Bard College to Host Six-Week Academic Exchange Program on Foreign Policy with U.S. State Department this Summer

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y., July 2, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bard College is hosting a multinational group of 16 university-level scholars and educators for a six-week academic exchange program from June 23 to August 5, 2013. Entitled "Grand Strategy in Context: Institutions, People, and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy," this Study of the U.S. Institute is designed to foster a better understanding in academic institutions overseas of how U.S. foreign policy is formulated, implemented, and taught. Sponsored by Bard's Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs, the program will feature an academic residency at Bard's campus in Annandale-on-Hudson and a week in Manhattan with the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program. The Institute will also feature integrated educational study tours to Hyde Park, Albany, Boston, Philadelphia, and 10 days in Washington, D.C., as well as extracurricular cultural and community activities that help to broaden the participants' understanding of U.S. society. The Study of the U.S. Institute will be conducted in collaboration with a diverse set of partners, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Roosevelt Institute, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Nominated by U.S. embassies, consulates, and Fulbright commissions, the 16 participants selected represent the following countries: Argentina, Cambodia, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, India, Macedonia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Portugal, Sudan, Tunisia, Vietnam, and Zambia.

The goal of the program is to provide participants with grounding in U.S. foreign policy in all its complexity, to help them develop effective syllabi and curricula, and to provide them with teaching tools to help them in the classroom. This will be achieved through a rigorous curriculum that focuses on the study of the historical foundations of U.S. foreign policy, a careful review of foreign policy actors and institutions, exploration of regional political issues, and lively interaction amongst all participants. Participants will also be encouraged to pursue their own research agendas and to utilize new media tools such as blogging about U.S. foreign policy. Together, these activities will help shape their roles as opinion leaders and informed educators in the international environment.

Bard faculty who have contributed to the proposal and who will participate in the Institute include: Walter Mead, Jonathan Cristol, Richard Aldous, Caleb Carr, Mark Lytle, Peg Peoples, Celia Bland, Ruth Zisman, Maria Sachiko Cecire, Tom Keenan, Roger Berkowitz, Jim Ketterer, Erin Cannan, and Jonathan Becker, as well as CCE Senior Fellow, David Woolner.

The Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) are designed and funded by the Study of the U.S. Branch in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). SUSI participants are among more than 40,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. For more than 60 years, ECA has funded and supported programs that seek to promote mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Other ECA programs include the Fulbright Program and the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program. For more information, contact Josué Barrera at eca-press@state.gov or visit exchanges.state.gov/susi.

One of Bard College's basic principles is a fundamental belief in the link between liberal education and democracy. Bard is firmly committed to promoting and sustaining projects that engage its students, faculty, and administrators with the most important issues facing society. Bard's Center for Civic Engagement supports, coordinates, and promotes the wide array of initiatives that define Bard as a private institution in the public interest. For more information, contact bardusfp@gmail.com or visit bard.edu/civicengagement.

(7/2/13)