructure.

Wisconsin Union Travel Center1

The Wisconsin Union Travel Center played several key roles in international education during its existence from 1972 to 2007. it was established primarily to organize charter air flights for Wisconsin Union Hoofers ski trips to europe, but quickly moved to fill other student travel needs. For the first several years it focused on various aspects of travel including arranging special charters and ticketing with a local travel agency, selling international student iD cards and american youth hostel cards, and other travel details. The Travel Center became known as a “friend of the student traveler.”2

in 1978, a full-time manager of the Travel Cen-ter, Jane Johnson, was hired, in part to explore the potential for expanding the Travel Center operation. The aim was to both better serve students and also generate income to support related student union ac-tivities.3 Johnson remained director for more than 22 years. During her tenure the Travel Center expanded its mission to serve the changing needs of the student population. Federal legislation deregulating the air-line industry in 1978 provided greater flexibility in air travel and made less expensive fares available to individuals. This led to a decline in the early role that the Travel Center had played organizing air charters. in 1979, the Center revised and expanded its mission and started to work closely with a new stu-dent Union Directorate body. The Travel Committee initially was a subcommittee of Campus Community services, and then of the Cross Cultures Committee, and an obvious partner in implementing the new mis-sion. Johnson had benchmarked with other universi-ties, the University of California, Los angeles, and the University of Minnesota among them. as a result, she advocated for UW–Madison to develop a travel office that included not only travel services, but also an informational center where students could learn about international opportunities beyond the study abroad programs offered on campus. The new mis-sion reflected this broader perspective stating that the Travel Center existed “to broaden the education experiences of the university community and Union membership and to be a financially sound program of The Wisconsin Union Directorate.”4

The Travel Center explored establishing an inde-pendent travel agency within its own structure, but ultimately the decision was made to work coopera-tively with a succession of independent travel agencies and services. The Travel Center supported the Travel Committee that developed a series of informational programs for students interested in traveling and working abroad. Programs such as “Tips for Travel-ers” drew on campus resources and eased concerns students had about travel to unfamiliar locations. Further, the center developed its capacity to provide

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study abroad Campus Partners


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information to students about study abroad programs organized by vendors and universities other than the UW–Madison, and organized an annual international study and travel fair, as well as special educational, noncredit overseas tours and trips. Typically offered during the break period, these trips came to include international service projects. in all these efforts, the Travel Center consulted with academic units organizing study abroad. by col-laborating with the academic units, and filling niches not met by them, the Travel Center expanded the range of international options available to students. in the 1970s and early 1980s most campus-sponsored programs lasted a full academic year. The Travel Cen-ter informed students about shorter options or study options in locations other than those offered through UW–Madison. in subsequent years, as the campus- sponsored offering grew, the Travel Center always re-ferred students first to the appropriate campus offices but continued to provide information about other op-tions. The concept of student-to-student information

sharing was supported by files of evaluations that the Travel Center gathered from past participants and made available to students. in the last several years of Johnson’s directorship, the Travel Center and campus offices cooperated to provide campuswide programming for students in-terested in experiences abroad. a fall study abroad fair organized by international academic Programs focused on campus-sponsored programs. However, the Travel Committee took the lead in organizing a presentation before the fair to include presentations by the international academic Programs, the office of admissions, and a panel of returned students from campus-sponsored programs and other programs. The Travel Committee continued to sponsor a spring travel fair that highlighted non-UW–Madison study abroad, as well as work and volunteer abroad, oppor-tunities. The Travel Center closed it doors recently. easy access to information on the internet about non-UW–Madison study abroad programs has to some extent filled the void.

The study abroad fair held in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union each fall attracts over one thousand prospective students. Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.

1 Jane Johnson, interview, 27 February 2008 and documentation in Travel Center History binder in Johnson’s files.

2 Travel Center History binder, Jane Johnson memo to Corky sischo, 18 July 1979. 3 Theodore e. Crabb, interview, 27 February 2008. 4 Travel Center History binder, Jane Johnson memo to Corky sischo, 11 July 1979.

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ToDay, UW–MaDison students can choose to study abroad through more than 180 programs located in more than 50 countries around the world earning residence credit,1 as well as through a large and growing number of programs operated by other institutions for which they can receive transfer credit. Various forms of scholarships and grants help them minimize the cost barrier. They have the choice of programs appropriate for a broad range of majors. The programs offered through UW–Madison have been organized directly by a campus unit usually with considerable faculty involvement, or have been selected from programs offered through vendors or partner institutions based on criteria that faculty have approved. as a whole, the programs reflect funda-mental institutional values as well as a vision for the role of study abroad as part of the degree experi-ence. in fact, the entire portfolio of programs reflects UW–Madison’s unique expression of what study abroad should offer. individually, each program illus-trates one or more of the characteristics of the values and vision of study abroad at UW–Madison.

Commitment to Mutual BenefitsUW–Madison takes great pride in having developed several programs that benefit student participants, the area studies programs and department objectives on campus, as well as students, faculty, and the institu-tional goals of partner institutions. The program at the Université Gaston berger (UGb) de saint-Louis in senegal illustrates this commitment. UGb, initially named Université de saint-Louis, was established in 1990. its constitution included a goal of establishing links with other universi-ties. african studies Program files record that “five administrators from saint-Louis, sponsored by Usia, visited UW–Madison and other U.s. universi-ties in Fall 1991, to observe american approaches to higher education…They were seeking an affiliation.”2 UW–Madison’s african studies Program applied for and received a federal grant to implement a university linkage with UGb that began in 1992. This linkage,

coming soon after the establishment of UGb, repre-sented an important first step in achieving its goal. The grant supported the exchange of faculty between the institutions for a period of years. However, with the end of the financial support provided by the gov-ernment grant, it was hard to envision how a linkage could continue. To establish a form of institutional contact that would continue after the grant period ended, therefore, the african studies Program and international academic Programs (iaP) designed a student exchange program. exchanges began in 1992, with two UW–Madison students attending UGb for the fall semester. To conduct the exchange, the different financial circumstances of students from each country had to be solved. While UW–Madison students paid fees to study abroad and had access to financial aid when qualified, students at UGb were subsidized by their government in senegal and did not have the finan-cial resources necessary to live on a U.s. campus. They developed a plan in which for every three to four UW–Madison students who attended UGb, one UGb student would study at UW–Madison. in senegal, UW–Madison students enjoyed guaranteed access to rooms in extremely limited campus dormi-tory space and meals at a government-subsidized can-teen. in UW–Madison, the program budget would cover the UGb student’s tuition, room, board, inci-dental expenses, and airfare. The exchange worked because each partner’s needs and capacities were taken into account; UW–Madison wanted access to multiple spots for its students and UGb needed fuller funding for the one or two students who would come to Madison. in subsequent years, another need of UGb super-seded their goal to send students overseas. Faculty at UGb had the right to go abroad for research every few years, but funding was scarce. The UW–Madison and UGb partnership developed a scheme whereby, in lieu of fees paid to UGb for UW–Madison stu-dents, UW–Madison instead used the funds to host UGb faculty in Madison for a month or longer. The faculty were able to engage in the activities of

