"I've learned so much about myself, including the strength and mental clarity I somehow seem to find in stressful situations, and my ability to laugh at pretty much anything," School of Liberal Arts senior Zharia Jeffries (SLA ’19) said when reflecting on studying aboad in Senegal and the Dominican Republic.
GAINING A GREATER PERSPECTIVE
When we leave our comfort zone, we’re challenged to see and experience things from a different perspective. As Annie Gibson, director of Study Abroad at Tulane, explains, moving out of one’s context helps develop what are often referred to as “soft skills”—our ability to adapt to a challenging situation, react to a language barrier, or respond to a new experience positively. She believes that “gaining these skills, understanding the ways things operate differently, are actually some of the most critical human skills to be a well-rounded adult—studying abroad is one of the most high impact experiences for students to hone these skills.”
“We want to live in a world where people are empathetic, adaptable, understanding of difference, and able to understand their own values and meet people where they are,” said Gibson. Whether this happens as you are traveling to learn a language, for community service, or for work, studying abroad becomes a whirlwind experience focused on connecting with others, moving beyond your comfort zone, and understanding new, broader vantage points—a liberal arts experience in its essence.
Jeffries is a senior in the School of Liberal Arts studying communication and has spent a summer in Africa and Latin America with Gibson. “These travels helped me gain a greater perspective and respect for cultures outside of my own, and I have developed an open mind. I road a camel through the desert, jumped off waterfalls, and learned a little bit of Wolof, French, and Spanish,” she says. “During my two trips I also stayed with local families in their houses, which was an additional adjustment to the culture. Studying abroad really deepened my college experience.”
Through more than 120 unique programs, Tulane offers study abroad opportunities for students to travel, and the numbers of students participating in programs abroad are steadily increasing. Between 2016 and 2017, more than 500 Tulane students studied abroad. Beyond the Office of Study Abroad, specific programs are also offered through majors such as French and Italian, as well as interdisciplinary programs such as Jewish Studies, to travel alone or in a small group.
INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS ABROAD
With degrees awarded for the School of Liberal Arts and the A.B. Freeman School of Business, the Altman Program in International Studies and Business is a four-year Tulane interdisciplinary program. Co-director of the Altman Program and professor of political science Casey Kane Love explains “the goal of the program is for the students to gain key cultural competency skills so that they can nimbly adjust their behavior and have a deep knowledge of the politics, economics, social structures, and history of the societies in which they’re operating.” The Altman Program accepts twenty students each year who begin their course of study as first year students. Altman students choose their own distinct majors in business and liberal arts and also study one or two target languages. Then, during their junior year they study in their choice of location where their target language is spoken, and are required to take classes in that language.
Malcolm Grba (B ’19, SLA ’19), a senior in the Altman Program studying political economy and finance, spent his junior year studying in Bogotá, Colombia. “My year induced a rate of personal and academic growth more rapidly than any other experience I had been exposed to prior. Not only was my setting distinct, but I took a number of elective courses that challenged my perception of the world around me, and pushed me to look at my surroundings from a broader perspective.” While Malcolm’s academic focus is on finance and economics, his time abroad allowed him to approach his studies in creative ways—for Malcolm, diversidad humana (human diversity) and arte y ciudad (art and the city) are two areas that stand out in his experiences. “Studying different indigenous populations around the world, the former topic taught me to question the idea of a single, linear logic or reality, and to celebrate the wisdom that our world’s diversity provides. The latter examined the role of art in public spaces, and how our transformation of space itself often reflects our social, political, and economic landscapes.”
Since 2015, the School of Liberal Arts has also offered the Stacy Mandel Palagye and Keith Palagye Program for Middle East Peace, focused on investigating the Arab-Israeli conflict. Fifteen students participate in a five-week long summer experience that starts in New Orleans with three short courses on conflict resolution, modern Middle East history, and cultural representations of Israeli-Palestinian relations. The students then spend the last three weeks of the program in Israel, hosted by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and together visit Jordan. The program is designed as a space for students to become more familiar with the regions and their deep histories rather than be asked to take a standpoint or ‘side’ in the current conflict. As Christina Kiel, a professor of political science and co-director of the program explains, “we’re not here to change anyone’s mind. We just want students to look deeper into the issue, to have a more sophisticated opinion. You don’t have to come out of it knowing all the answers.”
AN INTERCULTURAL EXPERIENCE AT HOME
“I think you can have an intercultural experience in your local environment as well, which is very important to consider when conceptualizing the global dimension of the liberal arts experience at Tulane,” Gibson explained. “Global engagement is something that can happen online, in person, in your local community, and internationally. The experience of studying internationally is really about the growth you gain by moving beyond your comfort zone and seeing the nuanced ways of engaging in a different culture. These same exchanges happen in our local communities, as well as abroad.” Gibson also practices bringing global engagement into the classroom by urging students to consider who they cite in their research, and how the lens through which they understand and experience a subject might be vastly different from their counterpart in another region of the world.
Both within the classroom as a physical place on campus and in the world at large, liberal arts students develop skills that nurture a global perspective instrumental to living in a changing world. As Grba continues to reflect on his time in Colombia, he realizes the impact will ripple throughout his life. “Before taking a step outside of my bubble, it was easy to passively accept certain ways of acting and thinking as the only way. Now, I understand that there is never an ‘only way.’”