| Here and there in summer 2006
Part two of two.
Over the summer, Temple students, staff and faculty traveled across the United States and around the world to complete prestigious internships and exchange ideas with colleagues. Here at Temple, they led a variety of special programs. Here are just a few examples of the kind of work that starts when classes end.
Engineering new possibilities for young minds
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| (Photo by Ryan S. Brandenberg / University Photography) |
| In June, Pennsylvania School for the Deaf ninth-graders raced autonomous robots they had built in a Temple engineering program. |
In early June, ninth-grade students from the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf tested and raced autonomous robots they had built and programmed during the spring semester and early summer. The weekly physics class was led by College of Engineering professor John Helferty and two graduate engineering students, who taught the PSD pupils the concepts of robotics and engineering at the School for the Deaf in Germantown.
Helferty also oversaw two engineering programs for high schoolers on Temple’s Main Campus. He taught 22 rising high school seniors in the engineering portion of Temple’s summer academy program for academically talented students from the Philadelphia area, where they earned three college credits for the course. Helferty also conducted his annual “Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering” course for high school students, in which students learn the concepts of electrical engineering by designing and building autonomous robots, which must navigate a 32-foot-long obstacle course, for two college credits.
A weeklong residency program in July, led by mechanical engineering lecturer LeRoy Alaways and civil and environmental engineering assistant professor Adrienne T. Cooper, catered specifically to high school girls. “Women’s Engineering Explorations” brought young women to Main Campus, where they were introduced to engineering principles and encouraged to pursue studies and careers in engineering.
A barrier-free playground in Harrisburg
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| Photo courtesy Link Martin |
| Temple University Harrisburg and School of Social Administration staff at the site of a barrier-free playground they helped build. |
In mid-June, seven Temple University Harrisburg and School of Social Administration staff volunteered to join a community effort in the building of Possibility Place in Lower Paxton Township, Harrisburg.
Possibility Place is a barrier-free playground where entire families can play together in one area regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
Construction was done by volunteers over a period of five days.
The entire project, from design to construction, was a volunteer effort and required the help of the entire community.
Combating poverty through tourism
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| Photo courtesy Jason Hart |
| Tourism and Hospitality Management senior Jason Hart gained valuable management skills while helping residents in rural Thailand develop a tourism product to help their local economy. |
Jason Hart, a senior in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, never expected to work in a small, rural village in Thailand to help alleviate poverty.
But this summer, he began doing just that. To fulfill his senior internship requirement and with the help of Joe Goldblatt, professor and executive director for professional development programs and strategic partnerships in STHM, Hart accepted an internship this summer in Thailand with Track of the Tiger, an ecotourism organization that offers recreational adventure programs — from whitewater rafting and waterfall abseiling to jungle treks and teambuilding challenges — for students, individuals, families and corporate groups.
Hart, who graduates in August, will continue to work for Track of the Tiger for a year beyond his internship.
He is working on an initiative called “Voluntourists Without Borders,” which puts volunteer labor to work alongside ethnic minority and rural Thai village groups. One of Hart’s projects is building a high-ropes jungle challenge to help the community of Pang Soong, a village on Doi Suket Mountain.
“It is part of an eco-lodge Track of the Tiger built to be owned by the hill tribe villagers,” he explained. “It will be a sustainable tourism product for them that will bring the community out of poverty.”
The benefits for Hart are equally clear.
“I want to work in the adventure tourism industry in as many foreign lands as I can, by learning the language and the music, and by soaking up the culture,” he said. “In my current internship in Thailand, I am learning the management, as well as the hands-on skills, that will propel me to become a proficient leader in the industry.”
When in Rome … study globalization
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| Photo courtesy Kara Rosenberg |
| Fox School senior Kara Rosenberg studies the intricacies of immigration and globalization at the Foreign Services Office in Milan, Italy. |
At the end of the spring semester, most students were planning their trips to the shore, but Kara Rosenberg, an international business and marketing double major at The Fox School of Business and Management, was not among them.
Rosenberg was devising a plan to start a research project on immigration in Italy.
For six weeks this summer, Rosenberg has been observing and studying the domestic and immigrant perspective in northern Italy, Rome and Sicily.
“The idea came to me while sitting in Lisa Calvano’s “Business Ethics” class last spring, and she mentioned she was doing research abroad,” said Rosenberg, a rising senior.
After writing a proposal for her project, Rosenberg was granted $2,000 by the Undergraduate Research Incentive Fund in the Vice Provost’s Office to conduct the research.
“It is very interesting to see how immigrants integrate and how a nation becomes more capable of facilitating globalization,” Rosenberg said. “Several factors facilitate globalization and the multinationalization of business, but I believe many of them are inherently cultural.”
From street merchants to university professors, Rosenberg has been conducting interviews with a variety of experts on her topic. She has spoken with both legal and illegal immigrants, as well as faculty members from the University of Rome, La Sapienza, with which Temple recently established an academic and cultural exchange.
Once her research is complete, Rosenberg will form her final paper.
