Friends World Program Long Island University
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FRIENDS WORLD PROGRAM LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY let the JOURNEY begin 2007-2008 global studies “A journey o– fL AaO -tThZoU u(5s0a4 nBdC- 5m31il eBCs) ,b Teheg Winasy owf iLtaho -atz usingle step .” Friends World educational experience spans four years like any other undergraduate Bachelor of Arts program, but “The Global Issues Seminar Aunlike any other, students travel to and study at centers in has widened my knowledge of Africa, Asia and the Americas . Students engage with a the world on both a local and variety of cultures and people through various learning global level. My passion for methods including coursework and fieldwork , through service learning projects and internships , and through independent changing the world has been studies built upon their own interests that they develop in re-sparked, and I have been consultation with a faculty advisor. Over time students gain inspired in a way that I have skills, knowledge, and the practical experience that will enable never felt before.” - Ryan Luckey, Class of 2009 them to contribute positively to our rapidly globalizing world. let the journey begin COSTA RICA The early years of the 21st century have been marked by astonishing technological advances, increased inter- connectedness among people and nations, shifting patterns PAGE 7 in international migration and environmental conditions, CHINA tension between “defenders of tradition” and “advocates of modernity” in every religion and culture, and the emergence of China and India as global economic powers. As citizens of this world, we must study a new set of issues that are PAGE 10 not merely national or even international, but rather, INDIA global. • How can local, national and global development continue in a sustainable way without having a PAGE 13 negative impact on the world’s already fragile JAPAN environment or on the quality of life for all people? • How can conflicts among nations, religions, cultures and races be transformed through greater understanding and appreciation of difference and PAGE 16 diversity? SOUTH AFRICA • How can civil society respond to the challenges of modernity and globalization by offering compelling alternative solutions to local and global problems? PAGE 19 COMPARATIVE RELIGION The Friends World Program is the only PAGE 21 global studies curriculum that takes year-long INDEPENDENT STUDY experiences in other cultures and integrates them into a progressive four-year PAGE 24 Bachelor of Arts degree program. NEW YORK CITY 1 PAGE 26 REASONS TO CHOOSE FRIENDS WORLD PROGRAM Unique Academics All matriculated Friends World Program students pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies . The Friends World Program requires students to focus on three distinct world regions “It was particularly where they pursue field work, independent study , and cross-cultural and writing skills develop - ment, while progressing on parallel academic tracks during each of the first three years of their important for me studies. A culminating capstone semester and senior thesis help students share and integrate their experiences as they plot a course for the future. to direct my own To ensure that students are best-equipped for the increasingly complex global realities ahead, the Friends World Program has a structured and focused curriculum with freedom of academic course of studies subjects through independent study. Friends World Program utilizes classroom and field-based seminars, low faculty to student ratios, community-based service learning, directed independent study projects, internships, and one-on-one tutorials. Central to the curriculum are requirements and to spend that students focus on several key regions of the world – chosen from international centers in China, Costa Rica, India, Japan and South Africa – and a New York-based final capstone semes - three years ter where students complete their senior thesis. Friends World students have won a variety of distinguished scholarships including Fulbright, NSEP, Gilman, Freeman-Asia, and Rotary. abroad. Experiential and Interactive Education Throughout these Balancing center-based seminars and off-site programming, a Friends World education is highly experiential. Sudents interact with the local community, with the environment, with faculty, three years, I have with advisors, and with other Friends World students around the world. Students also participate in varied programming each semester that includes the arts, journalism, education, music, been ever thankful theatre, dance and film. Yearly Seminars and Capstone Experiences for the amount of In addition to area studies and language courses at each center, each of the four years has its own seminar that introduces students to critical texts in theory and method as well as great independence I classic texts. An Academic Advisory Board works with local faculty and staff to ensure that the core texts of basic disciplines are well-represented and that students are prepared for advanced have been granted study. Progression through the four-year program is clearly defined through the increasing sophistication of texts in in my education these yearly seminars. Capstone experiences include a career preparation seminar, an internship in New York and the high value City, and completion of an undergraduate thesis. placed on my own Guided and Independent Field Experience Friends World students are trained in the thoughts and anthropological and sociological theories and methods necessary to successfully conduct experiences.” guided and independent fieldwork in a foreign – Carl Gabrielson, cultural environment. In the freshman year , Class of 2003 students learn fundamental approaches to the study of culture through selected founda - tional texts in the humanities and social sciences and learn fundamental approaches to fieldwork through basic assignments conducted locally under close faculty supervision. In the sophomore year , students are introduced to more specific theories and methods and learn to propose an ethnographic research project of their own choosing that applies the appro - priate qualitative and quantitative tools to the problem in question. Students also undertake a guided independent study supervised by a faculty advisor. In the junior year , students are given the opportunity to further develop and test theories and methods under continued faculty supervision in different cultural 2 contexts. Additionally, students learn how to propose and design a larger and fully independent project, which is conducted in the first semester of “The past eight their senior year . Students also have numerous opportunities to conduct months have supervised internships with various local grassroots, non-governmental been filled with organizations. adventure, ups Learning Community Friends World is a dynamic, and downs, rights interactive and vibrant learning community that is multifaceted in its and lefts. I feel as approach to education. The learning community consists not only of though I have Friends World students, study abroad students, faculty and staff, but also grown in many the citizens of the communities throughout the world in which students are studying. The educational setting is not simply a different ways; building or a campus, but rather the world with its inherent social, environmental and political developments. The Friends World community is simultaneously close-knit and geographically one way I have dispersed . One-on-one advising on a weekly basis combined with regular community meetings at each center, a Friends World community listserv, program-wide Internet chats as well as pod - grown is through casting by Friends World students and faculty, help to sustain and enhance this global learning community. Each of the centers, with its integrated faculty and staff support systems embodies a friendships close-knit, personal learning community within the larger Friends World Program. Student Peer Mentors are appointed at each center to offer additional assistance to new students. built here. Individual Flexibility Friends World has Friends World Program is reknown for the individual flexibility students can attain in their academic plans. Students may choose to pursue their studies in two different locations in their taught me the sophomore and junior years. They have great freedom in choosing an area of concentration to explore in their junior and senior years. In addition, students have the option to pursue at least real meaning of three credits of independent study per semester, and must complete a one semester independent study project in their senior year. For the final senior thesis, a student may combine field work community. I don’t skills from anthropology with an interest in art history to explore differences in religious or cultural appreciations of the think I have ever Mysore Palace in South India. Or a student may use a framework had such a tight from sociology to research the experiences of Nicaraguan group of friends migrant women in Costa Rica, which may become a springboard and I have never for a thesis in the senior year on the feminization of migrant labor really felt this kind and the struggles of transnational families. Another student may of sense of look at sustainable agriculture and ecology in three cultures, community before doing an internship with Slow Foods USA and parlaying before.” his experiences into a job as a - Anne Marie Russo, lobbyist in Washington, DC. Class of 2009 Visit www.brooklyn.liu.edu/fw or contact 718.488.3409 or [email protected] for more information 3 “The