Three Tusculum College professors recently returned from Salzburg, Austria, ready to move forward with several elements of the college’s international program and prepared to initiate research on some additional elements of that program.

Dr. Geir Bergvin, director of the Center for Global Studies and associate professor of marketing; Dr. Joel Van Amberg, assistant professor of history, and Dr. DiAnn Casteel, associate professor of education, returned in February from the Salzburg Global Seminar in Austria, to participate in an international curriculum development program through a Mellon Fellowship grant program.

“The colleges participating in the program are in a wide range of development of their international programs,” said Bergvin, “And, we found that there was tremendous value in learning about some of the challenges they have encountered along the way.”

Bergvin has been leading the charge to expand international opportunities at the Tusculum College campus since the college declared it a major strategic initiative to increase the number of students who participate in international travel experiences and to internationalize the curriculum to better prepare students for the 21^st Century.

One major item under discussion for Tusculum College is reinstituting a formal language program for its students.

“We are researching a variety of alternatives,” said Bergvin, including partnering with another school in order to offer language courses not currently in the Tusculum College catalog.     In addition, Bergvin is hoping that Tusculum will be a pilot school for such a program through an initiative of the Appalachian Colleges Association.

Van Amberg, who has traveled extensively both personally and through his role at the College, said that this seminar allowed the group to see how other colleges are facing budgeting issues and learning how they are moving their programs forward, despite the difficult economic climate.

“Our desire is not to destroy the momentum of the program,” he said. “It is helpful for all of us to be aware of similar situations and see how other institutions are pushing forward.”

“Our time in Salzburg provided an opportunity to interact with others that had similar plans for their students. We were able learn from their experiences, which in turn strengthens our own program. Facilitating international travel for students in our residential and Graduate and Professional Studies programs will bring a new dimension to experiences offered by Tusculum College,” said Casteel.

However, one area where the Tusculum College representatives felt their program was stronger than most was the support and commitment shown by the institution to develop the program.

“We are very fortunate for the support of the Center for Global Studies and its programs. We have received a lot of support from the faculty and the administration of Tusculum College,” said Bergvin.

He added that in addition to strengthening the language program, a second goal of the program is building partnerships with institutions in other countries.

“We have had very positive feedback from institutions in England, Spain and Costa Rica,” said Bergvin.

In the meantime, Tusculum’s international program has begun to see success on campus as more students are inquiring about international travel and study abroad opportunities.

“There seems to be an awakening of the student body,” he added. “It’s very exciting.  Something is happening and it is encouraging. That interest has not been there in the past.”

Dr. John Paulling, professor of mathematics at Tusculum College, is back from London, where he spent the fall semester teaching a course on the mathematics of political decisions and as part of the College’s participation in the “London Program” study abroad program.

In addition to his teaching duties, Paulling served as academic director for the one British and five American professors who taught courses to American students, mostly from colleges and universities in Tennessee and Missouri. The program allows these students to study in London for a semester, while still earning credits from their home colleges and universities.

While participating in the program Paulling and his students were able to explore the city in depth, as well as visit surrounding cities such as Bath, Cambridge, Stonehenge and nearby Paris, France.

“The Paris trip was a very significant foreign language experience for the students,” he said. Adding that the students also had opportunities to experience the cultural highlights of London, including performances of William Shakespeare plays and attending a performance of the “Messiah” at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Paulling, who in the past studied in Germany as a student and has traveled to Europe several times, enjoyed the opportunity to discover new parts of the city as well as revisit some attractions with students participating in the program and seeing them for the first time.

His “Political Calculations” course dealt with the mathematics of social choice, including topics such as, voting, power, conflict, escalation and fairness.

In coordination with his own teaching, Paulling took his students to visit sites relating to the “two fathers of statistics – John Snow and Francis Galton.”

Snow is known for trying to solve the problem of cholera using what are today the basic ideas in statistics. Galton is known for creating the statistical concept of correlation and promoting “regression toward the mean.” According to Paulling, he was considered to be the cutting edge of science and inquiry.

By visiting sites dedicated to the two statistical pioneers, Paulling hoped to bring the course alive and incorporate London into the curriculum.

Paulling’s opportunity to teach is part of Tusculum College’s participation in the Private College Consortium for International Study (PCCIS), a partnership of 14 colleges mostly in the Appalachian College Association. The Private College Consortium for International Studies was developed for the promotion of study abroad programs, and for the participating institutions, it is the opportunity to design their own academic programs abroad using their own curriculums, standards and styles.