“I will probably focus on the importance of intercultural sensitivity in international management situations, particularly with multinational corporations,” Rosenberg said. “I could never do this project with out the guidance of Lisa Calvano [teaching assistant], and Bob Giacalone [professor of human resources], and the support of Kim Cahill [associate director of the IGMS and CIBER] and Arvind Phatak [executive director of the IGMS and CIBER],” she added.
Doing good work Down Under
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| Photo courtesy Darya Gorlova |
| Sophomore marketing major Darya Gorlova (right) planted trees at an elementary school in Thailand this summer through the organization International Student Volunteers. |
Few tales of vacation adventures could rival those of Darya Gorlova. Braving the untamed jungles of New Zealand for four weeks, this sophomore marketing major volunteered as a wildlife and habitat conservationist.
Gorlova’s interest in the intrepid expedition was first piqued when a representative for International Student Volunteers spoke in one of her classes last semester. ISV offers several travel programs combining volunteer work, recreation and education.
“I’m an outdoors person, and I’ve always wanted to go to New Zealand,” Gorlova said. “The idea of going there to help conserve their unique wildlife sounded exhilarating.”
For the first two weeks, along with 41 other volunteers, Gorlova helped plant more than 1,000 trees in a community for the elderly and around an elementary school.
Gorlova also volunteered to teach elementary school students and residents in a home for the mentally disabled about the environment and about planting trees.
She spent the second two weeks of her trip exploring New Zealand and enjoying thrilling activities such as skydiving, white water rafting and hiking the Franz Joseph Glacier. Gorlova also spent a night in a Marae, the community center for the local Maori people.
“What made the trip so rewarding was ISV’s combination of volunteer work, cultural experience, and tourism and adventure,” Gorlova said.
Sport management skills from the best
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| (Photo courtesy Sam Spragens) |
In May, four School of Tourism and Hospitality Management graduate students got a firsthand look at how sports administration plays out at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., which hosted this year’s Sport Management Symposium.
The students learned how the U.S. Olympic training and governing bodies work, and how employees from all departments work together to plan for the Olympics. These are lessons students can apply to other areas of sport management, professor Ted Tedrick said.
The students also presented before Training Center officials, who liked one project — focusing on the planning involved in taking the Olympic team to Beijing — so well that they said they would consider the students’ ideas in planning for the 2008 Olympics. [http://www.temple.edu/temple_times/summer06/olympictraining.html]
Lessons learned on Capitol Hill
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| (Photo courtesy the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute) |
Political science junior Juan Galeano was one of just 34 college students nationwide to serve out internships with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, a Hispanic education and youth leadership development organization.
CHCI placed Galeano in the office of New York Congressman Gregory Meeks, where, in addition to conducting legislative research, monitoring daily Capitol Hill hearings and participating in CHCI leadership development sessions, Galeano had the opportunity to sit in on a number of meetings with the House Committee on International Relations.
Galeano, who is primarily interested in local politics, said his time spent with Congress this summer taught him about the importance of civic service on a local, national and global level. “What happens in the walls of Congress pretty much affects the entire world,” he said. “It’s been really eye-opening to see this level of responsibility.” [http://www.temple.edu/temple_times/summer06/juangaleano.html]
Perspectives on peace and religion in Bangladesh
Supported by his funding as a Fulbright Senior Specialist, history and religion professor David Watt took a two-week trip in July to the University of Dhaka, the oldest, most prestigious university in Bangladesh. Watt was there to offer support to the university’s department of world religions, and to learn more about “fundamentalism” for his own book research on the topic.
While in Dhaka, Watt mentored faculty members, gave lectures and participated in a conference on “Peace, Development, and Social Stability in South Asia: The Challenges and Responses from Religion.”
Of lessons learned, Watt said: “I think the main thing I gained was simply a feel for what it is like to spend some time in a country in which millions of people are living in fear that their country might be taken over by ‘religious extremists.’
He has been invited back to Bangladesh to give a series of lectures on religion in America next year. [http://www.temple.edu/temple_times/august06/wattbangladesh.html]
Finding a voice
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| An ACES mentor works with a communication device keyboard at Temple this summer. (Photo by Ryan S. Brandenberg / University Photography) |
For two weeks in July, the Institute on Disabilities conducted an intensive instruction program for adults with significant physical and communication disabilities. The focus of the program was augmentative communication (talking computers). Participants in the ACES — Augmentative Communication and Empowerment Supports — program learned how to use assistive communication technologies to have a more powerful voice for themselves and for others.
“The First Amendment of our Constitution talks about free speech. So for ACES participants, finding a more effective voice will be their first step toward independence,” Institute on Disabilities director Diane Nelson Bryen said.
In addition to learning how to use communication technologies, participants also learned how to use computers, surf the Web and communicate through e-mail, among other skills. Their two weeks on campus was just the start of a yearlong process of technical assistance provided by institute staff to help participants become effective communicators and implement their vision and plan for their future.
A continuing education component also drew graduate students and speech language professionals from across the United States to Temple, where they learned in partnership with ACES participants.
A model for programs worldwide, Temple’s ACES program has been replicated in Wisconsin and South Africa, and will be replicated in Australia in spring 2007.
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