It is time to start thinking about potential summer study abroad programs for 2010. Each summer the college send off approximately 12 faculty and 100 students out of country for Studio 6 (Urban Design Studies) and an associated elective course of the attending faculty's design for a total of 8-9 possible credit hours per student across the summer. To date the programs have all centered on North and Central America and European destinations.
Faculty participation in study abroad programs entails a significant amount of planning, recruiting, and advising in the semesters leading up to the trip, including some participation in a one hour teaching assignment in the spring before travel that is done as an overload on your teaching schedule. Faculty teaching in summer study abroad programs are expected to mamage some personal interface with various university offices such as the ICC, OIA, SBS, and the Travel Office in the form of arranging budgets, attending orientation and safety meetings, and reconciling budgets and affairs upon return. It is a job that some find incredibly rewarding and rich. It is a job that some wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. If you are interested in participating in or initiating one of these programs it is highly recommended that you speak to a colleague who has been a regular participant (Aranha, Buelinckx, Driskill, Gomez, Hill, Peters, and myself--to name a few) to hear about the rewards and pitfalls in this choice of summer teaching.
Each study abroad program is attended by two teaching faculty, one of whom is designated the program coordinator and acts as the logistical point person in the academic year leading up to the travel. The attending faculty determine the exact program schedule (somewhere between 5 and 10 weeks), number and type of excursions beyond the base, method of course delivery, accommodations, means of local travel, etc. The expenses of participating faculty are covered, within reason and university protocol. Compensation questions should be addressed directly to Beth for best guidance.
If you might be interested in participating there are two ways you can join in:
A) The college has three "standing programs" for study abroad: Puebla, Montréal, and Sevilla. The faculty participating in these programs are assigned on a rotating basis and according to budgetary matters. 12 month college administrators often participate because their salaries are already allocated in other lines so their inclusion has no impact on an already stretched and limited summer faculty payroll and budget. It is expected that new faculty will commit into these programs for a minimum of two years and be willing to move into the role of program coordinator in their second year, if called to do so. We are working towards a four or five year cap on participation in these program, broad based faculty interest willing.
If you are interested in participating in one of these programs please contact me at b.rex@ttu.edu before Monday, February 23rd at 5:00PM. with a notification and explanation of your interest.
B) The college has a need for three or four more programs beyond the "standing programs". Each year the college accepts proposals for both continuing programs and new proposals. Each of these proposals should come from two interested faculty, one of which must be identified as the coordinating member. Proposals are evaluated based on merits such as the comprehensiveness and plausibility of the proposal, novelty (diverse locations) and perceived relevance of the location as a setting for an urban studies education, familiarity and relevance of the faculty member's knowledge of the location and urbanism, safety of the location, cost per student, and apparent student interest.
The initial proposals for continuing and new program locations need not be elaborate. If you wish to propose a program for Summer 2010 please forward an email listing:
- the location proposed
- the two participating faculty
- a one paragraph description and academic justification of the proposed location
- the available on site educational facilities
- potential excursions from the base site (if applicable)
- the accommodations that will be provided for the students
- a rough estimate budget (cost per student)
to me at b.rex@ttu.edu before Monday, February 23rd at 5:00PM. This proposal need not exceed one page and one hour of your time.
As some of us begin to cycle out of our longstanding positions in these programs we hope that new faces and new locations will come to the table. If faculty interest is strong enough, personally, I would like to build a "wheel" for interested faculty to move in and out of these programs in a scheduled, equitable, and regular manner. Proposals for viable locations around the world are highly encouraged- especially from Asia, Africa, and South America. The decision to approve programs (both existing and new) and to distribute faculty within "standing programs" is made in the Dean's Council.
