The Americas
Latin American Studies is increasingly important in the world and in the United States in particular. Tufts offers Latin American Studies as a multidisciplinary minor that provides insight into the cultures, economies, histories, and politics of our hemispheric neighbors. LAS students who plan to pursue careers in diplomacy, international business, or law or graduate study in the humanities and social sciences receive a solid grounding in the region that will help link theory with Latin American reality and culture with history and politics.
Additionally, our Latino Center serves the needs of our Latino student population on the Tufts campus by providing a supportive environment and acting as a resource to the entire Tufts community.
We are especially proud of the work performed off campus by dedicated Tufts representatives. Recent examples include mission trips to Haiti, Ecuador and Nicaragua in which students and faculty donated their time and talent to improve dental health in these countries. In Guatemala, Friedman School student interns teach rural residents about nutrition. Interns at the Tufts University School of Medicine study at Panama University and work as volunteers in prenatal care clinics, school health programs and environmental health programs. And Tufts international researchers in Quito, Ecuador, have been studying helicobacter infection in children with hopes of eradicating it.
Regional Programs
The Africa in the New World (ANW) Interdisciplinary Program encourages students to explore Africa and the African diaspora in the Americas and globally through a range of perspectives. Particular emphasis is given to three intellectual currents: Diaspora studies, identity construction and globalization. ANW sponsors an annual Africa-Diaspora lecture series to showcase these themes.
Anthropology at Tufts provides students not only with a strong background in critical thinking, analysis, and writing, but also with first-hand experience through original field research. The combination of intellectual community, disciplinary breadth, global and local understanding, hands-on research and public engagement makes anthropology a strong liberal arts major and an excellent preparation for both graduate school and a wide range of careers.
Tufts offers a general interdisciplinary undergraduate major in archaeology, incorporating courses from the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. Students in archaeology combine course work with firsthand experience in recovery, conservation, and interpretation of material remains. The archaeology program has affiliations with several summer field schools, including the Murlo excavation in Italy, the Talloires/Mt. Musièges excavation in France, the Old Sturbridge Village Field School, and the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology.
Each summer, lecturer Laurie Sullivan leads Tufts and University of Massachusetts students in an Archaeology Field School on the Programme for Belize Rio Bravo Conservation Lands in northwestern Belize. Students participate in first-hand field excavation and laboratory research in a tropical rainforest setting that was the site of Maya occupation from ca. 900 B.C. to 900 A.D. They investigate social and political organizations through the excavation of small site centers and large ceremonial centers.
The wide range of courses offered by the department is designed to familiarize students with important artists, traditions and themes in world art and visual culture. Some courses focus on individual achievements, great artists and schools, while others explore significant periods, such as the Renaissance or the 1960s, or themes that cross time and cultures, such as the treatment of nature or the fear and destruction of images (inconoclasm and iconophobia). Artistic style and culture from a number of regions are explored, with course offerings such as Japanese Architecture, Contemporary Art in Africa, and Latin American Cinema.
The Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), formerly known as the Hispanic American Society, is a student-run organization created in 1989 that seeks to bring together students who are part of the Latino community at Tufts as well as students who are interested in Latin America. ALAS' primary goal is to meet the needs of the Tufts' Latino student population as well as to provide an arena for intellectual discourse on issues facing the Latino community at large.
This prize is awarded to second-semester sophomores and juniors who undertake a research project, internship, volunteer activity, or plan of study in any field involving international issues. The prize encourages personal growth and independence, while increasing one's understanding of all peoples and encouraging a commitment to the world community. Past recipients of the prize have traveled abroad in order to study, conduct research, participate in international internships, and become involved in social change movements.
The Caribbean Club helps to foster an understanding and appreciation of the diverse culture of the region. The club accomplishes this through music, conversation and community. It aims to bring widespread cultural awareness to the Tufts campus by collaborating with other cultural organizations on events such as the "Inter-Cultural Semi-Formal."
Established in 1990 to support the growing demand for international environmental leaders, the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy's mission is to educate students to become policy and decision-makers who will keep environmental concerns at the forefront of the national agenda. Through the Center, students develop the skills necessary to formulate effective environmental strategies and solutions.
The Department of Comparative Religion investigates the various expressions of religion encountered in human experience around the world. Students study the field of religion in both its functional and theoretical aspects. Courses explore the Western religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and others. Courses are designed to give a broad cultural appreciation of religion in accordance with the principles of a liberal arts education.