As part of their agreement to participate with other American colleges and universities in the London Program, each year one PCCIS participant school must send a professor to teach in the program.

Tusculum College has provided the professor in the past, but this was Paulling’s first opportunity. In addition, students at Tusculum College are also eligible for participation, and while there are no current students enrolled, senior Lynnsey Jett of Jefferson City recently returned from her semester of study in London.

The London Program is part of Tusculum College’s efforts to increase the number of students who have an international experience during their college career. As part of this campus wide goal, the College formed the Center for Global Studies in spring 2008, with a mission to “enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations to address local and global challenges through building relationships with communities, institutions of higher learning and organizations globally.”

On a recent trip to Latin America, several professors from Tusculum College embarked on an expedition to gain insight into the biodiversity, diverse geography, stable democracy and diversified economy of a developing country.

The trip, initially planned to include both Costa Rica and Nicaragua, was an opportunity for each of the three professors to incorporate an international perspective into their classroom experiences back in Greeneville. Due to restrictions on border crossings because of the swine flu, the eventual trip focused solely on Costa Rica.

The professors, which included Dr. Ian VanLare, associate professor of biology; Dr. John Paulling, professor of mathematics and Amy Brooks, assistant professor of athletic training, participated in order to pave the way for future student trips and to bring back real-world experience and examples to students through their adapted curriculum at Tusculum College.

“During this trip we looked at diversity both biological and culturally in a variety of places within Costa Rica,” said VanLare.

The participants visited both ends of the Central Valley, traveled through lowland Caribbean habitats, stayed at a cloud forest while visiting several nature reserves and visited two active, but different types of volcanoes.

“We stayed at both ends of the Central Valley,” said VanLare, “And, we visited the northern town of La Fortuna where they have an active volcano and then went on to Monte Verde, which interestingly was settled by American Quakers.”

Also on the group’s travel agenda were two hydroelectric plants which they visited. These plants provide much of Costa Rica’s and neighboring Nicaragua’s electricity, said VanLare.

In addition, the group traveled to Jaco, a town located on the Pacific Ocean, where they observed how the Tico (a term for the native inhabitants of Costa Rica) society struggles with the effects of ecotourism.

“The strength of the trip revolved around its participants,” said VanLare. And while each of the three faculty members represented different academic disciplines, VanLare said each was enthusiastically engaged in all the planned activities and participated in activities individually.

Brooks, in her job as athletic trainer, works with a number of Tusculum’s international students, many of whom are natives of Central and South America.

“I see the adjustments these students have to make in coming to an American school and adjusting to the American lifestyle,” said Brooks. “I wanted to see where they come from and be able to help those athletes get over the culture shock.”

Having made the trip to Costa Rica, Brooks says she can certainly understand the difficulty in adjusting that those students often have.

“It’s completely different,” she said. “We visited the cities, the mountains and the beaches, and I certainly feel that I understand the culture better.” She added that she feels she will be able to make better connections as a care-giver with those students who are from the Central and South American regions.

VanLare, who has traveled before to Costa Rica with students, would consider doing so again, as he feels it allows students to experience ecosystems that do not exist in East Tennessee, as well as exposes them to another culture.

“I can see the international experience incorporating language, science, service and history, and my long-term goal would be to take students not for a trip, but for a semester of study,” said VanLare.

The faculty trip to Costa Rica was part of Tusculum College’s efforts to increase the number of students who have an international experience during their college career. As part of this campus wide goal, the College formed the Center for Global Studies in spring 2008, with a mission to “enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations to address local and global challenges through building relationships with communities, institutions of higher learning and organizations globally.”

For more information the Tusculum College Global Studies program, contact Dr. Geir Bergvin, director of the Center for Global Studies, at 423-636-7300.

Five Tusculum College professors spent time this summer in Northeast Italy as part of the Tusculum College Global Studies program.

The professors, which included Dr. Greg Church, associate professor of biology; Dr. Troy Goodale, assistant professor of political science; Dennis Lingerfelt, assistant professor of computer science, and Craig Wright, assistant professor of business administration, participated in order to pave the way for future student trips.

According to Church, the 11-day, cross-disciplined trip included dramatic landscapes, varied cultures and more than 5,000 years of history, art and architecture.

“Italy is an entirely different culture in the north and in the south,” said Church. The north is very Germanic and both German and Italian are common languages, with the exception of Venice, which is a very traditional Italian city.”

