Through the Brethren Colleges Abroad, professors Jack Meek, Keith Schildt and Kirsten Ogden participated in international seminars held in Ireland, Hungary and the Galapagos Islands during the summer.
“It’s made me a better professor in terms of making me aware of other cultural issues,” said Kristen Ogden, assistant professor of English.
Ogden joined 11 others in exploring the sights and politics behind the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. The seminar’s main focus was on environmental conservation.
The group started out in Quito staying in the University of San Francisco. There they met with college professors and talked about the nature and politics of preserving the Galapagos Islands.
There are essentially two groups that have different views on the islands’ future, Ogden said, tourism companies and indigenous people that want to preserve their way of life. Consequently, both sides will affect the fragile environment.
As they visited each island, they heard lectures from tourist agencies, representatives from the Darwin research station and local residents.
The group was also exposed to the local issues facing the public school system.
“One of the things that I found out in Ecuador is that the education system is really poor,” Ogden said. “And because the Galapagos are separated from the mainland, there isn’t really a lot of public schools.”
From her experience in the seminar, Ogden along with fellow seminar participant Emily Caldwell has started a non-profit organization called Galapagos ICE – Immersion Connection and Environment. The organization’s purpose will be to host educational tourism and provide a link between different universities and schools that may be able to give money to the Galapagos school system.
Ogden plans on incorporating her experiences in future writing classes.
“I got several books that were literary non-fiction books on the Galapagos,” Ogden said. “And so I’m interested in putting together some of that literature into one of the creative writing classes.”
Meek, professor of public administration, participated in the comprehensive look into the conflict in Northern Ireland.
“When you read about Northern Ireland, its different from when you’re there to see,” Meek said. “To go there and see it first hand gives you a different feel and understanding of the conflict there.”
This seminar consisted of a tour of three cities: Belfast, Derry and Galway.
In each city, Meek joined 15 other participants in meeting with representatives taking position in many issues from human rights issues, women issues to those affected by the conflicts.
“It contributes to a broader understanding of how collaboration can exist in a deeply complex and dynamic urban environment,” Meek said.
One of the highlights in the seminar was hearing a lecture by Nobel Peace Prize winner, John Hume.
“It was very rewarding to hear other faculty that spent a large part of their career entertaining issues of human rights and conflict management,” Meek said.
Meek plans on using his experiences from the seminar in his classes, especially in his collaborative processing course.
“I will bring that material,” Meek said. “Especially those involved in bringing groups together and bring that into an understanding on how collaborative processes can be improved.”
While Ogden and Meek were in the Galapagos Islands and Ireland, Schildt, associate professor of public administration, attended the seminar in Hungary.
The Hungary seminar focused on the changing dynamics concerning Hungary and other post-communist countries in the European Union. The seminar included lectures by politicians, academics and other public intellectuals.
Schildt was able to visited many sites of interest relating to World War II.
Some of these included a Jewish ghetto and the Terror House used by Nazis and the Soviet KGB in Danube.
The seminar has sparked Schildt’s interest in starting research of his own, dealing with United States reporting on the European Union.
Andres Rivera can be reached at arivera3@ulv.edu.
