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Margo W. R. Steiner
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With the recent signing of three new memoranda of understanding (MOU), Salem State continues to expand opportunities for students and faculty to study, teach and conduct research abroad. In the last week alone, agreements between the university and the Italian consulate general in Boston, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and the University of Mannheim in Germany were formalized. This brings to 57 the number of cooperative agreements in which Salem State participates.
On October 29, Domenico Savio Teker, director of the education office of the Consulate General of Italy in Boston, participated in a signing ceremony on campus with interim provost Amie Goodwin and associate professor of Italian and French Anna Rocca. Salem State University is one of only three universities, the others being Harvard and Northeastern, being guaranteed two teaching assistantships for seniors or recent graduates with a minor in Italian to teach English and study Italian in the Piedmont region of Italy for periods ranging from four months to a full year.
In his remarks, Mr. Teker pointed to an earlier (2009) agreement with the Italian Consulate General that provides a similar fellowship in the country’s Lombardy region. According to Professor Rocca, four students have availed themselves of the opportunity. Each, she noted, “has come back with a new confidence and a different perspective on life and all have secured jobs. It is a generous act,” she continued, “and a symbol of the consulate’s trust in the university and our students.”
Later that same day, a similar memorandum of understanding was entered into between the university and representatives of the Netherlands’ Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. The first, unofficial, exchange between the two institutions took place in April and May when 28 students and three faculty from the sport management and marketing program at Rotterdam University journeyed to Salem to participate in a student symposium on sports marketing.
Knowledge of the global sports market as it is practiced elsewhere—and the tools required for international sport marketing—will be of inestimable value to students from both countries. With the formal signing of the memorandum of understanding, the two universities have taken the first step toward an international exchange program that will eventually lead to students from both universities participating in annual academic exchanges.
A third memorandum of understanding was signed on November 3 when Ana-Sophia Commichau, representing Germany’s University of Mannheim, visited the Salem State campus. Professor Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello, who was instrumental in developing the collaborative initiative between the two similarly-sized universities, noted the opportunities for German students to advance their American studies coursework in Salem while Salem State students explore the humanities—and learn or improve their German—in Mannheim. The study abroad opportunity is available for four months for an entire year, and there has already been great interest among Salem State students.
For students and faculty, the 57 agreements with countries as diverse as China, open up entirely new and expansive opportunities. According to interim provost Goodwin, “Our current internationalization work is extensive, with faculty and staff spearheading international partnerships around the globe in locations as widespread as Liberia, Poland, Brazil, China, and Iraq . We are thrilled to add institutions in the Netherlands, Italy and Germany to our global family at Salem State.”
Photo 1 (left to right): Shown signing the memorandum of agreement between Salem State University and the University of Mannheim (Germany) are Salem State’s interim provost Amie Marks Goodwin and Ana-Sophia Commichau, representing the University of Mannheim.
Photo 2: Domenico Savio Teker, director of education for the Consulate General of Italy in Boston (center) signs a memorandum of agreement with Salem State University, represented by professor of Italian and French Anna Rocca (left) and interim provost Amie Goodwin, right.
Photo 3 (left to right): Celebrating the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the Consulate General of Italy (Boston) that will provide two Salem State students fellowships to teach English in the Piedmont area of Italy while improving their Italian are: Michele Davila Goncalves, chair of world languages and cultures, President Patricia Maguire Meservey, interim provost Amie Marks Goodwin, professor of Italian and French Anna Rocca, Domenico Teker of the Italian Consulate General in Boston, and Ryan Walsh, a senior heading to Italy in January as part of the exchange program.