He added that the trip introduced the faculty group to a small but diverse region of Northeast Italy, including Merano, Bolzano, Arabba and Venice.

“There were abundant opportunities to learn about history from Roman times to the present, as well as the progression of art and architectural styles throughout these historical periods,” he said.

The group observed firsthand the diverse cultures currently living in this region as well.  Italian language and traditions predominated in the cities of Mestre and Venice, while German language and Tyrolean culture dominate Merano and Arabba in the Alto-Adige region.

He added that the ancient Ladin culture still exists in a few isolated alpine valleys near Arabba. This culture is believed to pre-date Latin and has its own unique traditions, costumes and mythology.

It was important for the group to focus on what they wanted to bring back from their experience to share with others at the College and to utilize in possibly planning future student trips. As a group, they defined the main learning outcomes of this trip as gaining insights into the history, culture, educational systems, healthcare systems, transportation infrastructure, nature, art, and architecture of this fascinating region.

For Lingerfelt, this was his first trip out of the United States and a tremendous learning experience that he said broadened his horizons and makes him a better educator and advisor for students considering international travel.

“Before I couldn’t really advise students on these types of opportunities - I didn’t have that experience. Now I have some experience and knowledge to pass along, and I feel much more adept at discussing with students,” he said.

In addition, Lingerfelt brought back real-world experiences to share with his computer science classes.

“Language is a barrier not only in spoken word, but with keyboards,” said Lingerfelt, “There is some loss in functionality when a “c” in Italian is not equal to a “c” in English. He has already incorporated this into his classroom discussions on standardization.

“Our Board of Trustees recognized a deficiency in our international programs - students weren’t getting the international exposure here, and the Board has placed importance on developing these programs,” he said.

And despite the whirlwind nature of their trip, all felt they brought back knowledge that will help the College develop these kinds of experiences as an extension of their classroom experience.

Some of what they brought back included logistical information that would make a trip that included students run more smoothly. They reported that they would considered a longer trip with students in order to be able to take full advantage of the experience and be able to stay in each city three or more nights. The also recommend utilizing what they found to be a very good system of youth hostels to reduce travel expenses.

Church also felt that adequate preparation prior to the trip would be critical to a successful student travel experience to Northeast Italy. Learning about the culture, basic language phrases in both Italian and German and the history of places they would visit would allow a better immersive experience for the students.

“With respect to a similar trip with students, I feel it would be essential to provide more information to them long before the trip, and engage them from the start,” said Church.  “Assignments based on these topics, as well as research would be important elements of pre-trip preparation. I also feel that students should meet a few times prior to the trip in order to learn from the instructor, get to know each other and give presentations on relevant topics to the rest of the group.”

The faculty trip was part of Tusculum College’s efforts to increase the number of students who have an international experience during their college career. As part of this campus wide goal, the College formed the Center for Global Studies in spring 2008, with a mission to “enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations to address local and global challenges through building relationships with communities, institutions of higher learning and organizations globally.”

For more information the Tusculum College Global Studies program, contact Dr. Geir Bergvin, director of the Center for Global Studies, at 423-636-7300.

Ten Tusculum College students and two professors are making plans to visit the art, architecture and history of Renaissance and Reformation Europe when they take their classroom to Europe in March.

Because of the uniqueness of the “one class at a time” block schedule offered at Tusculum College, students enrolled in “Politics and Religion in Renaissance and Reformation Europe” will spend two weeks in traditional class work and then take their classroom on the road to see firsthand where the Renaissance was born and where key historical moments took place.

Leading the trip are Dr. Joel Van Amberg, assistant professor of history, and Dr. James Reid, professor of political science.

“After two weeks of traditional coursework we will travel to Europe to visit some of the major sites, buildings and images associated with the Renaissance and Reformation,” said Van Amberg.

“There are historical realities that are sometimes hard to understand without traveling to the location where those realities took place,” he said. Van Amberg added that in addition to the significant political science, religion and historical topics that they will investigate during the trip, they will also explore the “incredible developments in paintings, sculpture and architecture” that occurred during the Renaissance and Reformation.

“There is just no substitute for actually seeing these masterpieces.”

On the itinerary for the trip are visits to Rome and Florence, Italy; Wittenberg, Germany, and Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland. The trip is planned for March and will cover nearly two weeks.

While several of the students are history or political science majors, several others enrolled in the class for the experience of learning the topic first hand and on the original sites were the movements were born.