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Values and Vision


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the african studies Program, and the appropriate UW–Madison counterpart department. Most signifi-cantly, their access to UW–Madison’s library enabled them to complete advanced degrees and post-degree projects. at the same time, the african studies Program cooperated with iaP to develop and implement an in-depth pre-departure orientation. a faculty mem-ber from UGb came each year to help plan and lead the orientation. The week-long series of discussions, language instruction, and informational presenta-tions has been critical to the success of the program, preparing students for the challenges of an education system different from their own and for the cultural context in which they spend the academic year. When the students arrive at UGb, each is assigned a dor-mitory room with an african roommate. The friend-ships fostered in the dorms often lead to invitations for UW–Madison students to go to hometowns for holidays and festivals, providing a rich and diverse cul-tural experience. The three-way partnership between UGb, the african studies Program, and iaP has benefited all. Professor baydallaye Kane, currently dean of the College of arts at UGb, has worked with the program since its inception. He opined that the Wisconsin pro-gram was a model for an exchange because it is based on a healthy trust between the partners and the prem-ise of a mutually beneficial partnership. over time, faculty from each institution have come to know their counterparts and engage in a scholarly dialogue, and students have become the next generation of scholars and community leaders.3

preference for an Immersion Experience The preference for an immersion experience and year-long study abroad sets UW–Madison apart from many peer institutions. in the early years, a full immersion in the host institution’s educational setting—includ-ing taking classes alongside host country students, living within the community, and participating in community activities—was a conscious goal. it was recognized as unique among the growing number of programs in the 1960s.4

over time, many programs including those in Freiburg, bologna, Madrid, and santiago adopted this basic approach. While UW–Madison has seen considerable growth in semester- and even shorter-term programs reflecting the national trend, it main-tains a commitment to immersion and year-long study

as a cornerstone of program recruitment and develop-ment. This basic philosophy has also been employed when revising program structure. outside the classroom, students participating in an immersion program have the opportunity to use and develop their language skills in everyday situa-tions, whether purchasing goods in the local market, seeking directions, or debating political developments in a café. a student in Madrid in 2000 wrote, “there is no better way to become fluent in a second lan-guage than to live somewhere that speaks it. i don’t care how many classes you have taken, no professor is going to think to teach you the phrase: ‘Hi, i need to buy an electrical cord that has a circular socket for large appliances and that is at least three meters long to plug in our second refrigerator, since the dog chewed on the old cord.’ i used that one today at the local hardware store.”5

students also learn how to read social situations, such as body language in different communities (how close to stand in an ordinary conversation, whether or not to look someone directly in the eye). Travel offers the opportunity to learn about everyday skills including how to negotiate a place in line and how to calculate costs in differing currencies. at the same time, students gain exposure to some of the world’s great artistic, architectural, and natural wonders. Within the classroom, students are exposed to differing styles of instruction and etiquette as well as different points of view. The discussion of a great work of literature or a political event from different national viewpoints can expand a student’s perspec-tive and deepen his or her understanding. students learn different ways of making an intellectual argu-ment. For example, when in a Francophone country, students must learn to develop a dissertation, a struc-tured method to which most have not been exposed in a typical U.s. classroom. and using the language of the host country, while challenging at first, is an effective way to boost language skills to new levels. Typically, intensive language classes are provided before the start of the regular university term. in some cases, language classes continue throughout the academic year. While students are encouraged to take regular classes at the university, often a few special classes for foreigners in the language of the host coun-try are also provided as a bridge for students whose language skills are not yet sophisticated enough for regular university classes. Considerable effort goes into continuous improvement of these programs. in the Freiburg


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program, for example, graduate students from U.s. home institutions provided language instruction. it seemed that these graduate students, mostly teach-ing assistants on their home campuses, would be an effective bridge for the students, using both tradi-tional classroom instruction and also the local envi-ronment as an instructional and cultural orientation setting (for example, developing assignments using local stores, public transportation, and newspapers). after a few years, it was apparent that using a local lan-guage school that had developed effective pedagogi-cal methods was an even better model. it also moved our students into a broader community of other inter-national students during the orientation period. We sought to lessen the isolation of our students during this orientation phase and to add more consistency to the instruction year after year. students find the immersion experience challeng-ing. it is not uncommon to hear them describe the first few weeks of such programs in terms of obstacles: finding housing, performing the mundane tasks for

daily living, communicating effectively. The satis-faction and personal sense of accomplishment they report at the end of the year, however, is remarkable. one student wrote, “one of my greatest thrills came at the end of the year when a Parisian recognized my accent as southern French—not american!”6

Facilitating Access for Studentsaccess to programs has been a concern since the start of study abroad, though the definition of the target student population and the strategies for increasing access have evolved. since the very first program in 1959, organizers have aimed to provide cost-effective programs so that qualified students of limited means would not be excluded.7 Funding has been sought from private and government sources to offset costs and to provide scholarships for participants who need it. During the first decades, programs sought out only honors level students. in some cases, students

Blaire Bergman (Aix, France; 2004-05) “I had two accomplishments to be proud of that day. First, conquering Mont St. Victoire, and second, being able to take a timed picture of myself on top of a mountain! When I took the photo, I was simply enjoying the jaw-dropping view of the countryside below, and also feeling so appreciative of the many things I had experienced during my time in France. I learned so much more than a language, I learned about a culture and a new way of life.” Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.


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would have to present a transcript demonstrating a G.P.a of 3.0 or above even to receive an application. before sufficient infrastructure was in place to sup-port a wide range of students, the Monterrey pro-gram was open only to unmarried male students, who were U.s. citizens and had a grade point average above 3.0.8 However, over the years, a more inclusive approach has emerged with the recognition that all UW–Madison students in good standing can benefit from an international experience. With the exception of the engineering program in Monterrey, Mexico, the target population for study abroad was based in the social sciences and humanities. Well into the 1980s, it was assumed that students in the sciences would not benefit from study abroad.9 However, this perception changed, so that today students with virtually any major in every school and college are encouraged to study abroad. Programs of differing lengths and different academic content allow participants to continue to make prog-ress toward their degree. The short-term seminars abroad are one way to provide students in various majors access to interna-tional academic experiences. one of the first seminars was located in samoa and focused on the Polynesian cultural use of plants for material and medicines. another was organized to allow communication arts students without extensive French language skills to participate in a film-based program in France. Films with subtitles were selected so that they would be accessible to these students. in subsequent years, special programs for art and music students were organized in Florence. They provided opportunities abroad for students whose coursework made it dif-ficult to study abroad during the academic year and still make progress in their degree programs. The offices that organize study abroad have also attempted to address some invisible barriers that lim-ited perceived access to study abroad. in the 1990s, iaP began developing orientation materials specifically addressed to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender stu-dents, who often had reservations about prejudice they might encounter abroad. outreach efforts in recent years have sought to familiarize students of color with program opportunities, and to respond to concerns that might discourage them from considering studying abroad. With a goal of access for all students, numer-ous strategies have been employed and are being con-tinuously refined. The General Handbook given to each student, and now online for any prospective student to consult, directs students to relevant resources.

