Month: March 2019

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Highland Adventures

Inverness, Scotland

As Robert Burns, regarded as the national poet of Scotland, so eloquently wrote: “Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, the hills of the Highlands forever I love.”


Ample camaraderie is evident among students and faculty during Stetson’s Summer Scotland, with the Urquhart Castle in the background. Students who participate in the summer program earn four credits upon completion.

The endearing qualities of Scotland have inspired many a writer and poet over the years. Travelers from every corner of the globe also have been enchanted by Scotland’s beauty, typically describing it as “mystical” and “awe-inspiring.” 

For Stetson students, a study-abroad program, now going into its fourth year, is providing them with the opportunity to experience that splendor firsthand in Inverness, a city in the Scottish Highlands and the northernmost city of the United Kingdom. 

“I had never traveled outside the country before, so it was suggested that Scotland would be a good first study-abroad experience. It was a life-changing experience, and I caught the travel bug after that,” said Caylyn Gunby ’19, a double-major in international studies and world languages and cultures whoparticipated in the program in the summer of 2016. Gunby added she since has participated in two additional study-abroad programs in Austria and Thailand, plus an internship in France.

Such a trip has that kind of impact. 

Summer Scotland is centered at The University of the Highlands and Islands – Inverness College. 

The Inverness program, called Summer Scotland, is a multi-university, faculty-led consortium including professors from Stetson, Jacksonville University and Utah Valley University, all congregating at The University of the Highlands and Islands – Inverness College to teach students management and marketing as they relate to the international community. With approximately 8,500 students, Inverness College is the main campus for The University of the Highlands and Islands. 

The program occurs three or four weeks over summers. Summer Scotland 2019 is set for May 28-June 27. 

“Five years ago, we got together with Jacksonville University and suggested Scotland as a great place for a study-abroad program,” cited Paula Hentz, director of international learning at WORLD: The David and Leighan Rinker Center for International Learning at Stetson. “We wanted to build something that included best practices and incorporated case-study projects with local Scottish businesses. Utah Valley University and Inverness College joined the consortium, and it has turned out to be really beneficial for students.” 

As part of case-study projects, students work with local companies on real-world business issues. 

As part of these case-study projects, students are paired with local businesses (five students per company) and work on real-world business issues. They apply their coursework and offer solutions to actual problems to help the businesses, presenting a final report at the end of the project. 

Group projects vary based on the current business needs. In the past, companies have included WOW! Scotland (a travel company); a fashion designer who has designed items for the Queen; Robertson Construction; Walker (an international shortbread company); local craft breweries; a Highland bakery that provided baked goods for the 2012 London Olympics; local social enterprises that support youth; and Cobb (a hotel company). 

“This represents an incredible opportunity for students to not only get real-world experience but also real-world international business experience — learning how to do business in another country with another culture. It’s a great challenge for them,” Hentz added. 

In 2016, Gunby and her team worked with Café Artysans, a social-enterprise café in Inverness that uses some of its profits to help homeless Scottish youth. 

“We helped with advertising, met with the director and talked about growth and international outreach,” Gundy said. “We focused on social-media coverage and how to better reach out to Americans.” 

Carol Azab, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration, teaches, lectures and represents Stetson on the program.

Students who participate in the program are offered a choice between two courses — Global Marketing: Business Without Borders and Principles of Management — and earn four credits upon completion. The course counts as an elective for nonbusiness students. 

“These study-abroad programs teach students about international business and how countries operate and do business differently because of cultural nuances,” said Carol Azab, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration, who teaches, lectures and represents Stetson on the trips. “In Scotland, people are more laid-back than we are when it comes to their business culture. And it’s important for students to be able to adapt to whatever company they’re working for, wherever that may be. 

“When I see students presenting at the end of the program, I feel so proud. Their marketing proposals and plans get praise from these companies, and they’ve resulted in direct changes and improvements made in many of the businesses. It’s a life-changing experience for these students, who come back more enlightened and also improve academically.” 

