Students participating in a new international project spent spring semester 1999 at the Moscow State Agroengineering University.

When graduates of the College look back on their college days, increasing numbers will have stories of trips to other countries, replete with lush valleys, exciting cities, and intriguing cultures. But these aren't tales of misspent spring breaks: for today's student, international study is an important part of the curriculum. "Our overall goal is to prepare world-ready graduates," says James Mortensen, associate dean for undergraduate education. "We have an interdependent global community today that our students need to understand when they join the workforce. Students who study abroad receive instruction in the context of another culture, giving them a better perspective of their values and way of life in the United States."

International study, while not required for graduation, is encouraged for every student through advising sessions and as part of first-year seminar courses. The University's Office of International Programs offers programs in more than 80 locations around the world, including Argentina, Belgium, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the People's Republic of China, Sweden, and Ukraine.

Education abroad opportunities within the College also are available. "In 1993, we started the College's first formal education abroad program, between the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology and the Department of Agriculture and Food Economics at Queen's University of Belfast in Northern Ireland," Morten-sen relates. Students also can take part in grazing research projects with the Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland as part of an informal program overseen by dairy scientist Larry Muller. The School of Forest Resources maintains a student exchange program with the University of Freiburg in Bavaria, Germany, under the direction of forest resources professor James Finley. German students toured Pennsylvania in September 1998, getting an introduction to the state's hardwood forests. This spring, students studied ecological damage in Germany's Black Forest and evaluated damaged forests in southern France as part of the two-way exchange.

"We have students going to Germany, France, England, Australia -- all over the world," Mortensen says. "And students aren't limited to a whole semester abroad. We have other opportunities where students can go for a week or 10 days up to a month to study and learn." For instance, plant pathologist Hector Flores took eight students to study root crops for 10 days in the mountains of Peru, typifying the tremendous faculty support for education abroad. Faculty take an active hand in establishing opportunities through their academic contacts, resulting in travel that is tailored to a student's academic interests and career goals.

The experience of traveling abroad can help students even if the courses they take don't apply directly to their career plans. Brette Bornstein, a sophomore in environmental and renewable resource economics, spent a semester in Italy as part of a Penn State contingent attending a "campus" of Temple University in Rome. Because the campus didn't offer courses within her major, she took electives in drawing, art history, Italian, and creative writing. Classes were scheduled for four days each week, giving her time to visit Florence, Venice, Bologna, Cinque Turre, and other Italian cities. For Bornstein, study abroad wasn't about tourism: it was an important step in her personal growth and development. "I made a lot of great friends, and I found out about a new culture," she says. "I feel more independent since going abroad -- stronger and more mature. I'm ready to take on anything."

Melanie Snyder spent a semester studying agricultural business at Queen's University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, with a course load that included agriculture and food policy, agricultural marketing, and farm business. Her visits to London, Edinburgh, Dublin, York, Carlisle, and other places in the British Isles helped her make insightful comparisons between American and Irish farming. "Farms in Ireland are like American farms in the early 1920s. They're a lot smaller and more specialized, and the machinery isn't as modern as it is on most U.S. farms today. The experience was very beneficial. I would love to do international sales and marketing, and many jobs exist for people with international experience."

Students who want more intensive study-abroad experiences may opt for the College's International Agriculture minor, an interdisciplinary program that helps students develop a greater awareness of the interdependence of nations in agricultural production. Ag and extension education associate professor Thomas Bruening, who coordinates the minor, says it attracts a distinctive type of student.

"The typical student in the minor has a deep and profound interest in other peoples and cultures and really wants to make a difference in the world," Bruening says. "Historically, a number of students have used the minor to test their interest in Peace Corps, church mission, or international development work, as well as to explore business interests they might have. But we don't sell the students on the idea that this minor prepares them for international business. If you want to do international business, you can major in that. The students who come to us have a solid agricultural background with an additional interest in international affairs. This minor gives them an opportunity to understand the theories and concepts behind international development and to fulfill a deeper understanding of what people, culture, and international community are all about."

This year, several students in the College had the chance to learn more about agriculture in the former Soviet Union. A new project, "Internationalizing the Mind of Food System Professionals for the 21st Century," took 10 undergraduate students to Russia and the Moscow State Agroen-gineering University for spring semester, where they took up to 19 credits in Russian agriculture and society, as well as standard Penn State courses. Students were taught by a combination of Russian, Penn State and other American faculty, and graduate students.

The project is funded by Keystone 21, a partnership between Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and former Commonwealth Educational System, and the Rodale Institute, one of 14 W. K. Kellogg Foundation projects across the nation that collectively form the Food Systems Professions Education Initiative. It helps students and faculty enhance their ability to solve problems and function effectively in an international setting. The faculty also are developing a model and collaborative plan to establish a new international undergraduate minor degree program at Penn State and an independent international degree. Bruening says its inaugural semester was successful.

Distance education techniques using the World Wide Web are central to the project. Students are each issued a laptop computer for daily communication with Bruening, submission of assignments to instructors, and "INTAG Weekly," a Web-based electronic newsletter with articles and photos by the students located at http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/casdept/aged/intag/. "The students have been remarkably positive," he says. "They're writing great articles and we've gotten excellent feedback from people who've read the group's electronic newsletter. As you can imagine, any international experience -- particularly in Russia, which is going through economic upheaval -- can be a real challenge."

Mortensen sees challenging students to reach beyond the basic college experience as a fundamental purpose of the international experience one introduced to College students from their first semester. "When I teach our freshman seminar course, I invite a student who's had an international experience to come back and talk to the students," he says. "It always challenges them to think about what's out there for them if they participate. No matter what their interest or specialization, getting international experience is invaluable."

-- Gary Abdullah