Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Global Perspectives, 21st Century Citizens

Their report aligns with larger studies on the impacts of study abroad, but part of what distinguishes HWS, they concluded, lies in the pre-departure and reentry programming, "likely a substantial reason why HWS has been ranked #1 by Princeton Review the last two years." They write that the Colleges' unique, multisemester programming challenges students to understand their education abroad with "richer and more sophisticated explanations that articulate clearly and concisely how the experience impacted them."

After the term abroad in Beijing in 1983, Susanne McNally recalls students feeling like "more serious, more mature, more sophisticated, more complex thinkers. They were not so deeply embedded as they had been before." However, they also felt that "their experiences had separated them from their friends."

"There was some culture shock coming back to Geneva," says Russell Kaltschmidt '84, who returned to campus that year "acutely, almost painfully aware of how American I am." But he recalls McNally's insistence "to keep talking about your experience because that's what will keep it alive."

When students return to campus today, they face the same challenges of cultural readjustment and making meaning of their time overseas. As D'Agostino says, "Much of the learning that happens as a result of study abroad happens after students get on the plane to come home. Things happen so quickly, it's hard to process while students are abroad, so the more outlets we can give students to reflect and process, the more they continue to learn from those experiences, and the richer our campus is for it."

It is the synthesis of ideas and action, preparation and reflection, on-campus investigation and off-campus experience that, according to Professor of Education Charles Temple, yields the "global perspectives" inherent in the Colleges' mission statement. In the essay he produced as a 2016-17 Kinghorn Fellow, Temple delineates what a "global perspective" looks like in practice and the "attitudes, knowledge, and skills" that HWS community members believe are indicative of that perspective.

"The Colleges' curriculum is globalized. You can learn a great deal about the world right on this campus," Temple writes. "But many would argue that we need the face-to-face experience, too: the deep conversations with new -- and eventually old -- friends across cafe tables; the hundreds of stories heard and told; and the sights, sounds and smells of bustling sidewalks, crowded marketplaces, modest shops, intimate or aweinspiring houses of worship, family dwellings in all their varieties, pigeon-flecked monuments and grand or eccentric museums, cordial town plazas, proud city parks, and boisterous public beaches, followed by visits and revisits to each other's families, and frequent contact by email and Skype. These expand our knowledge of other people and their places, and help us appreciate their own perspectives."

When Moira O'Neill '09 (right) went abroad in the spring of 2008, she opted for the program in Avignon, France, which featured a homestay and courses taught exclusively in French. "The reality is that you can formally study language but you must be immersed in it to really speak it," she says. "The nuances of the language, slang, common expressions and idioms only appear if you are in the cultural milieu."

O'Neill, who later earned "a generous grant from an anonymous donor at HWS" that supported her summer internship at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, says her time steeped in French culture shaped her "appreciation for global context."

She recalls her first night of her homestay with a French woman named Edith, who after dinner "pulled out a picture album and a medal. Her father had been a chief in the French Resistance and received the medal from then-President Bill Clinton during the 50th Anniversary celebrations in the '90s. Edith considered the U.S. a true ally."

O'Neill says she learned that "international relationships (even between allies) are complex and dynamic [and] each person in every part of the world has an interesting story to tell."

Now pursuing her master's at Kent State University, where she also teaches, she is studying the effects of global economic forces on communities in Ohio's Mahoning Valley. "As an instructor, I try to stress [the] connections and shared experiences while also looking at what makes different parts of the world special," she says. "That's a worldview I can attribute directly to my study abroad experience."

For Temple, this is the essence of a global perspective: getting "to know other people honestly, and remember their interests and their needs."

"The problems we have to deal with globally are interconnected, so they demand that we understand and appreciate how other people live and the values they have," Dean of Global Education Thomas D'Agostino P'15 says. "We work hard to integrate off-campus study into the on-campus curriculum ... [because] study abroad complements and enhances academic experiences on campus" and the larger, ongoing project "to internationalize our community."

In 2010, NAFSA: Association of International Educators recognized the Colleges' efforts with the Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization. Noting CGE's short-term abroad options, portfolio of unique and challenging destinations, rounded approach to preparation and reentry, and faculty leadership, the NAFSA profile praised the Colleges for "weaving education abroad into campus life and crafting thoughtful ways for students to relive and rethink experiences upon return home."

Almost a decade later, CGE continues to refine its innovative, reflective approach to galvanizing global perspectives in Geneva and abroad: adjusting pre-departure and reentry programs, boosting exchange partnerships and international student enrollment and finding ways to increase study abroad participation and funding. Just as students develop their own cultural understandings and academic skills, faculty members who lead programs abroad establish collaborative relationships with colleagues and undertake novel scholarship and research that transforms learning on campus. Meanwhile, the menu of destinations and programs abroad, which has nearly doubled since 2000, continues to grow both geographically and academically to reflect the diverse interests of students and faculty. In that sense, CGE's offerings "have been and will continue to be fluid, so we can respond to changes in the curriculum" and ensure "that any student regardless of major will have someplace to pursue their academic program abroad," D'Agostino says.

He says that when students "learn how to collaborate and work with people in other parts of the globe," as they "develop newfound curiosities and interests and the desire to keep exploring," they begin to see the world as an extension of campus and campus as a reflection of the world.