Support and Enhance Curriculum and Academic Focus in study abroad programs, some class offerings mir-ror UW–Madison courses while others cover subjects not available at home. in all cases, efforts are made to ensure that the quality of the course is an appropri-ate equivalent to a UW–Madison course. a goal of the coursework, as well as other components of the programs, is to support and enhance the campus cur-riculum. each program connects back to the campus, some offering courses related to a specific department, others in peer institutions with which the campus has had a long-term relationship. UW–Madison has one of the strongest Dutch language and culture programs in the country. There are, however, few faculty and there is a limit to the number of courses that can be offered on cam-pus. The student exchange program with Utrecht University in the netherlands provides an opportunity for UW–Madison students to take a wide variety of classes in Dutch language and culture. Many courses

The Ecuador Tropical Conservation Program focuses on the ecology and natural history of the tropics. It provides practi-cal experience in conservation and scientific research, and includes hikes to see remote and pristine ecosystems. Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.


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are offered in english allowing students to explore a wide range of topics while abroad that will expand upon courses they may have taken at UW–Madison, or that will stand in place of its equivalent. The institute for environmental studies (now the Gaylord nelson institute for environmental studies) developed its first exchange with the University of Guelph in ontario, Canada, in september of 1994. The exchange continued for ten years. The partnership served as a springboard for two three-way exchanges between Canadian, Mexican, and U.s. partner institu-tions, with funding from their respective federal gov-ernment grants. one program addressed the north american watershed and another explored restoring the north american landscape. Guelph was an ideal partner, having a strong faculty of environmental sci-ences, and students were able to take courses that complemented those offered on their own campuses. students were offered a significant exploration of envi-ronmental issues not only in the regions in which they studied, but also across the whole of north america, highlighting the environmental challenges that cross national borders. one of UW–Madison’s most successful short-term seminars abroad has been on feng shui. Led by Professor Wei Dong in UW–Madison’s school for Human ecology, the program takes place in China.

Utilizing his network of contacts in China’s university and art worlds, Professor Dong has created the first overseas program in which UW–Madison students learn the true concept of feng shui from knowledge-able professors and practitioners. They also witness firsthand examples of feng shui applications in the art and design of houses, imperial palaces and gardens, and modern-day architecture and business develop-ment.10 students majoring in environmental textile and design earn credit toward their major, building on the courses taught at UW–Madison. For several years, the school of business has operated a summer program in China that introduces students to business practices in this emerging eco-nomic power. Programs in senegal and south africa have allowed students to delve into courses about their host country. students in india have been able to study with traditional teachers of classical music or dance, complementing western education’s textbook approach. in Thailand, students have taken tutorials with faculty experts on refugee issues and local envi-ronmental problems that expand upon courses taught on campus. Taking content courses in the language of the host country affords an opportunity to build on the strong foundation provided in UW–Madison classes and enhances proficiency in the specialized vocabulary of different fields.

Teach the Importance of Service about 50 years ago, Professor Henry Hart devel-oped a proposal for a program in india that would depart from the model of study abroad programs in europe which relied on either coursework at a local university or courses specially designed for foreign students. He proposed an exemplar program compo-nent, “permitting students to develop a conscience or sense of responsibility about the high-stakes prob-lems of their lifetime.”11 Hart believed it would arise naturally if students participated in useful and feasible projects either in the urban community organization programs in Delhi or in one of the settlement houses serving mill workers in bombay.12 He went on to sug-gest that students could staff crèches, neighborhood vernacular libraries, or recreation or physical training programs. He posited that students could then engage in an intellectual analysis of the work experience.13 in short, Hart described and proposed a program that included a component that is commonly known today as service learning. service learning is quite simply volunteer work

With Feng Shui concepts deeply imbedded within the Chinese way of life, Beijing is the perfect venue for the faculty-led sem-inar in which students learn from local experts about its role in art, design, and its impact on human development and behavior. Courtesy of International Academic Programs.


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combined with intellectual reflection and analysis. in recent years, several UW–Madison programs have included this component, some as mandatory, and others as optional. The summer program in oaxaca, Mexico, has a service learning placement built into the program. students are placed in local nGos, clinics, or schools, and then reflect on the experience in journal entries submitted to their professor. The Cyprus short-term seminar has offered opportunities for students to serve in cultural centers and nGos, and then to process their experiences via structured discussions. in Cape Town, a local student group, students’ Health and Welfare Centres organisation (sHaWCo), offers students an opportunity to serve in township organizations. in the Dominican republic program, a shared Council on inter-institutional Cooperation (CiC) program, students are guided by enTrena, a professional service and training organization specializing in health-related fields. The Vietnam program organized on the ground by

the Council on international educational exchange (Ciee) offers the opportunity for service placements to students with some command of Vietnamese. a relatively new program called “Crossing borders,” in which students learn about environmental justice issues across the border between Texas and Mexico, has 25 hours of service learning built into its struc-ture. The Wisconsin idea, so central to the philos-ophy of UW–Madison, places value on service and study abroad and prides itself on offering programs that include a venue for students to have a direct and meaningful service experience.

Expose Students to real and Dynamic Aspects of the World Situation Throughout its history, study abroad at UW–Madison did not shy away from challenging locations. The early programs in Mexico and india were the begin-ning. Programs in Tanzania, sierra Leone, senegal,

The UW–Madison Crossing Borders service learning program introduces students to the environmental justice issues of border towns of Texas and Mexico. Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.