According to Van Amberg, another positive aspect of the trip is that many of Tusculum’s students have never done any traveling abroad.

“This experience will help students and reduce the anxiety associated with international travel. Hopefully it will clear the way for them to take advantage of other travel opportunities offered in the future.”

The student Europe trip is part of Tusculum College’s efforts to increase the number of students who have an international experience during their college career. As part of this campus wide goal, the College formed the Center for Global Studies in spring 2008, with a mission to “enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations to address local and global challenges through building relationships with communities, institutions of higher learning and organizations globally.”

For more information the Tusculum College Global Studies program, contact Dr. Geir Bergvin, director of the Center for Global Studies, at 423-636-7300.

Dr. John Paulling, professor of mathematics at Tusculum College, recently headed to London, where he will teach a course on the mathematics of political decisions and coordinate the British Life and Culture program as part of the College’s participation in the “London Program” study abroad program.

Paulling joins four other American professors who will manage the student program that allows American students to study in London for a semester. This past spring Tusculum College student Lynnsey Jett, a senior education major from Jefferson City, Tenn., participated in the London Program as a student. Jett is one of nearly 10 students who have participated in the study abroad program since it was initiated by the College.

“I have always been interested in going to other places, whether it be travel or study abroad,” said Paulling. In his past he studied in Germany as a student and has traveled to Europe several times. As a result, he speaks German, Spanish and Norwegian, which provides him the unique ability to converse with international students in their own languages.

Paulling’s opportunity to teach is part of Tusculum College’s participation in the program that is a partnership between International Enrichment and the Private College Consortium for International Study, a partnership of 14 colleges in the Appalachian College Association. The Private College Consortium for International Studies was developed for the promotion of study abroad programs, and for the participating institutions, it is the opportunity to design their own academic programs abroad using their own curriculums, standards and styles.

As part of their agreement to participate with the ACA in the London Program, each year one ACA participant school must send a professor to teach in the program.  Tusculum College has provided the professor in the past, but this will be Paulling’s first opportunity.

“My course will focus on social decisions, voting ratios and various voting methods,” said Paulling. Adding, that the math involved in polling, voting, ranking and making choices will be the focus of the curriculum.

In addition to teaching, he will coordinate the British Life and Culture program for the American students, which involves British lectures, trips and excursions in the London area, with a focus on providing the students with hands-on experiences in London life and culture.

“We will have British experts in the lecture series who will talk about William Shakespeare, William Wallace and other historical and cultural leaders from London, and the excursions will include three days in Paris as well,” said Paulling.

The students participating; however, continue their progression towards their degrees even while studying in London.  According to Paulling, all courses have been structured so that academic credits earned by students are part of regular authorized course offerings.

Paulling will return to the United States and to Tusculum College next semester and pick up his courses in the mathematics department, but both he and the students he teaches may have just a touch more international pizzazz than was there before.

The London Program and its study abroad components are part of Tusculum College’s efforts to increase the number of students who have an international experience during their college career. As part of this campus wide goal, the College formed the Center for Global Studies in spring 2008, with a mission to “enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations to address local and global challenges through building relationships with communities, institutions of higher learning and organizations globally.”

Tusculum College, the oldest college in Tennessee and the 28th oldest in the nation, is a civic arts institution committed to developing educated citizens distinguished by academic excellence, public service and qualities of Judeo-Christian character. Approximately twenty-one hundred students are enrolled on the main campus in Greeneville, the campus in Knoxville, Tenn., and two additional off-site locations in Morristown and Gray, Tenn. The academic programs for both residential students and working adults served through the Graduate and Professional Studies program are delivered using focused calendars whereby students enroll in one course at a time.

Tusculum College students visited Tusculum View Elementary School this week to share experiences of their service learning trip to the country of Belize. This is their second visit to the school, the group met with the elementary students prior to the trip to collect items to take with them.

Tusculum View students collected school and art supplies to be delivered by the Tusculum College students as well and prepared art work to describe their life in the United States to be exchanged with the Belizean students.

“With your help, we were able to take two suitcases full of school supplies and materials to the students in Belize,” said Kathryn Seiferth, a Tusculum College student who led the discussion at the elementary school.

The college students delivered art work from the Belize students to Tusculum View and also shared with them many of the cultural differences they found in this Central American country from what they might find living in the United States and talked about the service projects they worked on while on their trip.

