Claudia Schaefer, Rush Rhees Professor and Chair, Modern Languages and Cultures
“One of the distinguishing factors of a 21st century education is to understand the known and the new of one's own culture within the context of the active debates of others around the world. Our new initiatives in the World Beyond the U.S. are designed to educate our students and ourselves about how to engage with our world's most essential questions and to recognize the many voices, languages, and cultures of these global discussions”.
Carmala Garzione, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
“Some of the most important questions facing humans over the next century will be, “How do we impact the planet that we live on? and What should our role be in mitigating human influences on climate and the environment?” A new program addressing these questions will involve interdisciplinary connections between Earth and Environmental Science, Energy Science, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.”
Joanna Scott, Roswell S. Burrows Professor of English
“The importance of translation cannot be underestimated. Translation extends the influence of great works of literature. Translation expands our knowledge of the world. Translation makes us more aware of the complex potential of linguistic expression. Translation reveals shared concerns within cultural differences. With the university’s new initiatives in literary translation, we’ll be able to offer students exciting opportunities to study languages and literature in an international context.”
The World Beyond the United States
- Jump to information about:
- International Relations
- Area Studies
- Global Studies
- Literary Translation
- Study Abroad
The future of our society is increasingly bound up with, and determined by, what happens elsewhere in the world. This rapidly growing global interdependence presents many new and fundamentally important problems, engages students deeply, has great enrollment appeal, and involves every kind of human activity, from protection of the environment and climate to artistic and cultural phenomena.
- We must make major investments in programs with an international focus:
- Programs that study the political, economic and social relations among countries.
- Programs that focus on regions of the world, with an emphasis on the societies, arts, literatures, religions, histories and languages.
- Programs concerned with global issues, such as climate change, environment, international trade, religious movements and ethics.
These initiatives have the potential to add substantially to the diversity of the faculty and of the student body.
International Relations
This is an area in which Political Science is eager to enlarge its academic footprint, and one of huge appeal to undergraduates. The department expects to offer a new major in International Relations in the fall of 2008. The major will include a required semester of Study Abroad and elective tracks in areas of international relations and comparative politics. Students will be required to take two college-level courses (at any level) taught in another language.
Area Studies
In developing a richer signature in programs that focus on discrete areas of the world, we will concentrate on areas in which we can create or strengthen programs of large impact. We have identified three candidates on which to focus initially:
- East Asia
- Eastern Mediterranean, including the Middle East
- Africa and the African Diaspora
East Asia (China, Korea, Japan)
This is an area in which we must have a strong scholarly presence. We will strengthen the faculty and provide a major in East Asian Studies by orchestrating a cluster of faculty appointments in several departments to cover the history, languages, literatures, and cultures of the region.
Mediterranean Studies
Our Area Studies working group proposed integrating new faculty appointments with existing expertise to establish a program that focuses on the eastern Mediterranean (especially Turkey, Lebanon, Israel) and North Africa (from Morocco to Egypt). This will strengthen area programs in European Studies and African Studies, while providing a credible and distinctive emphasis that includes the Middle East.
Africa and the African Diaspora
The study of the history and cultures of Africa, and the way in which other regions of the world have been shaped by it, are the research focus of individual faculty in History, Political Science, Modern Languages and Cultures, and Religion and Classics. We have offered a major in African and African-American Studies for several years. The Frederick Douglass Institute offers a coherent structure within which to strengthen our scholarly and curricular impact by making additional hires.
Global Studies
Several of the most important, challenging and engaging problems of the 21st century can only be understood in a global context.
- Climate change and the global environment
- Sustainability
- Migration
- International trade
- Epidemics and related aspects of public health
- Religious movements
We have the opportunity to make a distinguished start in expanding our coverage of these major domains through the development of a program in environment change and policy, anchored in the study of global climate change.
Literary Translation
We are well advanced towards introducing an undergraduate certificate, a graduate certificate, and a Master’s degree that will offer training in the art and skills of literary translation. We have launched a literary imprint, Open Letter, that focuses on literature in translation. Very few academic institutions offer translation programs, and our ability to combine coursework on translation theory and literature with practical experience in international publishing is distinctive.
Study Abroad
Twenty-one percent of our undergraduates spend some part of an academic year in a study abroad program. We want to greatly expand this number. Our working group on Study Abroad concluded that there are many things we can do to increase the participation of our students generally, and of scientists and engineers particularly.
Bon Voyage
While the number of Rochester undergrads studying abroad reached an all-time high this year, the College would like to see more students avail themselves of the opportunity to take classes in other countries.
Such opportunities are essential to educating and preparing students for a future society that is increasingly bound up with, and determined by, what happens elsewhere in the world.
During the 2007–08 year, 218 students signed up to study overseas. That’s a 9 percent increase over the previous year.