Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Washington Semester Program and the UGA at Oxford Program have joined forces to offer undergraduates a new seven-week travel-study opportunity during summer 2010. Applications are now being accepted.
Selected participants will spend the first four weeks studying in the nation’s capital during June and residing in student housing at the George Washington University. Then they will spend July studying abroad in Oxford, England and living at the UGA at Oxford Center.
“This program was created to provide students with the opportunity to explore a single theme from both domestic and international perspectives in cities where their studies are enhanced by interactions with key U.S. and British officials,” said Don De Maria, director of UGA’s Washington Semester Program and the Learning Communities Initiative. “I look forward to this first combined domestic and international travel-study.”
This joint opportunity, open to eligible UGA undergraduates, will include classroom instruction plus a variety of related academic and cultural co-curricular activities set up in both locations. Transient student applications also will be accepted.
“This program will allow us to leverage the expertise of prestigious faculty at UGA and at the University of Oxford in a unique shared setting,” said Kalpen Trivedi, director of the UGA at Oxford Program. “I expect the program to attract gifted students who are truly motivated to engage in this kind of international dialogue.”
Students will earn six semester hours of credit from the two courses that will be taught during the program. Susan Haire, associate professor of political science at UGA, will lead the course on “Special Topics in Law and Judicial Process” in Washington, D.C. The course will investigate the effects of newly established independent legal systems that have emerged from the democratization of countries in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America in the late 20th century.
Marc Stears, fellow and praelector in politics at University College in Oxford, will facilitate the “International Conflict” course, which examines the origins of contemporary international conflicts since the end of the Cold War and how these conflicts affect international affairs today.
“What makes this program particularly exciting is that it builds bridges between UGA’s domestic field study opportunities and study abroad, thus expanding the notion of what it means to have an internationalized curriculum at UGA,” said Kavita Pandit, associate provost for international education at UGA.”I hope this initiative will be a model for other creative partnerships across the campus.”
The Washington Semester Program was established under the auspices of UGA’s Office of the Vice President for Instruction in spring 2008. More than 60 students have participated in the program so far. During either fall or spring semester, students complete coursework related to public policy, government and current trends taught by UGA faculty. They also work at least 30 hours a week as interns in congressional offices, nonprofit organizations and think-tanks.
The 20-year-old UGA at Oxford Program is associated with the University of Oxford in south-central England where Rhodes Scholars study. One of UGA’s largest and highest-demand study abroad programs, UGA at Oxford offers more than 90 courses taught by faculty from the University of Oxford. UGA is one of only three American schools-and the only public institution-with a year-round residential study abroad program at Oxford.
“This partnership between the Washington Semester Program and UGA at Oxford creates a unique experience for intense academic study and interactions with key policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Jere Morehead, vice president for instruction at UGA. “I know that this will be a transformative experience for the students who participate in this unique program.”
The deadline for submitting applications for the 2010 Oxford-Washington Program is January 22. Applications are available online at http://www.uga.edu/oxford or from the UGA at Oxford office in Park Hall on campus.
For more information on the summer 2010 program, see http://www.uga.edu/dcsemester or http://www.uga.edu/oxford.