Working with ProBelize, part of the international ProWorld service organization, the Tusculum College students volunteered at St. Joseph Roman Catholic School, where they taught students about malaria and its prevention as well as delivered the artwork from the Tusculum View students. Malaria prevention was also the focus of another service effort of the students while they were in Belize, a trash collection day.

On one of the first days of the trip, the students went out into the village of Cotton Tree and distributed trash bags, announcing the trash collection would be two days later. The trash collection was important because the villagers do not have a way to dispose of items such as plastics that cannot be burned. The villagers had been dumping trash into a creek, blocking it which provided a breeding ground for mosquitoes that in turn has resulted in an increase in malaria.

The Tusculum College students also participated in a health check clinic in a marketplace and educated citizens about diabetes and how to prevent and treat it, talked to local citizens about prevention of malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses as well as participated in a trash collection day.

During their trip to Tusculum View, the college students shared items they had brought back from Belize, many of which were purchased in the Belize Free Market. Items included musical instruments, baskets and jewelry.

The college students shared photographs of the schools they visited and talked about the differences in those and Tusculum View, pointing out the open walls and roofs, the small spaces and lack of supplies. They also encouraged the elementary school students to do service work on their own and with their schools and churches as a way to give back.

The students learned many lessons during their trip. “We learned patience very quickly,” said Megan Hart. “In Belize, they have their own concept of time.” The students also learned to be resourceful. “We learned to work with what we had,” she said.
One of the barriers the students had to learn to overcome was communication. While English is the official language of Belize, some of the people groups speak other languages. In the Cotton Tree village, they found that many of the elderly could only speak Spanish.

“We also learned to look at the bigger picture,” Hart said. “We worked to make a difference while we were there, and we know that efforts will continue through other students or groups that ProBelize will bring to the community.”

“I would tell other students that if they have the opportunity to take this class, to do it. It will impact you in a way you have not been impacted before,” she said.

The college students’ connection with Belize continues as they are working to raise money for a copier needed at the St. Joseph Roman Catholic School.

Tusculum College, the oldest college in Tennessee and the 28th oldest in the nation, is a civic arts institution committed to developing educated citizens distinguished by academic excellence, public service and qualities of Judeo-Christian character. About twenty-one hundred students are enrolled on the main campus in Greeneville, our campus in Knoxville, Tenn., and two additional off-site locations in East Tennessee. The academic programs for both traditional-aged students and working adults served through the Graduate and Professional Studies program are delivered using focused calendars whereby students enroll in one course at a time.

Six staff and faculty from Tusculum College recently returned from a trip to the Central American country of Belize and set to work on plans for implementing what they saw, discovered and learned on the trip as part of the campus wide effort to internationalize the Tusculum College curriculum.

Robin Fife, assistant professor of social science, Dr. Katherine Stone, assistant professor of mathematics and geology; Robin Tipton, assistant professor of chemistry; Dr. Geir Bergvin, associate professor of marketing and director for the Center for Global Studies; Dr. DiAnn Casteel, associate professor of education and Dr. Tom McFarland, associate professor of business administration met recently to debrief the trip and begin looking at ways to implement international experiences in Belize into existing curriculum at the College.

McFarland said that his experience with Belize confirmed that it is an excellent country to visit for a first international experience. “English is spoken everywhere, currency is easily transferable and there are no issues with electrical voltage conversion as in other areas,” he said. Adding that these three items eliminate routine daily frustrations often associated with international travel. “It’s a great country for the first-time international traveler,” he said.

Bergvin added that the company that hosted the group, ProWorld Service Corps, treated the group well, and “took us to places that gave us more of a perspective of their culture as well as showed the group various opportunities that are available for student learning experiences.”

ProWorld is an organization that specializes in international experiences for students and mission workers focused on sustainability.

Casteel added that one of the advantages of utilizing ProWorld’s services is that a mixed group of students with different educational goals could easily travel together and have opportunities in their own fields of study or interest because of the variety of programs ProWorld offers.

According to Tusculum College’s Interim President Dr. Russell Nichols, one of Tusculum’s highest academic priorities is the advancement of opportunities for students to have one or more international experiences before graduation. “It is envisioned that all Tusculum students and faculty, in five years will be assured of that opportunity, regardless of their financial ability, and this goal has been embraced by faculty, students and Trustees” said Nichols.

The Center for Global Studies was formed in spring 2008 with the mission to “enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations to address local and global challenges through building relationships with communities, inductions of higher learning and organizations globally.”