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Morocco, and south africa opened up opportunities to understand different countries in africa as each addressed its status as independent nations, faced eco-nomic challenges, and developed political systems. in Hungary and russia, students observed the changes that occurred as the iron Curtain came down and the society changed. in Chile, students learned from their instructors and the families with whom they lived about the impact on ordinary lives of a military coup followed by a period of dictatorship and then a return to democracy. balancing safety concerns with opportunities in many parts of the world is a major challenge for administering study abroad. Political crises, ethnic instability, soaring crime rates, health concerns, and, in recent years, terrorism are all matters to be taken seriously. students may be interested in studying in a certain part of the world that is portrayed as unsta-ble, while parents demonstrate a reluctance that may be shared by the sending institution—particularly if the U.s. Department of state has issued a warning for american travelers. at UW–Madison, balancing academic access with safety, evaluating the true level of threat, and judging what is adequate onsite infra-structure and staff instigate serious discussions when developing programs. study abroad in a troubled area affords students the challenge and opportunity to distill understand-ing from what they learn in the classroom, read in books and newspapers, hear from local residents, and gain from their own observations. students have studied in israel as the nation seeks a secure existence for its inhabitants. others have spent a summer in Dublin learning about irish culture and civilization, but also hearing from local leaders on both sides of the irish conflict during a week in belfast. some have studied the conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots by hearing from individuals about the effects of the conflict on their lives. While adhering to stan-dards that seek to keep students out of harm’s way, UW–Madison programs abroad have helped students master the tools that will allow them to develop opin-ions and make judgments appropriate for an informed and thoughtful citizenry.

provide Opportunities for participation in Vibrant Learning Communities one of the criticisms of an undergraduate education at a large public research university is that students can find themselves in large classrooms with few

opportunities for direct contact with senior faculty. Considerable strides have been made on this campus, notably in the last 15 years, to develop learning com-munities that integrate academic and out-of-class-room experiences. These communities allow students and faculty to talk comfortably over dinners or in dis-cussion groups on topics of mutual interest. study abroad can be seen as the model for such interactive environments particularly in sites such as the program in Florence, italy. The Florence program is administered as a partnership between UW–Madison, the University of Michigan (which is the lead administrator), and Duke University. it is located in a refurbished villa in sesto Fiorentino, six miles from the center of Florence. The walls at the back of the villa encircle well-maintained gardens to which the students have access, and murals that are more than one hundred years old decorate several of the public rooms. The villa is situated in the midst of a lively residential community where parents walk their children to school in the morning, older resi-dents shop during the day, and certain streets are lined with the small shops (including coffee bars, food and clothing stores, pharmacies, and a gelato bar) typical of a local community. both the program’s environment and concept create a learning community. The villa houses students and faculty from the partner institutions, and classes are held in rooms in several areas of the building. The average class has between 15 and 25 students. informal but organized out-of-classroom activities, such as the choir, bring students, faculty, and the pro-gram cook (who has an exceptional voice) together to practice and then perform in the Magna Aula, one of the communal rooms of the villa. on a beautiful day (of which Florence has many) students and faculty share the lawn area seated on benches, and a spon-taneous Frisbee game may arise. Lunch and dinner are served at standard hours in a large hall affording students and faculty an opportunity to freely mingle. Many faculty report that once back on cam-pus, they stay in touch with the group they taught in Florence. The villa setting allows them to get to know students in a way that is difficult in a typical U.s.-based class, where students dash in and out at the ring of a bell and are often never seen between classes. as a result, students often rely on these faculty for advice and letters of reference. The learning community concept has been built into many of the short-term programs developed in the last five years. in these programs, a faculty member


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with about a dozen student participants spends an intensive three to four weeks abroad, typically after several specialized orientation meetings. Faculty not only provide instruction, but also organize after class events and often meet with students outside of the formal instructional hours, giving students the oppor-tunity to integrate what they have learned within and outside the classroom. some faculty organize meet-ings after students return to campus to present their experience to a broader audience. The Cyprus pro-gram, for example, has held forums in UW–Madison’s Chadbourne Hall, with residents and others from the university community invited. sometimes meetings are held simply to stay in touch in the aftermath of this intense, significant learning experience.

Build through partnerships with Other Institutions UW–Madison cooperates with domestic and interna-tional partners to provide study abroad opportuni-ties. The large number of program sites sponsored by UW–Madison would not be possible without these partners. The nature of these partnerships var-ies from bilateral arrangements to large networks of institutions. in the first wave of study abroad programming, from 1959 to 1970, eight programs were established. Half were consortium programs, that is, partnerships of two or more U.s. institutions. These partners recruited students from their own campuses, pro-vided directors from their faculty on a rotating basis, and shared policy-making responsibilities. Generally, one of the partners served as lead administrator. The consortium programs, the year UW–Madison commenced the partnership, and partners at that time are:

aix-en-Provence, France, 1962, University of Michigan

Freiburg, Germany, 1964, Wayne state University, University of Michigan

bologna, italy, 1969, indiana University

Madrid, spain, 1970, Purdue University, indiana University

While elements of these partnerships have changed over the years, the programs serve UW–Madison students to this day. Partnerships allowed programs to be offered in locations where UW–Madison alone could not likely

have provided a sufficient enough enrollment to keep them solvent. nor would it have been able to involve faculty in oversight of the program without asking language departments (the most common home department of faculty directors) to release a faculty member as director every year. The bologna partnership was founded based on these needs. silvano Garofalo, shortly after arriving at UW–Madison in 1967 as a young untenured faculty member, proposed establishing a summer program in siena, italy, to then Dean Henry Hill. Hill was reluc-tant to consider this proposal, raising concerns about safety and the effectiveness of the program’s short duration. in January of 1969, the associate dean for international studies at indiana University, Walter nugent, visited Hill and proposed that UW–Madison join their program in bologna. nugent explained that the four indiana faculty in italian had served as directors from 1964 to 1969 and were disinclined to serve again immediately. UW–Madison’s growing italian department made it a desirable partner, with four new professors hired from 1966 to 1970. Hill hesitated to sanction the full partnership at that time, but supported Garofalo’s interest in taking a leave of absence to serve as director. after students from the UW–Madison campus participated in the program in the fall of 1969, the university subsequently became a full partner in the consortium. From the fall of 1969 through spring of 1974, UW–Madison faculty also served as directors of the program in alternate years.14

other partnerships of formal and informal insti-tutional networks followed. The Consortium for inter-institutional Cooperation (CiC) is made up of the large public universities in the Midwest. in the summer of 1977, UW–Madison sent its first students on the CiC’s first cooperative program.15 Located in Guanajuato, Mexico, the program, which continues today, served as a model for other cooperative CiC ventures in Canada and the Dominican republic. in the 1990s, the CiC sought to cooperate more fully and in 1999, the alliances for expanded study in overseas Programs (aesoP) formed. This alliance allowed for the voluntary participation of all CiC members. any member could list a program in a pool and any other CiC institution could adopt the pro-gram as its own. Crucially, there existed an agreement at the highest campus level that students could remain enrolled in the home institution (therefore remaining eligible for financial aid and residence credits) while participating in the program.


