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As College Puts Focus on the Value of Global Learning
In a world that seems to be shrinking, the value of students experiencing other cultures and exploring how people around the globe live and work has become more important than ever.
President Hilary L. Link emphasized upon her arrival on campus in 2019 that internationalization would become an even more integral part of the Allegheny College experience. To that end, donors to the Our Allegheny: Our Third Century Quest campaign rallied to the cause, pledging about $7.5 million to enhance global learning and support internships and off-campus study.
Jasmine Reid-Harris’21 THAILAND
Antoinette “Toni” Swain Marwitz ’66, harking back to her Allegheny education and the career it led her to pursue, was moved to establish a student support fund through the Allegheny Gateway that makes study abroad possible for today’s students.
“I spent my junior year in Paris and that was a true game-changer,” says Marwitz, who pursued a lifelong career in the Foreign Service after graduation. “I was always fascinated by other cultures and being able to study overseas, to speak the language, was an incredible experience. When I was a senior, I decided I wanted to see the world and help people. I had a good grounding at Allegheny, and I wanted to give something back to the College, something that might change the lives of students.”
Allegheny senior Jasmine Reid-Harris, an environmental science major with minors in economics and psychology from Brooklyn, New York, received a grant from the Marwitz Fund to study at Mahidol University in Thailand. She told Marwitz: “A lot of students have swayed away from taking advantage of the study abroad opportunity for reasons such as extra financial burden; however with your help and the help of other donors and scholarships, it is possible. … Mahidol University is ranked among the top 100 universities in the world for being sustainable, so it has been exciting to see how Thailand has thought about climate change and been able to integrate it into its education system. The coursework includes placing me in the field to see directly how the environment has changed in an area and has allowed me to properly assess what I can do to better our environment. My career goals involve finding effective ways to integrate renewable energy all over the world and in varying climates. My experience abroad has been driving my passion to one day be able to create effective energy sources that will help reverse the damages caused by the greenhouse gas effect.”
Marwitz, a Savannah, Georgia, resident, also was instrumental in bringing the Vietnam Memorial, which honors those who served in the Vietnam War, to campus. One of her first foreign-service assignments was to train civilian employees about the Vietnamese culture, so it was a cause close to her heart. “To visit the Vietnam Memorial behind Ford Chapel overlooking the ravine, there is no place more serene,” she says.
Dr. James ’75 and Linda Trippi made an initial gift to support the Global Health Internship Program for students to study and work in Moldova and India. This gift provided funding for three years. Additionally, the Trippis have agreed to fund a challenge grant to establish
Antoinette “Toni” Swain Marwitz ’66
Emma Norton’21 INDIA
an endowed fund that will provide ongoing support for this internship. “I’m hoping that others will join in the support,” says James Trippi, a cardiologist who lives in Indianapolis.
The Global Health Internship Program is operated through the College’s Global Health Studies Program, which Trippi calls a “trendsetter” for similar programs that other institutions are now just starting to emulate.
“As an alumnus, I had the privilege of a wonderful education and I wanted to be able to offer Allegheny students the opportunity for foreign travel and for working with persons with the greatest need and require a variety of health care,” says Trippi. “Allegheny prepared me for medical school. I was able to participate in any number of valuable outside activities and was able to pursue health studies at the local hospital while at Allegheny. I believe the Global Health Studies Program offers that same kind of experience with intense interaction with patients. It’s important that students get experience in caregiving in Moldova and India to test their capabilities.”
Emma Norton, a senior from Missoula, Montana, received a Trippi award to spend two months in Mysore, India, in 2019. “As I had never left the United States before, it was an especially meaningful and interesting experience. Though it’s a bit cliché to say, spending a prolonged period of time in a new country changed my perspective on health, poverty and culture, and deepened my understanding of the global health curriculum at Allegheny,” Norton told the Trippis.
During her internship, Norton said she prepared educational materials on a variety of maternal health and sanitation-related topics, such as antenatal nutrition, hand-washing, early childhood vaccination, and institutional delivery. She did office work as well and visited the Orohalli villages where the educational programming was implemented. Her internship also included classes on the Indian health care system, religion, politics, economics and Ayurvedic medicine. Finally, Norton’s group visited temples and cultural sites, such as the Mysore Palace and Jain temple Shravanabelagola. “Overall, the experience felt very authentic and I feel lucky to have had such a unique glimpse into Indian culture,” she says. “As a global health student, I especially value the opportunity to learn about health policy in the field, and, had it not been for the Trippis’ generous support, I would never have had this exposure. The chance to see how other countries implement health interventions is unique at any level of education, and this summer renewed my sense of purpose for my schooling.”