This most recent trip to Belize was part of the initial efforts to learn more about international experiences for students and begin to introduce faculty to ways in which they might incorporate such an experience into their existing curriculum, said Bergvin.

The next challenge is going to be for the group to begin working toward implementing what they learned into real classroom experiences, but for Casteel, the excitement of the trip has pushed her forward to write an internship proposal for her education students.

“The proposal I have written is to set up a program that would allow our education students to do 40 hours of their required practicum hours in Belize, teaching in Belize schools,” she said. “We could allow for the students to receive practicum credit hours for two courses,” she added. Under her proposal, students would fund their own travel, easing the financial burden on the College.

For others, there is more work to be done before implementation to begin. Stone said she would love to begin a program where her students could study the ecology of a developing country. “Belize is going to rapidly develop, and it would be a perfect place to study the policy making end of protecting the ecology during development.”

McFarland would like to have students provide a management workshop for entrepreneurs in Belize. “I would like to do something sustainable, possibly an annual workshop so that there could be follow-up with the business leaders and entrepreneurs in the community. In these workshops, the business students could provide needed expertise in areas where those resources don’t currently exists,” he added.

Fife, who has led student trips to various parts of Belize on four different occasions, is preparing to once again to visit Belize with one of her service learning classes later this year.

“We try to connect students to their fields of study through their service projects while we’re there,” she said. “Everything we do in Belize is to enhance and build on what students have learned in the classroom and to provide them with an opportunity to experience the world in a way they might not otherwise have the chance to do.”

As the faculty begins their efforts to increase opportunities for student international experience at the College, Bergvin is already working on two planned faculty trips to gain even more exposure for the international program.

Coming up are two faculty opportunities to travel to northeastern Italy and to Costa Rica/Nicaragua in June.

In order to reach the goal of enhancing students’ global competency, the College recognizes that it must first increase the global competency of its faculty members, said Bergvin. “The international program at Tusculum College is designed to be interdisciplinary in nature and is aimed at improving student learning outcomes and broadening faculty and staff development opportunities.”

Tusculum College Provost, Dr. Kim Estep, along with Dr. Geir Bergvin, director of the Center for Global Studies, and Dr. Joel Van Amberg, assistant professor of history, recently attended the Salzburg Global Seminar in Salzburg, Austria.

Dr. Estep authored a fellowship proposal with was accepted, and as a result, the three were able to participate in an international curriculum development program which will allow them to begin working to develop networks and faculty exchanges to help Tusculum faculty to integrate international experiences in their curricula.

Members of the inaugural Advisory Council for the Center for Global Studies at Tusculum College have been named by Interim President Dr. Russell Nichols.

According to Nichols, the immediate charge of the Advisory Council will be to create the portion of the strategic plan which pertains to present and future international experiences of all types, for both faculty and students. Additionally, the Advisory Council will have a role in designing the initiatives for grant proposals, refereeing those proposals and monitoring the follow up.

Named to the organization in addition to Nichols are: Dr. Kim Estep, provost and vice president of academic affairs; Jacqui Elliott, vice president for enrollment management; Dr. Geir Bergvin, associate professor of marketing and director of the Center for Global Studies; Dr. Antonio Bos, professor of business administration; Dr. DiAnn Casteel, associate professor of education; Dr. Greg Church, associate professor of biology; Dr. George Darko, associate professor of economics; Robin Fife, assistant professor of social science; Dr. Tom McFarland, associate professor of business administration; Dr. Taimi Olsen, professor of English; Dr. Joel Van Amberg, associate professor of history, and Dr. Ian Van Lare, associate professor of biology.
According to Estep, many of those named to the Advisory Council have had firsthand experience in working international programs into their educational programs and curricula. Several have studied abroad or have taken students on international study programs, including Van Lare, who has taken students on international study experiences to Costa Rica for 13 years.

“According to our most recent data, only six percent of our seniors report engaging in an international experience while enrolled at Tusculum College,” Estep said. “Our goal is to increase this number to 50 percent over the next five years, and this program will allow us to move this process forward and begin to lay the groundwork for future international connections.”

Bergvin added, “Having the Advisory Council in place is a step forward in our overall goal of increasing the number of international opportunities for our students, faculty and staff. As we develop the strategic plan, we can see our vision emerge as a plan of action.”

The Center for Global Studies was formed in spring 2008 and is located in the Pilloni Office on the ground floor of the Thomas J. Garland Library. The mission is to “enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations to address local and global challenges through building relationships with communities, institutions of higher learning and organizations globally.”