Franklin & Marshall College

These highlights of the International Studies Program in the second semester give only a hint of the various initiatives we have been undertaking to “internationalize” the campus and the curriculum:

• A new International Studies minor was approved by the faculty in the Spring, 2006 and will be available to students in the 2006-7 academic year.

• Arabic instruction continues in the 2006-7 academic year with 9 students continuing into Intermediate Arabic. Instructor Dr. Elias George will be assisted by Aziz Attari, a Fulbright teaching assistant from Casablanca, Morocco.

• International Women’s Week: March 6-10

• Spring bouquets sale to benefit local women’s shelter & global women’s development through Mennonite Central Committee
• Dr. Ibtesam Al-Atiyat, Visiting Fulbright scholar at U. of Wisconsin/Green Bay, gave a public lecture and held a discussion with students in the International Studies core course.
• "Tea & Tattoos" night: henna tattoos and green/mint tea.
• Screening of Monsoon Wedding

• International Weekend, March 31-April 1

• Carnival . Held this year outside on Hartman Green, the carnival featured international cuisine from local chefs and restauranteurs.
• Dance and Fashion Show
• International Career Brunch with Alumni. Alumni who have worked abroad or in the field of international affairs came together on a career panel to discuss their work experiences and provide advice for students. The topics included using foreign language skills, international business, and teaching English abroad. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and talk individually with alumni.
• International Student & Faculty Soccer Game, April 22. This rollicking event, largely the brainchild of our French teaching assistant Sylvain David, featured four different national teams and was co-sponsored by the Modern Languages Departments and the International Studies Program [ See photo ]

• Lunch with the Ambassador. March 23. Retired Ambassador John Kordek and his wife Alice Kordek joined a group of International Studies students for lunch in the new lounge of the South Ben House for a conversation about his career with the US State Department and reflections on his last posting, as Ambassador to Botswana. He discussed his educational background, his language preparation and the course of his professional development, sharing a number of lively anecdotes.

• Informal afternoon tea and pastry with discussion: We continued in 2005-6 a tradition begun by Lisa Gasbarrone last year when she was chairing the International Studies program: informal tea and pastries and discussion of some international issue. This semester we drew on expertise of our colleagues in the natural sciences.

• Film: The Other Side of Afghanistan, a new documentary on environmental challenges in Afghanistan, with a discussion led by Prof. Bob Walter of F&M’s Department of Earth and Environment.
• Presentation by Prof. David Bowne of the Biology Department: “Can Ecology Inform Security? A Metapopulation Analysis of Insurgency in Iraq.” Prof. Bowne gave a powerpoint presentation of how he has used a model for tracking populations in the natural environment for studying the movement of the Iraqi insurgency.

• Model UN course goes to Howard University. For the first time our Model UN class participated in the Model African Union conference hosted by Howard University in Washington, representing Djibouti and Mali. Each of the two teams began the three-day event by attending a briefing at the respective embassy of its country.

• Model UN club at Harvard. This year for the second time the F&M Model UN Club team attended the Harvard Model UN Conference, representing Azerbaijan.