Students start some coursework online prior to their arrival in Inverness. Once there, they have regular class time, Monday through Friday, and also interact with advisers to work on their case studies. Additionally, they hear local guest lecturers talk about topics such as the effects of Brexit (the U.K. leaving the European Union), the general business environment and business practices in Scotland. Students have the option to stay in the dormitories at Inverness College or with a Scottish host family. 

Further, there is cultural immersion. Among the highlights is a guided tour of the Isle of Skye, the largest and most northerly large island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. 

“It was stunning,” Gunby recalled. “We actually went to Fairy Pools [on the River Brittle in the Isle of Skye].” 

As part of their study (and adventure), students investigate the legend of Loch Ness, the deepest lake in the United Kingdom. 

Other excursions include visits to Loch Ness, the deepest lake in the United Kingdom and where students can take a boat tour and hear stories about the Loch Ness Monster; Urquhart Castle, one of Scotland’s most iconic castles on the banks of Loch Ness; the Quiraing, a landslip on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach, the northernmost summit of the Trotternish on the Isle of Skye; and Edinburgh, the ancient capital city of Scotland. 

Also, this past summer students participated in mini-Highland Games, so they could try some of the activities. Previously, they had watched the actual Highland Games. “We learned about Scottish food, music, sports, folklore and even got to hear Gaelic from the local Highlanders,” noted Gunby. 

“We want students to step out of their comfort zones,” Azab said, simply. 

“It’s a chance to build intentional opportunities for students to meet local people,” Hentz affirmed. “Everything we do there is geared toward giving our students the most immersive cultural experience possible.” 

For Gunby, who missed not having black pudding and sausage when she got back to the States, her Scotland experience opened many doors and widened her eyes. And she will never forget the Scottish people, while she also became close with other Stetson students who participated in the program. 

“They’re so friendly and much more laid-back then we are,” she said about the Scottish. “People understand how to enjoy life there, and that taught me something about how to live my life.” 

When Gunby graduates this spring, she plans on teaching English abroad, as a gap year, then attending grad school to get a master’s degree in international affairs or global development.

The study-abroad effect is transformative. 

“I believe in student learning and stepping out into the world as a life-changing experience,” Azab concluded. “Helping students realize this is very rewarding to me. In the end, we’re celebrating differences, and this is a beautiful thing and a great lesson for these students to learn.” 

-Jack Roth

Online at Stetson Today March 27, 2019

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Bishkek and Beyond

Rebecca Shaffer ’18 spent her final semester before graduation as the first Stetson student to participate in an exchange program with the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Shaffer is shown on the Tian Shan Mountains that border China.

Rebecca Shaffer graduated from Stetson in 2018 with a degree in Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies. A rewarding college experience, assuredly. Yet not your typical course of study.

Then there was spring 2018. A student-exchange program, one that few other universities offer, gave her a semester of a lifetime — at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

“I took a course on Central Asian politics [with Professor Gene Huskey, Ph.D.] and found out about the Bishkek student-exchange program in 2017,” Shaffer said. “I needed a senior research project, and I wanted to take advantage of my last semester. But nobody from Stetson had gone to Bishkek [on the program] yet, and I was a little nervous about it because I had never been anywhere like Kyrgyzstan before. But I decided to go for it.” 

Little-known Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Republic) is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest, and China to the east. Its recorded history spans more than 2,000 years, encompassing a variety of cultures and empires. Kyrgyzstan has been at the crossroads of several great civilizations, as part of the Silk Road and other commercial and cultural routes. It attained sovereignty as a nation-state after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Often referred to as one of the world’s “coolest unknown cities,” Bishkek is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. 

Upon arrival on the other side of the world, initial trepidation turned into education triumph. 

“When I got there, I was really nervous,” Shaffer continued. “It just seemed so remote. But once I saw the mountains, which are breathtaking and really close to the city, and realized how nice the people were, I knew I was in for a wonderful adventure.” 

Shaffer, who rented a bedroom from a local Kyrgyz family, was able to immerse herself in the culture, especially because, outside of the classroom, she had to speak Russian and Kyrgyz (a Turkic language that uses the Cyrillic alphabet). As part of the exchange program, she attended the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek, working on her Russian language skills, taking classes in its program in Central Asian studies and pursuing her senior research project, which entailed comparing the use of social media in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and the 2010 Kyrgyzstan revolution. 

