By Christiana SchmitzThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern students could spend a quarter researching South American indigenous cultures, working in an NU chemistry lab or teaching at a Chicago elementary school under a broad Immersion Experience Program that the Office of the Provost launched Wednesday.
Similar to project-based activities already in existence, like Medill’s Teaching Media internships and the School of Education and Social Policy’s student teaching programs, the new initiative will bring these programs under one umbrella. It will also give undergraduates an opportunity to create their own programs.
The provost will help fund immersion experiences, offering pilot grants of up to $2,000, said Ronald Braeutigam, associate provost for undergraduate education.
“The university administration wants to centrally support this (idea of immersion experience), to put a greater emphasis on it,” said Christopher Hayden, assistant to the associate provost for undergraduate education.
The Immersion Experience Program incorporates already existing opportunities and encourages students to create new experiences, Hayden said. The guidelines for immersion experiences are left deliberately broad. Students can complete projects in another country, another state or on NU’s campus.
“The focus of an immersion experience is limited only by your interest and imagination,” according to a brochure advertising the program.
“We feel like this is going to be an incredible opportunity for students,” Hayden said.
Projects can range from writing a novella to performing research in a faculty member’s laboratory or a museum.
Students can find information about initiative opportunities at www.northwestern.edu/
immersion. The site brings together information about already existing programs at different NU schools.
Current programs such Weinberg’s Chicago Field Studies program could benefit from being part of Immersion Experience, said Chicago Field Studies Program Director Jennifer Hirsch.
“Hopefully it will help expand the number of students, and we’ll get students from more majors and with more diverse interests,” Hirsch said.
Students will receive credit for most Immersion Experience projects but not all, Braeutigam said.
The provost will test-drive a pilot grant program this summer, Hayden said, selecting a few students and programs to sponsor from applications submitted by April 6.
The following summer, the administration hopes to offer 10 immersion language grants of up to $2,000, Hayden said. These language grants could fund projects in other countries, or cities in the U.S. where languages other than English are prevalent.
“It’s possible you could do one of these language immersion programs in the U.S.,” said Braeutigam. “It may enable students to add to their language portfolio.”
Rebecca Shapiro, a Weinberg junior majoring in French, said real-world experience is valuable. Shapiro studied in France over the summer and is working at Goldman Sachs this quarter as part of the Chicago Field Studies Program.
“Immersing yourself in any sort of any cultural experience, you learn so much more than you could in the classroom,” Shapiro said.
Braeutigam said he hopes the program will offer students a “playground of ideas.”
“It’s going to be really exciting to work with,” he said.
Reach Christiana Schmitz at [email protected].
