In today’s increasingly global world, opportunities to study abroad are an important attribute at a liberal arts institution like Gustavus Adolphus College. With that in mind, the Gustavus Center for International and Cultural Education (CICE) has announced the launch of a new Gustavus faculty-led program, Semester in Malaysia: Living Diversity.
This program, offered in partnership with Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, will join the Gustavus Semester in Sweden and Semester in India programs as the College’s signature faculty-led study away opportunities.
“As a study away destination, Malaysia tends to be overlooked and that is unfortunate because peninsular Malaysia is one of the most fascinating destinations in southeast Asia,” said Carolyn O’Grady, director of the College’s CICE. “As a country with an ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse population, not to mention its biologically rich habitats, Malaysia is a veritable laboratory for the study of diversity.”
The inaugural Semester in Malaysia program will take place during the spring semester of 2014. It will then be offered every other year, during the spring semester of even years. Students in the program will be based at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) on the island of Penang and will take four courses including Malay Language and Culture; Religions of Malaysia; Tropical Ecology; and The Malaysian Experience: Living Diversity. Classes will take place in formal and informal settings and will be developed and taught by Gustavus faculty leaders and USM instructors.
“Malaysia is friendly, healthy, safe, and fascinatingly diverse, both culturally and geographically,” said Gustavus Professor of Physics Steve Mellema. “If you want to expand your understanding of diversity by meeting and living with people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, all of whom speak English, the Gustavus Semester in Malaysia is for you. If you’d also like to explore the jungle in the world’s oldest tropical rainforest and also go snorkeling on a coral reef, the Gustavus Semester in Malaysia is for you too.”
Mellema and his wife Shirley – a native of Malaysia – will be the inaugural faculty leaders for the Spring 2014 Semester in Malaysia. Steve first encountered Malaysia as a Peace Corps volunteer teacher, serving there for almost six years. Since joining the Gustavus faculty in 1986, he has spent two sabbatical leaves teaching at USM, including six months as a Fulbright Fellow in 2002-03. Shirley also worked for the Peace Corps in Malaysia, helping to train newly arrived American volunteers. Together they have previously led three groups of Gustavus students on study abroad courses to Malaysia.
“Shirley and I will work together with the USM faculty to ensure the continuity of the courses and to coordinate the off-campus field trips and their integration with the curriculum,” Steve Mellema said. “We will also provide a set of community service opportunities for our students in the Penang community and we will be there as the students’ cross-cultural liaisons.”
The Mellemas, along with four other Gustavus faculty members, spent nearly two weeks in Malaysia during this past summer as part of a faculty development experience designed by O’Grady. Associate Professor of Religion Thia Cooper, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Pam Kittelson, Assistant Professor of Nursing Lynnea Myers, and Associate Professor of History David Obermiller went on the summer trip and will now be resources on campus for students who are thinking about applying for the Semester in Malaysia program.
From left to right: David Obermiller, Steve Mellema, Pamela Kittelson (sitting), Lynnea Myers, Thia Cooper, Shirley Mellema.
“I think students will have the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in a diverse culture full of rich opportunities and experiences that are not readily available anywhere else in the world,” Myers said. “Additionally, with Steve and Shirley Mellema as the first faculty pair to lead the semester-abroad experience, students will be able to learn an explore the country from practically an insider’s view as Steve and Shirley share immense knowledge of the country.”
The Semester in Malaysia program is open to all Gustavus students with at least a 2.75 cumulative grade point average. The application deadline for the spring 2014 semester program is March 1, 2013. More information about the Semester in Malaysia program is available online at the Center for International and Cultural Education’s website. Students can also get more information by scheduling an advising session with Gustavus’s Study Abroad Advisor Jill Fischer. Fischer can be reached at 507-933-7546 or jfische4@gustavus.edu.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510