YOU’VE BEEN SELECTED!
HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES FELLOWS
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES FELLOWS Are you ready for a unique opportunity? As a Humanities and Social Sciences Fellow (HSS) at the College of Charleston, you’ll have the best of two worlds. You’ll be able to begin your degree requirements on the beautiful College of Charleston campus in the fall and spend the spring semester at Franklin University Switzerland in the idyllic Swiss Alps overlooking Lake Lugano. The HSS Fellows Program recognizes students with exceptional scholastic records who possess the potential to make significant contributions to the College. The program offers a rigorous educational experience in two distinct academic settings. It’s expressly designed for first-year students who desire an international experience early in their college career. HSS Fellows are introduced to the cultural traits of two distinct communities. The result is an experience that offers unique preparation for life and careers. That’s one of the advantages of studying abroad – it offers an augmented level of independence as well as expanded perspectives that can help guide the rest of your academic experience and inform your future career choices. And because HSS Fellows are required to reflect on their experiences and document them throughout the year, you’ll develop cultural insights that support your personal development.
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS HSS Fellows is an exciting and intellectually stimulating introduction to the College’s scholars and researchers within the humanities and social sciences. As an HSS Fellow, you will meet students and faculty who share similar academic interests. Faculty mentors will guide you through the first year in identifying a major, preparing for future undergraduate research, internships and other high impact learning experiences. HSS Fellows will come together in the fall for research symposia, social gatherings and faculty-led roundtables.
“Faculty mentors will guide you through the first year.” As an HSS Fellow, you’ll be assigned a Study Abroad Mentor – an upper-division student at the College who will serve as your support mechanism for the year. This individual will not only work with you to support your transition to college during the fall semester, he or she will also facilitate the transition from the U.S. to Europe by accompanying you and the other HSS Fellows to Lugano next January. Upon successfully completing the fall semester as a full-time student at the College, you’ll then transition to Franklin University Switzerland where you’ll take 15 credit hours. All 15 of those credit hours will count toward your College of Charleston degree if you complete them with a C average or higher.
THE BASICS Travel Group flights for HSS Fellows will be organized from Atlanta. All students must travel together on the pre-determined flight. As an HSS Fellow, you’ll bear no cost for the transatlantic flights to and from Europe. Those costs will be covered by the program. A Study Abroad Mentor and College of Charleston staff member will also accompany the group. A representative from Franklin University Switzerland will meet the group upon arrival and arrange transportation into Lugano.
Cost: $20,800 Includes spring semester tuition at Franklin University Switzerland Covers on-campus housing for the spring semester Includes spring orientation programs Includes university fees Covers a partial meal plan
COURSES FOR SPRING 2019 HSS Fellows can choose from a wide variety of courses at Franklin University, such as “The Dynamics of European Integration” or “Sustainability and Social Justice.” A dedicated academic advisor and a faculty mentor will work closely with each HSS Fellow throughout the fall to customize a spring course schedule consistent with each student’s academic goals. Courses completed at Franklin University will be pre-approved for transfer back to the College of Charleston. Your academic advisor will visit you in person in Lugano and help you register for classes for fall 2019 so that you are ready for your sophomore year at the College.
ACADEMIC TRAVEL Academic Travel is an integral part of the curriculum at Franklin University Switzerland. It purposely integrates experiential learning into a series of course offerings across a variety of disciplines. All students participate in Academic Travel, and costs are included in your tuition. Each class is taught by a faculty member who travels with the students to a location with which the professor has a particular academic interest or personal connection. Academic Travel courses may carry three credits or one credit. The three-credit courses are regular semester courses that include a 10-day-to-two-week travel period. The one-credit courses are a less intensive version that focus primarily on the 10-day-to-two-week travel period.
LIVING AT FRANKLIN UNIVERSITY Living in the residence halls at Franklin University Switzerland is a great opportunity to make this campus your home away from home! Rooms include either kitchenettes or a common kitchen shared among all residents of the resident hall. You’ll have privacy and will be able to take responsibility for you own living space. No matter which type of room and residence you live in, you will see that Franklin’s residences are the perfect environment for writing your own story. All residence halls at Franklin University have trained Resident Assistants (RA) who can handle any and all situations that students might face. They also organize events and activities for students on campus and in Lugano. So, no matter which of Franklin’s 10 residence halls you end up in, you’ll be ready for an engaging study abroad experience.
FRANKLIN UNIVERSITY AND LUGANO Franklin University Switzerland is a private, independent university founded in 1969. Its beautiful, 10-acre campus sits on a picturesque hillside overlooking Lake Lugano in the Italian region of Switzerland. The university uses an innovative approach to liberal arts education, characterized by an emphasis on international exposure and experiential learning in a culturally diverse environment. Accredited in both the U.S. and Switzerland, Franklin University has a curriculum that incorporates travel and interdisciplinary study. With small class sizes (15 students on average) and a truly international enrollment (over 50 countries represented among the 350-strong student body), the academic experience here is unique. And Lugano has a little bit of everything. Although mountainous, it’s not unlike Charleston in size and scale. Visitors can ride a cable car up Monte San Salvatore or Monte Bre and take in impressive panoramas of the lake and the surrounding region. You can explore the town’s historic churches and the colorful Piazza della Riforma. Or, get to know the lake by boat.
APPLY NOW If you think becoming an HSS Fellow is the right move for you, let us know by sending in your enrollment confirmation deposit immediately. That will secure your space as an inaugural HSS Fellow for fall semester 2018 at the College of Charleston. After that, you can begin this unique academic experience!
For additional information about the HSS Fellows program, contact: OFFICE OF NEW STUDENT PROGRAMS 843.953.2017 | hssfellows@cofc.edu | hssfellows.cofc.edu