Cross-Pollination of International Students Eagles Abroad Creates Fertile Ground for Learning
Juniata has a long tradition of international study, dating back to 1962 when it uniata has a long tradition of international study, dating back to 1962 when it helped found the Brethren Colleges Abroad consortium. Juniata’s tradition of helped found the Brethren Colleges Abroad consortium. Juniata’s tradition of welcoming international students goes back even further—to 1897-1900 when German student Arno Dassdorf earned a divinity degree. These longstanding German student Arno Dassdorf earned a divinity degree. These longstanding 
traditions still thrive today. Students traveling from Juniata to campuses on five traditions still thrive today. Students traveling from Juniata to campuses on five continents not only absorb the culture of their host country, but they also advance their education by taking courses that are relevant to their area of study, and ultimely, whatever career they’ve chosen. These same tenets hold true for international students studying on Juniata’s scenic campus.
“For Juniata, we want each student that studies abroad to help us answer several questions, ‘Why are we doing this? What does the student get out of it? And, how do we do it better?’” says JoAnn deArmas Wallace, dean of international programs. “We know that students come back changed for the better, but what is the best outcome—being able to travel smoothly from a town in Spain to a town in France or being able to negotiate a business deal?”
The short answer is both, and more, but Juniata is working hard to avoid a growing trend away from long-term study abroad. Experts in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times have pointed out that many students, faced with higher tuition and a tighter job market, are less inclined to set aside a semester for study abroad—which would risk the possibility of making up courses for an extra semester.
“The beauty of Juniata’s POE system is that its flexibility does
not penalize students if they decide to go abroad, and due to
the depth of our faculty relationships with their counterparts,
the courses offered by our partner universities overseas will
count toward the students’ ‘major’ and other specific requirements,” Wallace says.
“Study Abroad is the best way to get more bang for your tuition buck,” says Jarmila Polte, director of study abroad. “You get two educations for the price of one.”
In the Summertime: World Languages
Short-term study abroad encompasses everything from a weeklong service trip to Romania to a month-long intensive language program sponsored by Juniata’s World Languages and Cultures department.
Indeed, Juniata’s two most popular short-term study abroad programs are sponsored and structured by the world languages faculty and have been in place for at least 10 years. Last summer 19 students studied at the University of Lille and 12 students spent a month in Orizaba, Mexico at the Instituto de Estudios Avanzados de Oriente. Both these longstanding programs have been designed by Juniata faculty in cooperation with our partner institutions.
“It’s a rigorous academic experience,” says Henry Thurston-Griswold, professor of Spanish. “Both programs offer intensive language instruction in the morning and cultural courses in the afternoons and students are free to travel during their free time.”
“I felt just as at home at the
university in Lille as I do at
Juniata,” says Anna Elias ’06,
a junior from Johnstown, Pa.
who spent last summer
in France.
Students at Lille have toured World War I battlefields and studied Flemish architecture in France and Belgium. Students at Orizaba found time to study migrating sea turtles, political and social change in Mexico, and attend a dance festival. According to Michael Henderson, associate professor of French, students often opt for summer courses as preparation for a long-term study abroad or as a more structured abroad experience with other Juniata students. “We have an amazing return rate, many of the students will go on to go abroad for a semester,” Henderson says. “They realize a summer wasn't enough.”
All students receive academic credit. The cost for the Lille program is about $2,800 and the Orizaba program runs about $2,100. “The cost is about what you’d pay for a month’s stay in another country, except you get educational classes, tours by expert guides and interaction with students from other countries and other American universities,” Henderson explains.
Both the Orizaba and Lille programs were designed specifically with input from Juniata faculty and structured with the College’s educational mission in mind. “This is not just sending students to someone else’s program,” Henderson explains. “When students look for a summer program they want a truly unique immersion experience and our summer programs are just that. The students reach one of our main goals—to become citizens of the world.”
Juniata students can study abroad at 32 international campuses. Studying abroad has steadily gained popularity at Juniata, from 41 students in 1994-95, to 87 in 2000-01, to 140 this year. About 40 percent of graduating seniors received an international experience at Juniata, including choir international tours each year in four different world regions and service learning projects overseas. In addition to Juniata’s ability to integrate courses from international institutions into our POE, the College also is unique in allowing financial aid to be used for the study abroad experience.
Nicole Smeal ’02 just finished her Diplom (the German
equivalent of a master’s degree) at Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen in Bocholt. Her decision to go to graduate school in
Germany was directly influenced by the year she spent at
Munster in 1999-2000. “Jarmila Polte helped me realize that
study abroad would open doors all over the world for me,”
says Smeal, who is currently working in Germany for InWEnt,
an international exchange organization. “All colleges should
encourage their students to go abroad. It’s very important for
students to know and understand what the rest of the world
thinks, and how our policies influence world events.”