“I looked at movement-building, the ‘movement as the leader’ concept and effective communication strategies in this kind of environment,” Shaffer explained. “I took a comparative politics approach on how social media affected each of these revolutions.” 

Last summer, Stetson traveled to share ideas about education with the American University of Central Asia. Stetson participants, from left: Paula Hentz; Michael Denner, Ph.D.; and Mayhill Fowler, Ph.D. To the right of Fowler is Asel Umetalieva, head of the International Students Office at AUCA. The building behind them is the AUCA dormitory. 

MUTUAL ADMIRATION 

A few years ago, Michael Denner, Ph.D., professor of Russian Studies at Stetson and director of the University Honors Program, began talking about the possibility of an exchange program with his former adviser in graduate school, Andrew Wachtel, Ph.D., who just so happened to be the president of AUCA at the time. Typically, AUCA has partnered with Bard College in New York, but Stetson steadily has forged a relationship with AUCA by virtue of its School of Business Administration; many of AUCA’s students are business majors. A reciprocal agreement now has been in place for two years. 

“Two Bishkek students came here in the fall, and two others were here last year, but Rebecca was the first Stetson student to go there,” Denner said. “We have a lot of opportunities for study abroad, and Bishkek isn’t a place people are usually familiar with, but more and more students are finding out about it, and we expect more of them to take advantage of the program in the coming years.” 

According to Paula Hentz, director of international learning at WORLD: The David and Leighan Rinker Center for International Learning at Stetson, the exchange program represents budding mutual admiration. 

“We want to ensure every student is having an international experience in one way or another,” Hentz said. “We have a strong Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies program here and wanted to start a proper student-exchange program in that part of the world. Also, it’s great to have foreign students come to us because it helps internationalize our campus. The Bishkek students have really fun, great attitudes when they come here. They’re outgoing and friendly, and our students are learning about their culture.” 

The American University of Central Asia in Bishkek. Few universities offer such a student-exchange similar to the Stetson/AUCA program. 

Denner and Hentz spent last summer in Bishkek, along with Mayhill Fowler, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and director of Stetson’s Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (known on campus as SPREES). There were four days of meeting with AUCA faculty, administrators and students. AUCA is known as the best institution of higher learning in Central Asia, with a diverse faculty and students, complemented by top-notch facilities and a faculty well-respected for research. 

“We didn’t know what to expect, and we were blown away,” Denner commented. “Plus, the city is beautiful with these majestic mountains towering in the background, communities are really nice, and people are friendly and happy-go-lucky. Few Westerners go there, so they totally embraced us.” 

Fowler, a veteran traveler to these parts, points to Bishkek’s globally important location, near both China and Russia. “This was part of the Silk Road, the crossroads of empires,” Fowler said. “They have a non-Western-centered understanding of the world, and for Stetson students, it’s about getting out of their comfort zone and becoming global citizens.” 

‘THESE INCREDIBLE PLACES’ 

While acknowledging the difficulty of study abroad in such an unknown place, Fowler believes the experience can set students apart. 

Ala-Too, Kyrgyzstan’s main square in Bishkek

“We want to position Stetson for the future as having student-exchange programs in places not necessarily well-known in study-abroad circles. We have students in Warsaw in Poland, Kyiv in Ukraine, etc., and this entire region is an important part of the world. So, we want to be able to offer different but key places like Bishkek as study-abroad locations,” she said. 

“The world is a complex place, and I want Stetson students to learn about and experience this world in all its complexity.” 

Denner agrees that for students, it is all about broadening horizons, both figuratively and literally. 

“In life, you’re limited by your network, so you broaden this network by studying abroad,” he explained. “You simply meet more people, and it’s because of the people you know that makes life interesting.” 

A marketplace shop in Bishkek 

The main goal now is to expand the program. 

“Can we attract students to Stetson from these incredible places?” Denner asked, rhetorically. “They need to be daring and intrepid to come here, and the same goes for our students going there. Think about what two students from Bishkek can teach students just by meeting and talking to them.” 

“It’s about your ability to see other points of view,” Hentz said. “This creates a better understanding of the world around us, our place in the world and how we can make it better.” 