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This opened up programs in many more locations for students. For example, in 1998 UW–Madison’s program in Tanzania had ended, in part due to low enrollment. because programs with only a few stu-dents were impossible to sustain financially, students who wished to study abroad in east africa while remaining registered at UW–Madison had no options. However, through aesoP, UW–Madison students were able to study in Kenya through a program offered by the University of Minnesota. Perhaps even more significantly, this alliance encouraged the CiC partners to develop more bi- or multilateral partner-ships when establishing new programs, thus affording students at all the institutions greater opportunities while the administrative burden was shared among the partners. still other networks were based on subject areas. serving chemistry students, for example, the Transatlantic science student exchange Program (TasseP) was a partnership of chemistry departments

in 12 U.s., 18 european, and five Canadian universi-ties.16 in this exchange program, one or more faculty at each institution agreed both to make their course content available to the partners and to evaluate their partners’s courses in terms of their equivalence to the home institution courses. Thus chemistry students, reluctant to study abroad due to the rigorous require-ment of course sequencing in their majors, could choose to go overseas, knowing beforehand what course requirements they could satisfy while abroad. There was a pool for student enrollment so that, for example, two UW–Madison students might go to england, while two students from spain might come to UW–Madison in their places. The College of engineering participates in another consortium, the Global engineering education exchange (Global e3). This network changed the breadth of opportunities by opening study abroad opportunities to students from most engineering departments in 17 countries in europe. This consortium is coordinated by the institute for international education (iie) a national organization that promotes many international exchange activi-ties.17 Global e3 acts as a clearinghouse in the same way as TasseP, thereby addressing the problems of unequal demand that might emerge in some bilat-eral partnerships. issues of credit transfer, one of the obstacles to engineering students studying abroad, are minimized by limiting membership to peer insti-tutions. students can participate in an internship after a semester of participation in the program. The University of Wisconsin system sponsors a similar clearinghouse mechanism between UW institutions and higher education institutions in the German state of Hessen, which is Wisconsin’s sister state. This network is not restricted to any subject area. regular meetings and communications have allowed this network to meet the needs of its part-ners by developing specialized programs in addition to the regular classes in which students enroll. at UW–Madison, this exchange is coordinated through CaLs international Programs.

Faculty member Kathyn Sanchez volunteers her time to an-swer questions about the Oaxaca program at the study abroad resource fair. Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.

1 www.wisc.edu/studyabroad. 2 Proposal for a University Linkage Grant, african studies Program files, 1991. 3 baydallaye Kane, interview, 6 september 2007. 4 aix director’s file, University archives, letter from Henry Hill to edouard Morot, 20 December

1961, Henry Hill correspondence with French counterparts. 5 Madrid, spain, student comment, 2000. 6 office of international studies and Programs brochure, The University of Wisconsin Junior

year in Germany, england, France, Mexico, india, March 1967, aix student comment.


64

7 Warrington Colescott interview, 10 March 2008. in my interview with Professor Colescott, he emphasized efforts to keep costs down including the utilization of student hostels, seeking deals on transportation, using student i.D. cards for museum entries, etc.

8 Wendt papers, University archives, information Provided to Prospective students, 10 august 1961.

9 Christine Hacskaylo, “The Junior year abroad: ‘The boundaries of the campus’ bump the Taj Mahal,” Wisconsin Alumnus, January 1983, 9.

10 www.international.wisc.edu/studyabroad. 11 Henry Hart, “Proposal [later edited to read “Considerations”] for an Undergraduate year in

india,” undated paper circa 1958–59, 2. 12 Hart, “Proposal,” 3. 13 Hart, “Proposal,” 4. 14 silvano Garofalo, interview, 29 June 2007. 15 Meeting notes of CiC Presidents, May 1966. as early as 1966, the CiC presidents were en-

couraging their study abroad directors to meet regularly to discuss cooperative ventures. The Guanajuato Mexico summer program was the first such venture, starting in 1967.

16 www.chem.wisc.edu/sibert/tassep4.htm. 17 www.iie.org.

65

aLMosT 20,000 UW–MaDison students have studied abroad since the first program was offered for credit in 1959. interest in study abroad has be-come commonplace among the student body, and the university now faces the challenge of finding ways to move forward. Current practices will need to be re-evaluated. While some will continue, others may be altered or even discarded in favor of new ones that ad-dress current needs and circumstances. such change is never easy. nevertheless, 2008 finds UW–Madison well po-sitioned for the next developments in study abroad. There is a campus infrastructure in place to organize and manage study abroad. student services have drawn upon the larger infrastructure of the university. The offices of the registrar, bursar, Financial aid, risk Management, University Counsel, and Uni-versity Health services, and others have systems to support the study abroad enterprise, and they remain available to consult as new issues arise. Faculty have helped to establish academic standards and participate in regular cycles of review. student services are well established and everyone involved in programming looks for continuous improvement. Partnerships with domestic and university higher education institutions and vendors of quality programs are established. The University of Wisconsin Foundation works with the campus to identify sources of support for study abroad, and alumni have begun to come forward with generous donations for scholarships. With this strong foundation, the question is not if study abroad will grow but rather how it will define and achieve new goals. study abroad is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to provide students with a signifi-cant international exposure. business, economic, po-litical, and educational leaders increasingly recognize the importance of an international dimension in higher education. at the national level, the Lincoln Com-mission, appointed by President bush, recommended a grant program that would lead to one million U.s. students abroad in the next decade, more than four times the current number. The senator Paul simon

study abroad Foundation act of 2007 awaits senate confirmation and if passed into law would create a small entrepreneurial government foundation to facilitate progress toward this goal.1 organizations including the institute for international education (iie), have issued reports on a variety of topics regarding study abroad ranging from the relationship between study abroad and diversity initiative to the match (or lack thereof) between institutional capacity overseas and U.s. stu-dent demand. naFsa, the association of international educators, recently published administrative guidelines for study abroad, directed to senior administrators. The american Council on education (aCe) has issued sev-eral reports on aspects of internationalization on U.s. campuses, including one that captures data which can and will be used to argue for areas of improvement. There is increasing discussion nationally about requir-ing study abroad, something that only a few institutions are implementing at this time. in Wisconsin, we are fortunate that business leaders undertook a major study of international edu-cation in the state and made recommendations for improvements.2 one important result of this study was the creation of state-funded scholarships for study abroad. Furthermore, the Wisconsin international Trade Council’s task force on international educa-tion highlighted the great value that business leaders place on international education. The recently passed senate Joint resolution3 recognizes and encourages international education as an essential component of the future of this state and goes on to insist upon the importance of international education to our coun-try’s national security, economic interests, and global competitiveness. in 2007, UW–Madison Provost Patrick Farrell appointed a task force on Global Competence that met throughout the past academic year to discuss the educational value of international education, includ-ing study abroad. The report of this committee is forthcoming. incoming Chancellor biddy Martin has stated that, despite problems and challenges, there is an emerging knowledge economy across the globe. Higher education has never been more important.

