Harvard’s New Frontier
The pilot program for this approach will begin later this academic year in Santiago, Chile.
Sponsored by Harvard’s Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, the program offers opportunities to study in three Santiago universities in a wide variety of fields while living with Chilean families.
The Rockefeller Center has a regional office in Chile, and Harvard will organize a special orientation program, as well as internships and activities, for students during their stay.
Coatsworth says such Harvard-created programs are vital to the growth of foreign study at the University.
“We won’t get the number [of students going abroad] up until we organize Harvard programs,” says Coatsworth, who is the director of the Rockefeller center.
He hopes the newly created Office of International Programs (OIP) will create new Harvard programs more easily and quickly once it appoints its first director.
OIP Assistant Director Leslie Hill says the office is currently engaged in a “grass-roots effort” in which departments disseminate the office’s information about studying abroad to promote student interest.
A Buzz in the Houses
Changes growing out of study abroad policy reforms are also evident within the College’s Houses and first-year dorms.
Many senior tutor offices have begun regularly sending out news about the OIP’s services and informational sessions. They also report increased student interest in going abroad.
“I would say the number of study abroad applications I signed have doubled this fall compared to last fall, and most students report that the process does seem easier,” Quincy House Senior Tutor Maria J. Trumpler writes in an e-mail.
The House also hopes to use the experiences of tutors and students to foster interest in study abroad.
“Quincy House has many resident tutors who have spent time or grown up in other countries and I know that they have been talking to students,” she says. “As of next semester, one of our tutors will organize welcoming receptions for those returning from abroad to share their adventures with anyone who is thinking about studying abroad.”
Melinda G. Gray ’88, senior tutor of Pforzheimer House, notes the House has a study abroad tutor this year for the first time ever.
According to Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley “Ibby” Nathans, while her office has always asked proctors and non-resident advisors to encourage first-years to consider spending time abroad, they too have re-vamped efforts to inform first-years about their options.
“We have reminded proctors and non-resident freshman advisers of changes that will make the process of arranging an international experience far easier for students, and of changes in how students will gather information about programs,” she writes in an e-mail.
With these changes in addition to current reform efforts, Coatsworth believes that study abroad at Harvard will soon be what now it is not—“routine.”
—Staff writer Margaretta E. Homsey can be reached at homsey@fas.harvard.edu.