Led by principle investigator Jeffrey K. Griffiths, MD MPH&TM, the major goal of this research is to test the hypothesis that micronutrient interventions will decrease the incidence of diarrheal diseases, and specifically cryptosporidiosis, in HIV seropositive children in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
This internship is one of many opportunities at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The program enables graduate students across the schools at Tufts to pursue short-term research internships in Cuba in the fields of education, agriculture, health, the environment and cultural studies. Contact the Latino Center for more information.
The Dental International Student (DIS) Program at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine began in 1956 to provide foreign-trained dentists with the education and experience required to practice dentistry in America. The program comprises five semesters of course work and clinical experience, including innovative courses in implantology and geriatric dentistry. Upon completion of the program, students receive a D.M.D. degree and are eligible for licensure to practice dentistry in the United States of America.
The Romance languages all derive from the Latin spoken in different parts of the Roman Empire. Courses in French, Spanish, and Italian give students an understanding of the spoken and written language and promote the reading and appreciation of each nation's literature. Students may deepen their linguistic sensibilities and expand their horizons by studying, through a Romance language, a civilization different from but connected to their own. Students may major in French, in Spanish, or in Italian Studies, and may minor in Italian.
The Department of Drama and Dance provides a liberal arts approach to the creative, historical, and aesthetic dimensions of the theater arts. It fosters critical thinking and challenges the imagination in the study and performance of theater arts. Drama and dance have forever been powerful forces in the world, an imaginative mirror through which we can better understand psychology, politics, religion, and gender. The Drama and Dance department offers many study abroad opportunities, such as the British American Dramatic Academy, the London College of Fashion Design, and Tufts-in-Madrid, a strong theater program for students fluent in Spanish.
The mission of the department is to teach students to be critical thinkers and to use the discipline of economics to analyze important economic, political and social issues, ranging from international economic relations, development, growth, and income inequality, to education, housing and competition policy. Department courses, with continuing interaction with other scholars at Tufts and elsewhere, help mold future community leaders. Classes, collaborations, faculty research, and other study opportunities are available for students in the area of international economics.
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) promotes international awareness and responsibility by completing engineering projects designed to improve the standard of living in developing areas. EWB provides a forum and community for engineers and non-engineers alike to learn about developing countries, their cultures, and the development issues facing them. Students have worked on a model green building in Ecuador and water filtration in El Salvador in an effort to build a better world, one community at a time.
The Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) program is a carefully integrated multidisciplinary program which, through its innovative and rigorous curricula and projects, prepares undergraduates to lead their communities -- local, national and global. Each year, EPIIC explores one broad global dilemma and provokes students to explore its complexity. High intellectual engagement, passion, and genuine objectivity have been the standard of EPIIC: the cornerstone of Tufts University's international relations education for the 21st century.
EXPOSURE is the Institute for Global Leadership's photojournalism, documentary studies and human rights program, dedicated to mentoring and developing young, knowledgeable photojournalists and documentary filmmakers. EXPOSURE's instructors include preeminent photographers from VII Photo Agency and other distinguished journalists who help run the program's hands-on workshops in Kosovo, Argentina and Philadelphia. These workshops are designed to examine the media's role in exposing the public to important social and international issues.
The premise behind this Tufts University School of Medicine student organization is that students who have a positive experience abroad early in their training are likely to be more sensitive to issues of international health and to engage in such work in the future. The Global Health Interest Group strives to provide a monthly international health series seminar, help students engage in international work after their first year, establish an international summer selective program for first-year students, and encourage students to spend a fourth year rotation abroad.
This program was developed in collaboration with the School of Medicine at Panama University (Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Panama). Students are assigned to a community health center in the Panama West Health Area, where they have the opportunity to work as volunteers. Their days are divided between volunteer work and the study of Spanish, with an emphasis on medical terminology.
The Global Leadership Seminar seeks to raise transcontinental awareness by convening representatives from three continents to discuss contemporary global issues. This seminar fosters dialogue between students, faculty members, and practitioners from Europe, the United States, and Asia. It has two components: a seminar for students from Fletcher, the University of St. Gallen, the College of Europe, and the National University of Singapore, and a seminar for distinguished practitioners of international affairs.
Emphasizing 'Ohana and the Aloha spirit, the Hawaii Club is dedicated to educating the Tufts community on Hawaiian traditions and cultures as well as helping its first-year undergraduate student members adjust to a new life in Boston. Tufts University's Hawaii Club sponsors events ranging from Asian-American activities to Spam Musubi nights throughout the year, culminating with a luau in the spring.