Shaffer, currently living in Pittsburgh and working for the nonprofit PennEnvironment, a citizen-based environmental advocacy organization, is interested in going back to Bishkek to do policy development, specifically as it applies to infrastructure and transportation. 

Her first trip there, fittingly, helped to provide a bridge.

“Going to Bishkek was such a rewarding experience for me; it opened me up to another part of the world,” Shaffer concluded. “I met amazing people whom I’m still in contact with and who have changed my perspective on the rest of the world. I’m better for the experience and wouldn’t trade it for anything.” 

DID YOU KNOW? 

Stetson Professor Eugene Huskey, Ph.D., began visiting Kyrgyzstan right after the collapse of the Soviet Union and now is widely considered an expert on the region, knowing many of the movers and shakers in Kyrgyz politics personally. His new book, “Encounters at the Edge of the Muslim World,” published in September 2018, not only is a political science exploration of democratic transition, but also a thoughtful narrative about what it means to learn a new culture, language and place in a time of change, according to reviews.

The book even includes a personal note of support written by the former Kyrgyzstan President Roza Otunbayeva, whom Huskey knew before she was president, and includes the story of famous Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov’s visit to Stetson University in 1991.

March 29, 2019
Editor’s note: This article appears in the Spring issue of Stetson University Magazine, now available online. 
-Jack Roth

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Stetson’s Portuguese Instructor at Yale University: the Building and Sharing of a Legacy

By Fernanda Ribeiro, Fulbright Brazilian Language Scholar

I have never taught my mother tongue to non-native speakers of Portuguese before. When I arrived at Stetson University as a Fulbright scholar last year, on the 8th of August, I was given the mission of continuing the wonderful work left by Raquel Santos (2015-2016), Ana Paula Spalenza Pereira (2016-2017) and Greici Buzzi (2017-2018) each in turn,  a Teacher Scholar in Stetson’s Portuguese program. Then I thought: What can I do to leave my legacy on campus in nine months and contribute to the recognition and importance of one having a Portuguese language program at Stetson after my going back to Brazil?

Fernanda Rebeiro, Stetson FLTA 2018-2019

“Will I be able to meet Fulbright’s goals and truly represent my country as a cultural ambassador? It was quite a challenge, I must confess.”

On my first day as a Portuguese instructor, I had 8 students from the most diverse linguistic backgrounds: Spanish speakers, heritage speakers of Portuguese, polyglots, monolinguals. In spite of the differences, all of them had chosen to learn Portuguese, among the myriad of languages that the Department of World Languages and Cultures offer every semester, and, as a native speaker of Portuguese and a graduated teacher with years of experience, I had to give them my best, and the best of my country and my language.

Fernanda Rebiero presenting her work at stetson to other Fulbright Scholars at Yale University, Connecticut in spring 2019

With a lot of guaraná, brigadeiros, cheese breads (of course!), memes and music, the classes have been fun, dynamic and full of learning. My students have become my friends and I have learned a lot from and with them too – and that is one of the priceless opportunities we have as teachers. Outside the classroom hours, I have organized tablings, Brazilian clubs, cultural credit events and tertulias, everything under the fantastic supervision of the wonderful Dr. Pamela Cappas-Toro, who has always given me a free hand to do my best here, allowing me to be truly and entirely myself.

And the days have passed, so has the semester. I have been in DeLand for 7 months now and it is already my second and last semester as a Portuguese instructor here at Stetson. During a talk with Dr. Cappas-Toro, she told me that I am the last Fulbright scholar of Portuguese and that, in the Fall semester of 2019, there will be a full-time professor, whose commitment with the Department of World Languages and Cultures includes making the Portuguese program even stronger through the offer of higher level Portuguese courses – currently Stetson offers 101 and 102 levels only. What does it mean? It means that all the work of the four Brazilian Fulbrighers had not been in vain. It is quite the contrary: the four of us have planted seeds which have been constantly watered and which have now bloomed into beautiful flowers.

Fernanda Ribiero visits Yale University to present on her work as a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant at Stetson during the 2018-2019 academic year.

