International studies have long been a central aspect of education at Washington University. Most, however, only think of their own prospects for studies abroad. James Wertsch, director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, tends to look at things the other way around.
Most recently, the Academy and Eisenhower Fellowships have partnered to bring a new international leadership program to St. Louis. In this program, local leaders and international students will come together and work together in a unique environment.
“One of the main benefits for the scholars is that they meet people from different countries and hopefully form lifelong relations with them,” said Wertsch. “These are future leaders, so somebody from Japan who is the minister of finance can call someone from Turkey who is a major business person. by expanding our partners, we expand that range of network these folks will be in.”
The Eisenhower Fellowship program is similar to the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, except it is based in Philadelphia. Both programs work to give foreign students opportunities for study and networking in the United States.
International scholars bring a new outlook to regular students at the University as well, in their classes and in regular life.
“We had a couple of our scholars learn from [a professor from a] university in Beijing and one from Hong Kong. They came and talked to our students and undergraduates,” said Wertsch. “Our students had asked them to talk about censorship in China and these women gave very articulate, smart funny replies. It’s not like someone’s coming from the Chinese Communist Party. It’s very interesting for our students because these scholars actually said some very surprising things to our students-they aren’t worried about censorship, but are much more worried about stability and national security.”
Wertsch, who also teaches in the College of Arts & Sciences, hopes that the Academy will use opportunities such as this to grow further.
“Right now we have 20 partners-16 in Asia, two in Turkey, two in Israel,” he said. “Eventually we’d like to have partners in Latin America, Africa, Australia and Eastern Europe.”
He still wants to keep the program intimate, however.
“One of the things we did a month ago was to take the scholars to Washington D.C. There they listened to presentations and representatives from the cabinet secretary and alumni event. That’s 18 of them, and that’s already a pretty big logistical operation,” said Wertsch. “We can’t do that for 1000 people.”
Two weeks ago, the initiative brought 11 Eisenhower Fellows to St. Louis to meet the McDonnell Academy Scholars and University. Eisenhower Fellowships has worked for more than 50 years to promote international understanding and develop individual leaders throughout the world.
The McDonnell Academy enrolls graduate and professional students from partner universities and brings them to Washington University. The academy seeks to guide them as future leaders on the international scene.