Message from the President

As a college student, my idea of study abroad was tourism with a little studying thrown in to justify the lark. It’s always been more serious at Drew, a form of cultural study, and our Drew International Seminars (DIS) have exemplified this kind of experiential learning, tied as they are to the semester-long course work that precedes boarding a plane. Perhaps that is why so many of our alumni mention their DIS experience when I ask them about their most cherished memories of Drew.

The tradition continues, but it has been informed more than ever before by a number of factors. One is our growing emphasis on civic engagement, the commitment we’re making to tie learning to the common good. In 2008, we sent students to Mamfe, Cameroon, with the charge to interview residents about their most pressing needs. With microfinance grants developed by Drew students, a school there has been able to pour concrete floors, and a health center has delivery kits for the arrival of the community’s newest and most fragile members.

The world into which our current students will graduate is a complex one, and understanding how the growth of a country a continent away might affect the international community is also something we have defined as an essential part of a 21st-century study-abroad experience.

This spring, students traveled to the United Arab Emirates to see how this desert republic has reshaped itself from a nomadic Bedouin culture into one of the world’s most significant economic players, all in less time than it took Europe to build its grandest cathedrals. Observing the UAE at this juncture is, to me, a singular experience at a remarkable time in history. Our students have acquired a deep understanding of how this country will affect commerce, finance, international relations, even the power balance in an increasingly interconnected world. Read more in “The Wealth of a Nation.”

Still another tradition has been maintained in our study-abroad programs, and even strengthened. Traveling together, Drew students bond deeply with each other—even more profoundly than they could on campus. I love to see them laugh together as they present a slide show, owning jointly a memory the rest of us cannot fully appreciate. In a heartening number of cases, these will be lifelong friendships, adding to the sense that perhaps the most important academic experience at Drew is not strictly academic at all. It is other people, and sharing with them the startling condition of being alive.

Robert Weisbuch