With such accomplishments in mind, and full of joy, I traveled to Connecticut last month and talked about the teaching of Portuguese at Stetson University at a conference at Yale University. There, I encountered the other Brazilian Portuguese instructors that came to the US with me and it was such a great experience. When I was presenting my speech, I was really moved because I could share my experience not only as a language instructor but also as a representative of Brazil, and as a cultural ambassador, I could say, and reinforce without any doubt the impact the Fulbright scholars have in a community and in the world. Raquel’s, Ana Paula’s and Greci’s work was also mentioned at Yale, after all we are a team!

These months here have been a daily learning. I am sure that I am not the same Fernanda anymore. With expanded horizons, a renewed cultural and linguistic baggage of knowledge and the most important thing – my legacy left at Stetson – , I will go back to my home country with the feeling of having fulfilled my duty. My future and my perspectives will be forever changed because my home will always have a little of this country and the wonderful family I have built here. After all, we are the result of the books we read, the places we visit, the languages we speak and teach and the people we get to meet – a  change for the better.

Fernanda Ribeiro joins Stetson University from Brazil to teach Portuguese as a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant. She is a first-generation college student who graduated from Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro in 2015, earning a licentiate degree in Portuguese, English and their respective literatures. Ms. Ribeiro earned a Master’s degree in linguistics from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro this past February. For more on Ms. Ribero, click here.

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On to the CFA Final Four

Stetson’s prestigious Roland George Investments Program will be sending four students to the Final Four championship of the CFA Institute Research Challenge (Chartered Financial Analyst) for Florida, March 2 in Jacksonville.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual collegiate research competition sponsored by CFA Institute-member societies across the state. Globally, the research challenge includes 800 participating universities, 500 industrial volunteers and more than 4,000 undergraduate/graduate students spanning four continents.

During the four months leading up the competition deadline, Stetson students Matthew Sweeney,USA, Luca Zambelli, Italy, Humberto Soares, Venezuela and Bilal Hashmi, Pakistan compiled a research report on Lennar Corp., a publicly traded company in the residential construction Industry. The students then were challenged with competing against the 16 other participating Florida institutions on the overall quality of the report, with each institution reporting on the same company.


Roland George Investment Program representatives in the statewide CFA Institute Research Challenge on March 2: (from left) Bilal Hashmi, Humberto Soares, Luca Zambelli and Matthew Sweeney.

In the end, the Stetson team emerged as one of the top four finalists, with Florida International University, Florida State University and Jacksonville University also advancing to the final round of the state competition.

“Having spent over 200 hours on the financial metrics of Lennar Corporation, and conducting a comprehensive industry analysis, the competition became less about the mere quantity of work and more about taking pride in the significance of the work we were doing,” said Soares, a senior finance and economics double major. “It takes more than just financial smartness to perform at a high level in the CFA Research Challenge. At the end of the day, it is about the blood, sweat and tears that you are willing to put in.”

“Humberto and I were looked upon as the experienced senior leaders of the group, with juniors Luca and Bilal being the newbies. But that soon changed when their skills as clever financial analysts soon became very evident,” said Matthew Sweeney, a double major in math and finance.

When asked about joining the team, Zambelli, a junior management and finance major, noted: “I did not know if I could do this, I had never done anything like this before and I felt as if I was way out of my comfort zone. But then, little by little, I felt a part of the team and knew that I could make a positive difference.” 

The collective efforts of the team are what ultimately drove their success in producing the “highest quality research paper in the eight years that the Stetson University Roland George Investment Program has participated in the research challenge,” commented K.C. Ma, Ph.D., the Roland George Chair of Applied Investments and director of the George Investments Institute. 

Not surprising, given their success, the students sacrificed much of their free time to prepare, including the majority of their winter break.

“Spread all around the world, we had many a skype call with our director, Dr. Ma, in Taiwan, and Luca, who was home in Milan, Italy, for the break,” said Hashmi, majoring in finance and economics.

Since being a part of the CFA Institute Research Challenge, Stetson has placed a team in the Florida Final Four six out of the eight years, including one Florida Championship.

Could this be a second big win?

-Nate Smith ’19

See related article here.