ChApTEr 8

The next Fifty years


66

The numbers make it apparent how absolutely criti-cal UW–Madison is to the economic well-being of the state of Wisconsin.4

and faculty and staff, engaged in a self-study pre-ceding the institutional reaccreditation, recognized the importance of international engagement for a public research university:

The definition of being public is a mutual commitment between UW–Madison and the people of Wisconsin to support and enhance one another and the global community…our over-arching recommendation for the next decade calls for UW–Madison to more strongly em-brace the Wisconsin idea for the public good, and to demonstrate that our connections and responsibilities with the people of Wisconsin and the global community are opportuni-ties for the very best work that a great public university can do.5

Furthermore, more than 50 percent of incoming un-dergraduates in recent years identified study abroad as an interest (though far fewer have followed through, part of the challenge for the future). Many faculty and staff are committed to doing whatever is necessary to broaden the base of participants in international aca-demic experiences because they believe that every stu-dent deserves the opportunity to choose study abroad as a part of his or her undergraduate career. set against this background, continued growth in study abroad is a reasonable assumption; however, the 21st century presents circumstances that are both opportunities and challenges. institutional budgetary demands and their implications for faculty numbers, the current student profile which includes a desire to graduate with the ability to function competently in the global marketplace, expectations of accountabil-ity and service, technological developments, and the evolution in higher education worldwide, are all issues that will have to be addressed if UW–Madison hopes to significantly increase the number of students who study abroad. To attract more students and maintain program quality, UW–Madison will need to actively seek the right combination of experimentation and staying the course.

Challenge #1: how will more program options be made available if faculty size remains the same or declines?

Historically, UW–Madison faculty have created and administered strong programs linked to the core

curriculum. academic staff were not as prevalent on campus in the early years of study abroad as they are now. in the first few decades of study abroad, the student services were supplied and overseen by fac-ulty who were appointed as assistant deans. This has changed over time. Today, the primary roles of faculty are advisory (sitting on committees in reviews) and as directors and instructors in the programs abroad. With the continued expansion of study abroad, it will be critical to determine the appropriate role for facul-ty and to sort out the right combination of academic staff and faculty in study abroad programming. UW–Madison faculty can lead a certain number of short-term programs, or can serve a term as an in-structor or director of the small number of programs structured to include them in teaching or manage-ment roles. However, faculty at UW–Madison campus are stretched thin as they attempt to accommodate regular teaching obligations, research commitments, public service, and committee assignments. Faculty can provide guidelines, establish standards for pro-grams, and make determinations about how courses abroad fit into the degree programs for which they are responsible. Ultimately, however, others will have to be brought into the instruction of students abroad. UW–Madison has relied on faculty for program ideas, to oversee and review programs, and to de-sign and lead short-term programs. employing the premise that faculty involvement in study abroad is essential to the maintenance of quality programming, the numbers suggest that we will have to think dif-ferently about the role of faculty. if we are to grow study abroad participation from the 15 percent or so who study abroad today to 50 percent or more of a graduating class, the role of faculty will have to evolve. While it is likely that some amount of direct participa-tion in programs operated by UW–Madison will exist, faculty may need to focus more on identifying appro-priate institutions for our students abroad, the initial review of new program options operated by others, and the provision of oversight via cyclical programs reviews. if, for example, UW–Madison decides to rely more heavily on programs operated by vendors, we will need to consider how to involve faculty in the program development and oversight functions. Fur-thermore, the campus will need to determine how faculty participation in study abroad fits within their other responsibilities of teaching, research, and ser-vice to the campus and community. Their work with study abroad needs to be built into the annual review


67

process and linked to meritorious performance as part of their teaching, research, and service obligations.

Challenge #2: how will study abroad attract more students, including those who are reticent about leaving the home campus?

UW–Madison has not set a specific numeric goal for the percentage of students who will study abroad. it is likely that there always will be some students who choose not to go to another country. However, the university has made a commitment to facilitating the experience for every student who wishes to partici-pate. Many students today think of study abroad as an experience that will support their professional de-velopment, and each student who desires the educa-tional benefit study abroad affords, should be able to do so. The message to students and the nature of pro-gramming must continue to evolve and include an ap-peal to the current student body. students show con-siderable interest in opportunities that allow them to apply knowledge to real life situations. study abroad programs that are linked to or are shaped as intern-ships or service learning experiences are enjoying con-siderable attention and deservedly so. students see such opportunities as a way to build a resume that will give them an advantage as they enter the workforce. Programs need to fit back into the campus academic

life; for example, fieldwork conducted abroad can be written as a thesis, a project that documents what was learned abroad. at the same time, a great university has a mis-sion to train experts, and the world needs them! study abroad has a role to play in training students who know Chinese well enough to conduct business and understand the nuances of a business culture, who can translate arabic or Kazak for an international political negotiation, who understand the world of the 18th century in a given nation well enough to clearly artic-ulate a cultural trait that affects interaction with oth-ers, who see how actions taken by an ancient society affected the future, and who are prepared to conduct in-depth research about the religious convictions of a given people, and then teach the next generation of students. There are still some fundamental obstacles that prevent students from participating in study abroad. The expanded access to Global Learning experiences (eaGLe) report issued a decade ago identified three key obstacles to greater student participation: cost to students, limited faculty and administrative staff re-sources (which held back program growth), and gaps in curricular alignment between study abroad and campus requirements. Progress has been made to re-duce the impediments, but there is much more to be done.

Professor Rod Matthews led a video conference between his International Business 200 class at UW–Madison and students from a school in Kyrgystan. Photo courtesy of Photo the School of Business International Programs.


68

Concerns about finances and academic progress continue to be cited as major obstacles to student participation. state-sponsored scholarships, available since 1999, have been a significant step in address-ing financial barriers. Furthermore, the current dean of the Division of international studies, Gilles bous-quet, has made scholarships for study abroad a ma-jor fundraising goal. Toward this end, he has secured some initial funds from both companies and alumni. The university needs to identify committed donors to build a fund that can provide predictable support year after year. University sources of financial aid need to apply seamlessly to a campus-sponsored study abroad experience. Faculty have approved measures to ensure that students can make satisfactory academic progress while abroad through improvements in the equivalen-cy system, in identifying programs in which credit for particular majors can be taken, and in leading short-term programs for students who must be on campus during the academic year for sequential courses. More thought must be directed toward solutions for these persistent obstacles. another area to be addressed includes personal issues of safety and well-being. students of color have raised concerns about the discrimination they may en-counter overseas, students with health problems fear inadequate services or insurance coverage, and stu-dents with disabilities fear a lack of adequate support services. More concerted efforts to work with campus units that have expertise with these student groups may help to address such concerns. Considerations of the target student population for study abroad have until recently overlooked first-year students. The common wisdom has been that students should spend their first year on campus to

make a successful transition from high school to the university. This may well be reconsidered based on the profile of incoming students, many of whom have already had an international experience, and on ex-periments that other universities are making, as well as developments in technology that make support from home institutions possible at greater distances. as more and more high schools limit the num-ber of languages offered, students who participate in an intensive language program in a less commonly taught language such as arabic or Chinese during the summer between high school and college could arrive on campus with a cohort of friends, and a significant advantage in the area of language acquisition. The Wisconsin international scholars (Wisc) program has shown that students can successfully complete a short-term study abroad program in their first year, retain the option to study for a longer-term abroad later, and still graduate in four (or less) years. students who have participated in short-term programs report developing friendships while abroad that are meaning-ful, and remain so upon their return to campus. and students, who may be in majors that demand their presence on campus in later semesters, can certain-ly fulfill general requirements in semester programs abroad. Well-constructed programs for first-year stu-dents are likely to be a potential area of growth.

