Global Gold - The History of Off-Campus Study at DePauw

Academics
Centers at DePauw
Hubbard Center for Student Engagement
Off-Campus Study
The History of Off-Campus Study at DePauw

DePauw has a long tradition of global education with records showing off-campus study participation as far back as the 1930s. Since then, thousands of DePauw students have taken the opportunity to experience an international education. In recent years, students have been able to choose from around 160 off-campus programs, in 6 continents and 45 countries.

DePauw has a long tradition of global education with records showing off-campus study participation as far back as the 1930s. Since then, thousands of DePauw students have taken the opportunity to experience an international education. In recent years, students have been able to choose from around 130 off-campus programs, in 6 continents and 45 countries.

1930s

European exchange with various European universities

DePauw University ...pioneered (in) the development of a systematic student foreign exchange program.

Drawing in part upon educational contacts in his native Germany, Professor Hans Grueninger of the German department inaugurated a series of annual exchanges of students between DePauw and various European universities in 1935-36.

Over the next several years a few DePauw students spent their junior year in Berlin, Cologne, or Freiburg, while students from those institutions enrolled at DePauw.

Some Greek-letter living units cooperated with the program by providing board and room to foreign exchange students, and the Rector Scholarship Fund made scholarship funds available.

Eventually the program was expanded to include universities in France, Switzerland, Austria, the Scandinavian countries, and South America, though the outbreak of the Second World War brought about a temporary interruption of student exchanges in the years after 1939.

1940s

Revival and expansion of the foreign study program

Shortly after the war's end Professor Hans Gruéninger revived and enlarged the foreign study program begun in the mid-1930s.

Student exchange programs with foreign universities in Europe and Latin America were revived and new ones instituted, notably with the Universities of Durham and Exeter in the United Kingdom.

Selected DePauw undergraduates spent their junior year studying in Austria, Colombia, Denmark, Equador, France, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. A smaller number of foreign students attended classes at DePauw, living in dormitories and Greek-letter living units and participating to a large degree in the life of the campus.

1950s

Junior Semester Abroad Plan

“DePauw's foreign study program expanded to include sending groups of students under the supervision of a faculty member to various European cities as part of a Junior Semester Abroad plan.

Professor Bergmann of the English department led the first group to Zell am See near Salzburg, Austria, in 1959. This program was later shifted to Vienna.

In 1960 Professor Fuller of the zoology department initiated a similar program in Freiburg, Germany. Later Athens, Greece became the center for another program.” (The Mediterranean Studies Program)

1960s

In 1967 the university initiated an African Studies program at the urging of President Kerstetter, who had recently visited several countries in that continent and advocated DePauw's assuming a special academic interest in that part of the world. The first director of the program, anthropologist Svend E. Holsoe, established an African anthropological museum in the basement of Asbury Hall and published the Liberian Studies Journal from his DePauw office.

His successors, historians Walter T. Brown and John E. Lamphear, expanded the program to include on-campus institutes and study tours in Africa.

To encourage the study of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America the faculty also adopted a non-western graduation requirement and began to add more courses in the history, language and literature, and general culture of those areas. Chinese, Japanese, and Swahili were taught for several years, and growing numbers of foreign students and visiting professors were brought to the campus.

1970s

“To help achieve the administration's goal to offer every student an opportunity to become acquainted with another part of the world, a greater variety of foreign study programs was made available.

In addition to DePauw's own two Contemporary Europe Semester programs, one based in Freiburg and the other in Vienna, and the Mediterranean Studies program based in Athens, there were several GLCA-sponsored programs located in Africa, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Scotland, and Taiwan.

DePauw students also had the option to enroll in a foreign university on an individual basis or participate in an overseas program administered by another institution. Though not everyone took advantage of these opportunities, a large majority of the student body participated in some kind of off-campus educational experience, either abroad or in one of the various domestic programs located in New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Oak Ridge (Tennessee), and other cities.”

1971 - The first off-campus Winter term

“The first Winter Term in January 1971, featured such special events as lectures by architect R. Buckminster Fuller and the conducting of composer Aaron Copland at a Contemporary Music Festival sponsored by the School of Music. Winter Term eventually proved to be a convenient opportunity for professional internships, volunteer work projects, and study abroad. The program was later amended to include two-week as well as four-week projects, and the graduation requirement was reduced to seven two-week projects or three and one-half Winter Terms.”

1979 - Appointment of Director of Foreign Study and Off-Campus Programs & Coordinator for Winter Term off-campus projects

"One of President Rosser's first tasks was to reorganize the administrative departments of the university ... faculty members named to part-time administrative posts were the following:

Amir Rafat of the political science department as director of foreign study and off-campus programs, succeeded later by Darrell La Lone of the sociology and anthropology department; Margaret E. Catanese of the economics and business department as coordinator for individual Winter Term off-campus projects."

1980s

Kristen Miles (Peregrine)

I lived in the Chicago area, and I had an aunt who went to DePauw 30 years before I did. I was looking at small liberal arts schools in the area, and I went down to DePauw and stayed overnight and went to some classes. I just fell in love with the campus, the atmosphere, the camaraderie, and the beauty of the campus. As soon as I left there, I knew I was going to go there. DePauw was four years of growing up that I really needed to do. I had so many different experiences living in the dorm, and then I lived in a sorority house for three years. I did a semester abroad in England. It was the best decision to spend the spring semester of my junior year abroad. I learned and gained so much confidence, and I was able to use that throughout my life. I ended up being in sales and sales management. Because I was a communication and psychology major, it helped for me to move up. I moved up in the ranks, and it set the stage for me to have a successful career.

1990s

Charles Richardson recruited me and a lot of other African Americans in my class, which I believe was one of the largest African American recruiting classes at the time. I visited DePauw University in the spring of 1991 and felt like it was a community where I could be a part of it and grow. I wanted something small where I wouldn't just be a number and where I would know my professors and they would know me. I certainly got that during my time at DePauw. Professors Jeff McCall and Robert Dawson made indelible impressions on me. Professor Larry Sutton was my advisor, and I remember him encouraging me when I was struggling with the decision to withdraw from a class. Part of the reason why I chose DePauw was because I could go to professors and say, "Hey, this is a challenge for me, could I get help with this?"

I was initiated into the Pi Lambda chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated in the fall of 1992. I made lifelong friendships with women that are my sorors. We are still connected, which is really nice. I studied abroad in Bogota, Colombia, in the spring of 1994 and that was a life-changing experience that opened up the world to me in a different way. After graduation in 1995, I worked in corporate communications for 15 years in Chicago and Memphis before transitioning to my current field of counseling. I earned a master's in counseling in 2013 and am a licensed marriage and family therapist and a licensed professional counselor in the state of Tennessee. DePauw helped to provide me with a firm foundation of rich and diverse experiences to excel in two different careers and in life.

2000s

As I was deciding what college to attend, I looked for a small liberal arts school with a strong study abroad program, which DePauw University has. DePauw was so much more than I thought it was going to be. The caliber of the education, the professors, the extracurriculars and the off-campus experiences were more than I anticipated. The lifelong friendships I made along the way have added even more value to my college experience. I am also thankful to have met my husband at DePauw. Professor Mueller, an economics professor, was the best professor I had at DePauw and the reason I became an economics major.

DePauw provided so many opportunities outside of the classroom that allowed me to see the world; including winter term trips, alternative fall break trips and my study abroad experience. Through DePauw's study abroad program, I had an internship in London with Merrill Lynch in my junior year at DePauw. Through that internship, I found my first job after college with Merrill Lynch in Chicago. After working almost a decade in the banking industry, I now use my accounting skillset within the non-profit sector.