The Biology Department collaborates with the Environmental Studies Program to offer a unique off-campus program at Hummingbird Cay (HBC) Tropical Field Station on a remote privately-owned island in the Bahamas. Each March, up to 15 students attend HBC for ten days of research and seminar activities related to the international aspects of climate change, disturbance ecology, land and water use, waste management, and ecotourism.
The mission of the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) is to prepare new generations of critical thinkers for effective and ethical leadership, ready to act as global citizens in addressing international and national issues across cultures. The Institute emphasizes rigorous academic preparation and experiential learning. Students learn through intensive engagement in classes, global research, internships, workshops, simulations and international symposia -- all involving national and international leaders from the public and private sectors.
This initiative at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine conducts research designed to monitor the structure of the meta-population of wild penaeid shrimp species, the levels of genetic diversity and differentiation of selected species, and the presence of pollutants such as pathogens, heavy metals, pesticides and antibiotics in penaeid shrimp populations along their natural range in Asia and Latin America.
The Tufts University School of Medicine has established an HIV-related project in Argentina that studies the nutritional and metabolic status of intravenous cocaine users, as well as their co-infection status (i.e., hepatitis B, hepatitis C). This project is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Another project that examines the risk of HIV in non-injecting cocaine users is also submitted.
Latin American Studies is an interdisciplinary minor which encourages students to integrate the varying disciplinary perspectives of the arts, literature, social sciences, and history, along with the study of languages of the area, into a coherent view of Latin America. The program recognizes the fact that Latin American Studies is increasingly important in the world and for the United States in particular.
The Latino Center officially opened in October of 1993 to serve the needs of the Latino student population on the Tufts campus. Its primary objectives are to provide a supportive environment for its students, to foster pride in the Latino culture and to serve as a resource for the entire Tufts community. Through its programs, the Latino Center is committed to building a strong Latino community at Tufts where students feel valued and supported.
Because Latino Studies, like Latinos themselves, reside at the intersection of what is Latin American and what is "American," the minor in Latino Studies allows students to focus on either Latinos' connections with Latin America or their location within the United States' racial and sociopolitical context. The minor thus serves as a "bridge" that encourages students to connect the theories, methodologies and content of the two supporting programs in new, intellectually exciting and productive ways.
The Tufts Department of Music is committed to a vision of musical studies that recognizes the increasing globalization of music. In all of its activities -- graduate and undergraduate curricula in western music, world music, and composition; performing ensembles and its new community music programs -- the department seeks to create an environment in which the vast diversity of musical cultures in the United States and around the world is appreciated and valued.
Tufts University has been offering foreign study programs to undergraduates for four decades, and at present runs its own programs for juniors and seniors to study in Chile, China, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, London, Madrid, Oxford, Paris, and Tübingen. Students may also choose from hundreds of approved programs run by non-Tufts providers.
Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths is Associate Professor of Public Health in the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, and is the Global Health concentration leader in the MPH program. He is currently doing research on natural immunomodulation by agents such as Helicobacter pylori and Toxocara in children in Quito, Ecuador.
This three-year National Institutes of Health-funded program, directed by Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths, represents an international collaboration to encourage research in developing countries on topics that combine the issues of health, environment, and economic development. The goal is to improve understanding of the relationships between these topics and to help guide policy. The program encourages faculty and student exchanges at the Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Fletcher.
This fall semester seminar and field trip, listed under both Biology and Environmental Studies, provides 12 students with an in-depth understanding of terrestrial tropical ecology and first-hand experience in tropical Central America. After the fall semester, students travel to Costa Rica for a two-week field experience conducting hands-on research, hiking, and collecting data.
The Tufts-in-Chile program allows undergraduates (usually juniors) with at least five semesters of Spanish classes to study at the University of Chile in Santiago, one of the region's leading universities, for the fall semester or the full academic year. Students are fully integrated into the life of the university and are able to take regular courses in any of its faculties.
Tufts School of Medicine's Vitamin A and Zinc: Prevention of Pneumonia (VAZPOP) Study, completed in 2004 by primary investigators Simin Meydani and Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths, researched the effectiveness of vitamins A and zinc in treating malnourished children at high altitude in Quito, Ecuador. This four-year, nutritionally stratified, placebo-controlled, double-blind study helped to increase understanding of pneumonia and its treatments, as well as to control respiratory and diarrheal infections, improving the lives of many sick children.
Water: Systems, Science, and Society (WSSS) is an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to managing and understanding the complexity of water issues worldwide. Students who elect to enroll in the program to complement their graduate studies in a related field emerge with both their degree and a WSSS certificate. Students in the WSSS program conduct research and plan projects related to global water issues, take courses and seminars, and undertake a field internship, learning on-site skills from professionals.
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