FACULT Y SPOTLIGHT
Going Places A Tennessean comes home to MTSU focused on bringing students the world by Allison Gorman
Robert Summers is from the middle of nowhere, Tennessee. That’s how he describes the place in Putnam County where he grew up, where there was not much reason to think he’d ever leave. As a high school kid working part time at a body shop, his only post-graduation plan was to go full time. His mom, a teacher, had different ideas. She pushed him out of the nest and off to college. Still, he didn’t really “fly” until he went abroad. (That’s also literally true. His first time on an airplane was when he studied in France as an undergraduate.) The experience broadened his mind and boosted his confidence. It also put him on a path that led him to places he never imagined going, including to almost 50 countries. Since joining MTSU as vice provost for international affairs in July 2020, Summers has been preaching the virtues of study abroad. He’s determined to help every Blue Raider experience the world, even if that means bringing the world to them. After leaving the nest and landing a half-hour away at Tennessee Tech, Summers still couldn’t envision his path forward. He struggled through his classes before finding a subject that intrigued him—Indochinese history. He took French as a complementary course. “Lo and behold, I was pretty good at it,” he said. Summers thought he might go to law school. But when his grandfather died, he stayed home instead to wind down the family farm and completed a second bachelor’s, in French. A professor talked him into studying abroad, and the subsequent month he spent in France left Summers empowered and inspired. Study abroad isn’t just about academics, he said; it’s about self-sufficiency. Summers learned to handle all sorts of unfamiliar situations. He tried and enjoyed foods he’d never heard of, and he met and liked people of a different religion. “I’d never been on mass transit until I went to France, never been on a subway,” he said. Such experiences 18 MTSU Magazine
are important so “we won’t be intimidated by things we don’t understand.” His next stop: MTSU. He enrolled as a master’s student in French and was among the first Blue Raiders to participate in a University of Caen summer study abroad. That led to an internship with the French government, which set him up for a Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Technology at the University of South Florida. At every stop along the way, new doors opened. Summers has led language and international programs at the University at Albany, University of Alabama, and State University of New York at Buffalo. When he saw another open door—which includes overseeing MTSU’s Office of Education Abroad —he loved the thought of giving wings to a new generation. “It’s really nice to give back to MTSU what they gave to me, and to help these kids that are really similar to me . . . understand that study abroad is something that they can and should do.” His goal is to make study abroad more accessible for all students by lowering barriers. While MTSU has awarded nearly $1 million in study abroad scholarships over the past five years, Summers plans to find new funding sources. He credits his staff for securing $100,000 in new grants, including one supporting study abroad by students from underrepresented groups. Remote alternatives that evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic also showed that the University can provide global experiences to students who can’t participate in traditional ways. Students who couldn’t have afforded a $2,000 plane ticket to work in Vietnam did a virtual international internship—one even earned a permanent position. To be successful in today’s world, students must be able to work with people with different perspectives and from different cultures. Summers is living proof that you can get there from here at MTSU. MTSU
