Appendix D--International Dimensions

Many CII faculty have a special interest and background in international areas--so much so that a partial list should suffice to show the range and level of international interest and experience. Anthropologist Karen Larson's dissertation was on language and socialization in Norwegian villages (she is currently studying Native American culture) and anthropologist Patric Giesler's areas are social, cultural, and psychological anthropology, especially the anthropology of religion in Latin America, especially Brazil. He is also has a special expertise in the African Diaspora. Both teach Individual and Society. Deane Curtin (Visual Perspective; Senior Seminar), a philosopher, has a special interest in environment, gender, and development issues and third world/first world relations. Patricia Kazarow (Musical Understanding) has a special interest in world music; Greg Mason (Literary Experience) has a special interest in Japanese literature and film; Rob Gardner (Theater Arts) has a special interest in Russian theater. Laurent Dechery (Literary Experience, Visual Perspective, and Senior Seminar) is French (and teaches in our Modern Foreign Language Department). Denis Crnkovic (Literary Experience) is our Russian Studies Department with Tom Emmert (Historical Perspective II), whose specialty is Russian and Baltic history. Historical Perspective II is also taught by Byron Nordstrom, our Scandinavian history specialist. Florence Amamoto (Literary Experience, Senior Seminar) is Buddhist. Elizabeth Baer (Literary Experience) works on Holocaust literature. Will Freiert (Historical Perspective I, Senior Seminar, Literary Experience) has done work on comparisons between the classical world and feudal Japan and is particularly interested in Japanese theater. (He also works on Classical myths and Afro-American women writers.) Pat Freiert (Historical Perspective I, Visual Experience) does Shibori dyeing (a Japanese resistance technique). Many of these interests are reflected in their CII courses.

Many of these interests reflect faculty international travel and study. The Freierts, Rob Gardner, Greg Mason, and Ann Brady (Literary Experience, emerita) all spent a year in Japan on the Kansai Gaidai exchange. Will Freiert (Japan) and Rob Gardner (Russia) have had Fulbrights. Steve Mellema and Doug Huff (Individual and Morality) were in the Peace Corps in Malaysia and Turkey respectively. Florence Amamoto and Will Freiert participated in the Japan Seminar in 1999-2000, sponsored by the AAC&U. Many of the faculty have led student study abroad trips to a wide range of places and have traveled widely, often in conjunction with their scholarly work. One of out newest members has a truly international background. Eric Dugdale (Historical Perspective I), the son of medical missionaries, was born and raised in Columbia, attended school in England, where he also graduated from Oxford before getting a Ph.D. in the U.S. He recently led a January-term course to England and Italy. Not surprisingly, CII faculty encourage students to study abroad and have tried to foster an international awareness.