About twice as many Juniata students annually study abroad
for a semester or longer (92) than those who opt for summer
or short-term programs (48). Still, many colleges, Juniata
included, are developing shorter international experiences. “I
used to be a purist about it—if it wasn’t at least a semester,
then it wasn’t study abroad,” Wallace says, smiling. “Ten faculty
attended a recent workshop and they each wanted to start a
short-term international program. Faculty who take students
abroad remain engaged in ways that support more in-depth
international connections for themselves and their students.”
In recent years, the College has offered more short international programs to complement two longstanding World Languages summer courses at France’s University of Lille and Mexico’s IDEA institute in Orizaba—such as a summer business course led by management professor Randy Rosenberger in Germany and service trips to Central America created by Henry Thurston-Griswold, professor of Spanish, and Kelly Turlish, coordinator of community service/service learning.
"My understanding of another people, culture, and part of the world grew..."
- -Eli Finberg
“My understanding of another people, culture, and part of the world grew, as did my circle of friends, and my desire to see more of a world that I’ll no longer be content to learn about in class,” says Eli Finberg ’05, of Margaretville, N.Y., who participated in the World Languages summer program in Orizaba.
The College brings that same creative vision to international
recruitment by joining programs designed to bring international
students from developing countries to the United States. Sonia
Eqbal, an international student from Afghanistan, came to
Juniata as part of a private college consortium: Initiative to Educate Afghan Women. Also, this year the College became
involved in the U.S. State Department-sponsored Partnerships
for Learning Undergraduate Studies (PLUS). This program has
brought five students (see sidebar) from the Middle East and
North Africa to study at Juniata for two years in the liberal arts,
humanities, or social sciences. Some 70 students are studying at
11 American universities as part of the program.
“All the PLUS students have been very involved in College activities,” says Kati Csoman, director of international student and
scholar services. For example, Mahmoud Al-Dabbour, an
international student from Palestine, has joined PAX-O, the
Muslim Student Association, Model U.N., and Club International (the other PLUS students also are active in those clubs). “This is a chance to get a U.S. degree and go back to your
country and use what you have learned,” says Kurdo Othman,
an Iraqi Kurd studying at the College. “We need change in
Iraq, and to have students return with degrees is the best chance to have strong relations with both our countries.”
The PLUS students are among 70 international students on campus this year. The College has averaged 70-80 international students each academic year since 1999. “As a percentage of the student body, we have about 6 percent international students, which is well above what most other colleges and universities average,” Wallace says.
A 2004 Chronicle of Higher Education article reported the number of international students on U.S. campuses declined by 2.4 percent, the fi rst decline since 1972. Juniata’s number of international four-year, degree-seeking students is down slightly, attributable to more stringent immigration and student visa requirements instituted after Sept. 11, 2001. In addition, visa applications now cost $200 and travel to a U.S consulate can be daunting.
Despite all these challenges, Juniata is heartened by the steady arrival of international students and the enrollment and international offices have placed additional strategic focus on attracting students. “Word of mouth is our strongest tool,” Wallace says. “International students will come here if they know someone who knows Juniata.”
“The whole experience of coming to the United States broadens your perspective,” explains Andre Schilderink, an international student from Germany.
Wallace’s international department and the staff of the enrollment office are collaborating with the alumni office to personalize the College’s recruitment process for international students. Modeled on the highly successful methods in which incoming domestic students are given personal tours, interviews with faculty, and a variety of other programs that are aimed at students as individuals, Wallace believes a “personalized” approach to international recruitment can make the College stand out from the competition.
This fall the international office started a project that will reach out to all international alumni and track all international contacts made by College faculty or staff on trips overseas. Utilizing this database, the international office will send out e-mails or e-communication products four or five times a year. Each e-communication will be designed around campus news that is of direct interest to international alumni.
Additionally, when faculty, administrators, or staff travel overseas they will be provided the names of two people to contact at their destination and carry packets of recruitment and marketing material.
Another way to cultivate contacts and market Juniata is through alumni reunions. Many European and American alumni who have attended the International Reunion have told the international office and College administrators that personal contacts through reunion are often the best marketing opportunities for convincing students to come to Juniata. This spring, Brett Basom, senior associate director of admissions, will organize an informal reunion in Tokyo, Japan for the College’s more recent Asian alumni. Next year, Basom will collaborate with El-Ichiro Ochiai, professor emeritus of chemistry, to plan a large Asian reunion for all of the College’s alumni from Asia and East Asia.
“I think we have a very good and growing base in Latin America and South America and broadening alumni gatherings to alumni from those areas would be a good idea,” Wallace says. Csoman says the personalized approach has also convinced students who come to the College for a semester or a year to transfer to Juniata to complete a four-year degree. She says three students opted for transfer to Juniata in 2003 and four students decided to stay at Juniata last year.
“To me that says a lot about our program that four or five students think so much of our approach that they want to stay and fi nish their educations here,” Csoman concludes.