Challenge #3: how will the campus redesign student services to address a significant growth in student participants?

study abroad offices are among the busiest on any university campus. There is a year-round cycle of re-cruitment, admission, orientation, and support while overseas, in addition to reentry activities to admin-ister. Handling emergencies that arise adds to these day-to-day responsibilities. a student who has a prob-lem on campus has an entire network of offices for support. When students are abroad, the study abroad office is involved in a wide assortment of health, disci-plinary, and safety crises that emerge. each emergency needs to be handled over different time zones, with different cultural expectations, and sometimes with the help of unfamiliar local resources. in general, ex-pectations of service have increased—not only on the part of students, but from their parents as well. Furthermore, the number of study abroad staff is kept lean as a cost-saving measure. Their salaries are mostly paid via a cost recovery system—that is, the fees from student participants cover these costs, with the exception of a few cases in which a school or

Dadid Hidayat, right, a UW–Madison engineering student, worked as an intern with PT Bakrie Telecom in Jakarta, Indo-nesia. Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.


69

college includes the salary of the staff in the general operating budget. in order to keep the overall fees to students low, additional staff are not added easily. study abroad staff have been creative in meeting the challenges of providing good student services. Technology has lent a hand. The Web allows offices to market programs, present materials for students, communicate with students abroad, and keep track of myriad administrative functions essential to a success-ful study abroad operation. Well-trained student peer advisors have filled an invaluable role by providing fun-damental information to students who are beginning the search for an appropriate study abroad program. study abroad work includes not only ensuring that the program abroad is sound and that problems that arise will be handled competently, but also that the preparatory and return stages are planned and im-plemented. increasingly on our campus, study abroad staff have worked to better integrate the time abroad into campus life. The development of more short-term programs has underscored this need. Courses are offered before departure to give students a head start, both in terms of cultural awareness and also academic requirements. This articulation needs to be planned. opportunities to volunteer with internation-al students or organizations upon return can deepen the experience of the time abroad. again, someone needs to identify and then present such information to students. residential dorm floors that focus on a specific culture and language expand the international experi-ence. so do programs like the Wisc scholars wherein students meet to discuss world issues during their first term on campus and participate in the rich intellectual life of area and global studies programs before and after study abroad. study abroad staff are also tasked with promoting the development of semester-long courses on cam-pus to include study abroad during a spring break or following the course. This entails coordinating with various administrative offices to ensure, for example, that extra credits can be listed and faculty work will be remunerated. in some of the schools and colleges staff teach a course to prepare students for study abroad. staff also work to ensure that study abroad is in-tegrated into major campus innovations, such as the portfolio projects currently under discussion for stu-dents to document a broad sweep of their co-curricu-lar as well as curricular experience. if study abroad is to grow, the organization of staff will have to become sophisticated enough to

handle larger numbers and a more complex program and activity portfolio. The physical plant will need to be located in a visible and easily accessible space, and it will have to be adequate to serve the needs of the pro-gram. The campus will need to consider the resources necessary to support an expanded enterprise.

Challenge #4: how can we use educational tech-nology to improve study abroad?

For a period of years in the 1990s, international edu-cators debated how to block student access to e-mail and the internet in general while abroad. such regu-lar contact was considered an impediment to a true immersion experience. Many administrators remem-ber a time when aerograms were the main vehicle of communication from abroad and an entire year was spent overseas without a single phone call home. in the event of an emergency, a phone call would need to be booked hours or even a day ahead of time. sparsely worded telegrams were the most efficient vehicle for conveying important information. Today students have access to cell phones and computers that allow them to remain in contact, of-ten daily, with friends and family at home. and it has become clear that this does not inhibit a signifi-cant immersion experience, though it does change it. Programs are even now making good use of this technology: sites with large numbers of students have set up telephone trees where information can be shared in the event of an emergency. students have the cell phone number of a local director who they can contact if problems arise outside of office hours, an assurance that parents appreciate as much as stu-dents. Messages reminding students about upcoming events and deadlines can be sent via e-mail, so a daily trip to an office to check for informational sheets is no longer necessary. and in many ways, these forms of technology have become a recognized asset for the academic ex-perience. students can tap into their home campus’ electronic library, an invaluable tool for students in countries where library materials are scarce or their use restricted. This is likely to increase as more books and articles are available online. students can also contact advisors and faculty mentors when working on independent projects. The technology, feared as a potential spoiler of the study abroad experience, actu-ally aids the experience when used appropriately. innovative uses of technology will make things pos-sible that no one could have imagined 50 years ago. Joint seminars with students from the host country


70

before a study abroad program will serve to prepare stu-dents to take maximum advantage of their time abroad. students will “sit in” on classes in the host country be-fore they travel abroad to hone their language skills, or after their return as a way of maintaining and improving their hard-earned language ability. While a few experiments have been tried, more classes can pair UW–Madison students with their counterparts in other institutions for in-depth assign-ments. as technology allows more online learning, it is possible to foresee a time when students will study abroad for six to eight credits and take the rest of the semester credits via online courses from the home school. it will allow them to fulfill requirements or take specialized courses in their majors to stay on track while abroad.

Challenge #5: how can program locations grow overseas given the student interest in summer and semester programs and international partner capacity in longer-term programs?

in order to grow student numbers significantly, UW–Madison will need to work with partner institutions and organizations. a recent study by iie revealed that there is a major discrepancy between the capacity of institutions abroad to receive american students and the type of experiences american students seek. institutions that have the capacity welcome students into year-long or degree programs, but they offer few semester or summer opportunities. in coming years, UW–Madison will need to identify partner institutions willing to imagine and create mutually beneficial programs that meet the needs of our stu-dents, address academic requirements, and benefit our partners as well. students in certain fields are still often encour-aged to complete required courses in their major at UW–Madison. yet we have seen students in majors such as chemistry successfully study abroad. This is possible when partners share course content with one another and this information is made available to stu-dents. in some cases, students are able to take courses abroad that are oversubscribed on campus. recently developed summer engineering programs in Paris and China are examples of this successful strategy. Visiting colleagues from abroad have voiced a strong interest in dual degree programs, where an agreement articulates a systematic way for students to complete some years of their degree program at each institution. This focus on credentials is an area ripe for development.

