Posted by: Editor on Oct 22, 2006 – 12:21 PM
newsandinfo Under an agreement expected to be signed in February, students can travel to the Bahamas, bask in the sun, surf the blue waves and explore historic Nassau, all while receiving academic credit.
Last month Linda Davis, vice president for research, graduate programs and international relations at the College of the Bahamas, came to the University of Rhode Island to personally negotiate the deal that is awaiting the signature of President Robert L. Carothers.
“It’s the possibility for new experiences,” Davis said. “I knew this is something students and faculty would be interested in exploring.”
The exchange idea came out of a meeting in March 2006 between Associate Dean of the College of Environment and Life Sciences Dennis Nixon and Bahamian officials. Nixon traveled with a contingent of Rhode Islanders to the Bahamas as part of the State Partnership Program run by the Rhode Island National Guard.
Nixon proposed a faculty exchange program that soon grew to include students as well. Along with the National Guard, he helped arrange a meeting between Davis and URI Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Lynn Pasquerella.
“The value [of the agreement] is just exceptional, the different culture and different perspective on how to carry out research, how to apply scientific problems, how to work collectively to address humanistic issues,” Pasquerella said.
She said the agreement, which Carothers is expected to formally sign once a date can be agreed on, should help the university reach its goal of increasing minority students on campus, especially in the areas of science, technology and mathematics. Last year, the National Science Foundation awarded a five-year, $750,000 grant to URI to recruit, mentor, educate and retain minority graduate students in those fields.
“Our collaboration with the College of the Bahamas will help us achieve this initiative,” Pasquerella said.
Already, URI has received applications from two undergraduate Bahamian students to attend URI in September 2007. For students going the other direction, Davis said the exchange program could provide an opportunity for URI students to lend a helping hand to those in her country who are devastated by frequent hurricanes, other disasters or simple poverty.
“I think there are a number of opportunities not only for students to get that experience but also be enriched,” she said.
The opportunities are not limited to students. Davis envisions faculty from both schools trading places. She said that perhaps students could one day see a Bahamian professor teaching Caribbean literature in Kingston and a URI professor teaching American politics in Nassau.
With both colleges heavily invested in oceanography research, Davis said she hopes the exchange program will grow to a point where the two schools will share research practices.
“The fact of the matter is URI is certainly the best in terms of research,” she said. “It is our hope we can cull those best practices.”
While the Bahamas is looking to learn procedures, URI is hoping for access to a country surrounded by water and marine life.
“They have two important marine stations in the Bahamas that would help our researchers who are working on marine issues,” Pasquerella said.
Davis said she hopes the agreement will help her college, which is seeking university status, learn from URI. The university upgraded from a college to a university in 1951.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” she said. “It really goes better if you don’t make the same mistakes.”
Although Davis is busy preparing the college for the change, don’t be totally surprised if she appears in a URI classroom some day as a visiting professor. First, though, she’ll need to overcome the snow, hail and teen temperatures of winter.
“You never know,” she said, laughing. “I’m not averse to coming to experience one more winter.”
Christopher Barrett
The Good 5 Cent Cigar