Academic Life of Connecticut College

My vision of college was a nebulous one before my freshman year. I never imagined that "learning" could take place while sitting among my classmates in the living room of one of my professor's houses and discussing issues of the "Other" or the problem of choice in a pluralistic society. I never imagined that so much of my education would be attributed to long talks in dorm hallways late at night while procrastinating challenging assignments. And I surely never imagined that my college experience would endow study abroad or work experiences in a dozen different countries.

Distribution Requirements

Take the liberal in liberal arts college seriously. Students choose from fifty-five major with the option of self-designing a major as well. Yet that's not to say that the academic program falls anywhere short of demanding and powerful. Connecticut College's academic program withing the major is extensive with its requirements. In addition, there are seven General Education requirements (seven courses from seven different academic areas), a language requirement, and a writing across the curriculum requirement.

Students must take a foreign language course at the intermediate level or study a new language for two semesters. Placement at the intermediate level is achieved by passing a college-administered oral and written proficiency exam during orientation. I found that many students took advantage of the plethora of language study programs and services offered by the college (see Study Abroad section).

Connecticut college students have the unique opportunity of applying to a number of centers and programs that are designed to integrate a student's major with a service project domestic or international internship, intensive science research, or other technological advanced research project. This hands-on experience is designed to complement curriculum with practical experience often reserved for graduate students at larger academic institutions. Basically, of all the competitive colleges and universities I looked at as a senior in high school, not one offered such distinct, creative opportunities as the ones described below.

Some people consider spending a semester or a summer in New York City as an international experience. In many ways I found this to be true while interning at Ms. Magazine in downtown Manhattan for a summer. Professor Blanche Boyd in the English Department and the Office of Career Services helped me earning world ( or at least I was trying it out), and I had research deadlines and editorial meetings where Gloria Steinem would frequently make an appearance. I learned as much from her as I did from the incredibly brilliant staff of women working at Ms. They answered questions  hadn't even proposed yet about the world.

The Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts (CISLA)

A Connecticut College gem is its Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts, a program to which students apply in the fall of their sophomore year to work toward completing an integrative research project relative to their major. The center funds an international internship the summer before the senior year. In addition, students are required to complete two International Studies courses, with a focus on the following questions: What are the origins and dynamics of contemporary society? What is the relevance of the past in understanding the present and the possibilities of the future? What are the material, spiritual, and ethical challenges of modernity?

The Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts is indeed one of the most highly regarded international studies programs in the country. Officially, it aims for its students to leave prepared for a lifelong reflection on study and learning as a journey to wisdom that one shares with others. Unofficially, it is the coolest program at Connecticut College. The plethora of independent research projects can include conducting environmental field research in Bali, researching media studies while interning at CNN in Berlin for a summer and examining the effects of Amnesty International's human rights work in Santiago, Chille. These experiences, combined with the solid academic foundation of a liberal arts college, in addition to the large realm of study and work experiences in all parts of the world, surely make for profound, diverse classroom discussions.

The most challenging and rewarding experience I had as a Connecticut College student, by far, was my  CISLA internship. As a member of the Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts, I was able to complete by international internship at the United Nations Development fund for Women (UNIFEM) in Lagos, Nigeria, where I interviewed women and wrote articles on the various projects that UNIFEM implements in Nigeria and Ghana.

In short, I had a dream internship. Monday through Friday, my host family's driver would take me to the United Nations headquarters in Lagos. The actual drive was a whirlwind of smoky cars, motorbikes, woman holding baskets on their heads, babies crying, kide skipping, adults standing in line at the various European and American embassies, lethargic policemen in military uniforms, and then occasional homeless people on the street asking for money or food. By the time I got to work, my mind was already full. I signed in every day and was handed an " Official Consultant" badge ( I never got used to the idea ). Nonetheless, I worked at UNIFEM.

Amazed at how the UNIFEM-Lagos team ( a staff of eight people) was able to balance friendliness and professionalism in their day-to-day work schedules, I felt immediately comfortable in the work environment. I shared an office with one of the Program Officers, and fortunately I was supplied with a laptop. On my first day at work the Regional Program Director (my Boss) said to me,"So why don't you look through the UNIFEM literature that we have and then make a list of stories you want to write about, people you'd like to interview, and then make a time table for it all-oh and be specific, work on what you're interested in, because frankly, I don't want to waste your time". And so the summer began.