Currently, the discussion about dual degree pro-grams often focuses on international students. How-ever, UW–Madison students too, are eager to earn ad-ditional credentials or credit abroad that will count in a meaningful way toward their UW–Madison degree. Through linkages with partner universities, programs could well provide opportunities for students from one or both institutions to fulfill degree requirements or perhaps earn a certificate while abroad. Discussions could identify particular courses that expand on or others that replicate the substance of what is taught on the home campus. The key will be a basis of mutual trust about academic standards between the faculty of the partner institutions. This trust will guarantee that students are making progress toward their academic goals while studying abroad. UW–Madison will need to commit to this approach and create the necessary administrative avenues. in order to attract a larger number of partici-pants with a broader and more diverse profile, UW– Madison will have to develop a portfolio of programs that speaks to current issues and yet continues to sup-port the educational core of the university.

With the support of campus administration, the cre-ative energy of staff, the leadership of faculty, and the enthusiasm of students, the next 50 years of study abroad will broaden opportunities—likely in some ways we can’t yet imagine. and that is a good situa-tion in which to be as the 21st century unfolds.

Bucky Badger with prospective students at the annual study abroad fair. Photo courtesy of International Academic Programs.


71

1 www.nafsa.org/press_releases.sec/prss_releases.pg/hamkeansimonoped. 2 Wisconsin international Trade Council, How to create a Global Generation in Wisconsin for the

21st Century, May 1998. 3 Wisconsin state senate Joint resolution 72, passed March 2008. 4 University news service, press release, 28 May 2008. 5 Michael F. bernard-Donals and robert D. Mathieu, Team 1: Rethinking the Public Research

University, report of a reaccreditation self-study committee, May 12, 2008, 3.

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DeansDivision of international studies (originally called the office of international studies and Programs)Henry C. Hill1 .................october 1961–august 1972David b. Johnson ............september 1972–august 1980Peter P. Dorner ................september 1980–June 1989Fred Hayward2 ................July 1989–December 1989richard L. barrows2 .........January 1990–June 1990David M. Trubek .............July 1990–July 2001Michael C. Hinden2 .........august 2001–December 2001Gilles bousquet ...............January 2002–present

1 Initially appointed as coordinator, later became dean 2 Interim

Study Abroad DirectorsFor the unit within the Division of international stud-ies, first called office of international studies, then Junior year abroad, then academic Programs abroad, and currently international academic Programs

Henry C. Hill1 .................october 1961–august 1972e. robert Mulvihill2......... september 1972–December 1984silvano Garofalo3 .............January 1985–august 1991Michael C. Hinden4 .........september 1991–June 1995Joan a. raducha5 .............July 1995–september 2005Catherine s. Meschievitz6 ...october 2005–December 2005robert b. Howell ............January 2006–present

1 Served in this capacity with title of coordinator and then dean2 Served in this capacity with the title of associate dean, College of Letters and Science3 Also associate dean of International Studies after 19894 Also associate dean of International Studies5 Also assistant dean and then associate dean of International Studies6 Interim

Director/Coordinator of Study Abroad in the Schools and Colleges

College of Agricultural and Life SciencesJane Knowles ...................1986–1997John rowe ......................1997–2003John Ferrick ....................2003–2006sharon baumgartner ........2006–present

School of Businessrobert aubey ..................1985–1997r.D. nair ........................1997–2004andrea Poehling ..............1997–2004Judy symon Hanson ........2004–present

School of EducationKenneth Zeichner ............1983–present

College of EngineeringMerton barry ..................1961–1988Thomas W. Chapman ......1988–1994Marianne (Machotka) bird bear ....................1995–2007amanda Hammatt ...........2007–present

appendix 1

List of Deans and Study Abroad Directors


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Table 1. UW–Madison Degree-Seeking Students Abroad

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

1958–59 1968–69 1978–79 1988–89 1998–99 2006–07

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

Non-UW–Madison

Other UW–Madison

International Academic Programs

Hard data for the earlier decades was not available in all cases. in the above chart:• TheparticipantnumbersforIAPareaccurateforallyears.• NumbersforotherUW–Madisonprogramsfor1968–69areaccurate.• Numbersfor1978–79arebasedonanestimateofotherUW–Madisonprograms;itislikelythatstudentsparticipatedin non-Madison programs but no records are available.• 1988–89OtherUW–Madisonandnon-Madisonstudentnumbersareestimated.TheotherUW–Madisonnumberishalf the number recorded for 1992–93 in the eaGLe report. We know that the early 90s was a period of expansion, and that there were a few business and engineering programs operating in the late 1980s. The non-UW–Madison number is based on an assumption that the rate of participation was similar in 1988–89 and 1998–99 in relation to iaP participation rates. Thus we know that 547 students participated in iaP programs in 1998–99 and 379 students participated in non-UW–Madison programs. Given the 363 students in iaP program, we estimated that 252 students participated in non-UW Madison programs.

source: iie reports, iaP internal data, and other campus units’ reports

appendix 2


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Table 2. UW–Madison Degree-Seeking Students Abroadby Program Duration

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

1997–98

1998–99

1999–00

2000–01

2001–02

2002–03

2003–04

2004–05

2005–06

2006–07

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

Other *

Summer

Semester-long

Year-long

* Depending on the year, the category “other” includes short-term programs during the academic year and/or UW–Madison students participating in non-UW–Madison programs for which the term spent abroad is not available.source: iie reports

Table 3. Participation in UW–Madison Study Abroad Programs by Administrative Division *

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1997–98

1998–99

1999–00

2000–01

2001–02

2002–03

2003–04

2004–05

2005–06

2006–07

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

School of Education

School of Business

College of Engineering

College of Agriculturaland Life Sciences

International AcademicPrograms **

* This table does not include students who participated in non-UW–Madison programs and received transfer credit, or most graduate and professional school students.** The majority of the participants in iaP programs are students in the College of Letters and science (L&s). For ex-ample, in 2002–03, 79 percent were from L&s, while the remaining students were from other campus units.source: administering unit, utilized for the iie report


76

Table 4. International Academic ProgramsStudent Participation

574

436

786

1216

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1961–62 1966–67 1971–72 1976–77 1981–82 1986–87 1991–92 1996–97 2001–02 2006–07

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

103 99 107

279

508

source: pre-1996 information was compiled by Maj Fischer and kept in iaP files. These numbers include special students, who ranged between two and approximately 25 in any given year. Post-1996 information is from the iaP internal Data base and does not include special students.

Table 5. IAP Participant and Program Growth

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1961

–62

1966

–67

1971

–72

1976

–77

1981

–82

1986

–87

1991

–92

1996

–97

2001

–02

2006

–07

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Num

ber

of P

rogr

ams

Students

Programs

source: iaP files and data base.

‘i’ll remember this trip’ fifty years of study abroad at uw–madison

Documents