The Global Comprehension Working Group (GCWG), a curricular study committee established last year by the College's Committee on Educational Priorities (CEP), urged the creation of a study abroad committee in its recently published final report detailing how the College can better prepare students for the outside world. Study Abroad Advisor William Hoffa, Registrar Gerald Mager and three faculty members will sit on the new committee, which was approved by the Committee of Six. Hoffa and Mager will serve as the committee's ex officio.
A disproportionate number of students who study abroad each year elect to travel to a select few countries, a phenomenon which the Committee of Six and the GCWG attribute to firmly established credit equivalencies that guarantee seamless accreditation of coursework.
In aiming to expand the scope of the College's study abroad program, the Ad Hoc Committee on Study Abroad faces two principal challenges, according to Professor of Sociology and American Studies Jan Dizard, a member of the Committee of Six. "First, how does the College scrutinize these programs to make sure that they are legitimate and rigorous so that students can be assured that they will receive full credit for their work abroad?" he said. "And, having ascertained that the programs are worthy, how can we best make clear to students the full range of options that are available to them?"
The members of the Committee will serve a three-year term beginning next semester. In the fall of 2007, the committee will report on its work, and the Committee of Six will determine whether to elevate its status to a full- standing committee of the faculty.
"The committee shapes policies and procedures for evaluating study abroad programs for Amherst students and will assist the registrar and the study abroad advisor when questions regarding the appropriateness and academic rigor of programs arise," said Dean of the Faculty Gregory Call, an ex officio member of the Committee of Six. "The committee will work to expand the range of countries and linguistic opportunities offered to Amherst students who wish to study abroad. Particular efforts will be made to identify established and emerging programs in Asia, Latin America, South Asia and Africa and to encourage study in these areas."
The creation of the new committee comes at long last for Mager. "For almost 20 years, various study abroad advisors and I have repeatedly asked that such a faculty committee be created," he said. "We sought the advice and assistance of a committee as we evaluated and approved or disapproved various programs. Rather than guessing at the kinds of standards the faculty actually want, we sought input directly from some of them. I warmly welcome the creation of this committee."
Some faculty and students argued that the College's "approved list" for study abroad destinations limited the students' choices. Citing arbitrariness, a group of students petitioned to study abroad through programs not included on the list. "It seemed to the GCWG that it was largely a faculty right and obligation to determine the academic quality of study abroad programs-with, of course, the advice of the study abroad advisor and registrar," said Professor of Anthropology Deborah Gewertz, faculty facilitator for the GCWG. "The committee is designed to ensure that Amherst students have available the full range of excellent study abroad options and that Amherst College can trust the excellence of these options. It is also designed to make students aware of the many productive opportunities for study abroad outside of the more common study abroad destinations in Western Europe."
Gewertz hopes that the committee's work changes not just the places students travel, but also the way they think. "The College would like to see more students taking some risks in studying abroad," she said. "This is to say, among the major pedagogic benefits of studying abroad is gaining what might be called global comprehension. To gain this comprehension demands putting at risk one's own Euro-American ideas about how the world works. There are some study abroad destinations that are, perhaps, too close to students' comfort zones to cause them to put much at risk."
Matt Stevenson '05, who studied in Tanzania, championed the committee's goals. "I couldn't take anything for granted when I studied abroad," he said. "You learn a lot more when the place is really foreign and you're out of your comfort zone. You're more perceptive about the things that usually don't matter-things in your daily life that you notice when they're gone."