It’s How We Learn
Listen to the people in a community, and you will learn
who they are. There are many components to a Dickinson
education, and many ways in which our students live and
learn together. From classes with group projects, fieldwork
experiences, cultural immersions, guest speakers and study-abroad
opportunities, Dickinsonians are constantly engaging
with each other, the community and the wider world in ways
that teach understanding, cooperation and responsibility.
Requirements for Degree
Dickinson College requires three different types of
coursework to familiarize students with the ways in which
the diversity of human cultures has shaped our world.
These courses seek to prepare students to be effective
citizens in an interdependent world and to be aware of
the breadth of voices, perspectives, experiences, values,
and cultures that constitute the rich tapestry of U.S.
life and history.
Languages - All students are required to
demonstrate that they have completed work in a foreign
language through the intermediate level. The languages
offered for the 2008-09 academic year are Arabic, Chinese,
French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin,
Russian and Spanish.
U.S. Diversity - To prepare students
to function effectively in civic life and to help them
gain a broader understanding of the commonalities and
differences among cultures and values in the context
of the making of American society, the college requires
one course with a focus on U.S. diversity. Some courses
available during the 2008-09 academic year include
Mexican-American Literature, Cultures of the U.S.,
Sex, Violence and Race, Multicultural American Modernism,
Social Movements, Protest and Conflict and Racial Politics
of American Popular Music.
Comparative Civilizations - To deepen students’ understanding
of the diversity in cultures by introducing them to
traditions other than those that have shaped the modern
West, the college requires one course with a focus
on the comparative study of civilizations. Some courses
available during the 2008-09 academic year Anthropology
for the 21st Century, Ethnography of Postcolonial Africa,
Gender and Sexuality in Asia, Medicine, Science and
Society, Contemporary Cinema of India, U.S./China Relations,
Post-Colonial Women and Modern Iran.
Academic Programs
A Dickinson education, in keeping with the college's origins in the American
Revolution, should be distinguished by a willingness to challenge as well as
transmit the wisdom of the past, by the depth of questions asked and by the pursuit
of new knowledge. We are a community of inquiry in every way, always striving
for new knowledge and new ways of understanding the world and ourselves. Dickinson
has a variety of academic
programs, including 41 majors, minors and certificate programs, self-developed
majors, independent research, internships and Army ROTC. Programs like Africana, Middle
East, women's and Judaic studies
provide opportunities for members of the community to engage in active, informed
debate of critical issues of self, society and the natural world.
The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues
The Clarke Forum
for Contemporary Issues connects the students and
faculty of Dickinson College and members of the broader
community with scholars, practicing professionals and
activists through the use of lectures, seminars, and
conferences. Each academic year, The Clarke Forum focuses
on a central theme. For the 2008-09 academic year,
that theme is Human Rights.
Among other activities, The Clarke Forum sponsors Common
Hours—weekly gatherings of the college community
to engage in discussions of local and national interest.
Common hour topics for the fall 2008 semester include:
Does Your Handwriting Reveal Your Personality?; Drinking
Age Debate: Students Speak Out; From Divestment to
Engagement: What it Means to be Socially Responsible;
Semana Poética VII, Words Across Borders: Russian
Poetry; Going Greener, Inside and Out: The Environmental,
Health and Social Aspects of Tobacco Smoke; Working
Sustainably with Communities.
The Community
Studies Center encourages joint student and faculty
fieldwork and community-oriented research through the
American and Global Mosaic programs and the Crossing
Borders program.
Mosaic: Learning by Living
During a semester of fieldwork immersion, Mosaic students
interview a community's residents, listen to their
histories and learn from their experiences.
Through this cross-cultural program, students make
connections between theory and practice, among people
and ideas, across academic disciplines and around the
world. They also set off on a journey of personal discovery—learning
much about their own lives as they listen to the lives
of others.
The College Farm, environmental-studies department
and professor of sociology Susan Rose are offering
a fall/winter ethnographic field course, Venezuela
and the U.S.: Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Cooperative
Movements. The students will take a half-credit
course in the fall and then travel to Venezuela for
two weeks in January '09 to work in the fields at La
Alianza, a model organic food production cooperative,
learning about sustainable agricultural practices,
including vermiculture. Students will also have the
opportunity to conduct in-depth interviews about the
cooperative's practices and philosophy.
Crossing Borders
The Crossing Borders program allows students to study
in several locations in one year. In recent years,
the program has been conducted as a joint venture with
Dillard and Xavier universities, two historically black
institutions in New Orleans. In the summer, students
from Dickinson, Dillard and Xavier would travel to
Dickinson’s study center in Cameroon, West Africa,
where they would be immersed in local culture, learning
first-hand about the traditions, beliefs and culture
of West Africa.
The current Crossing Borders is a Comparative
Black Liberation Mosaic. Students will go
to South Africa in the summer, are spending the
fall at Dickinson with a trip to the Mississippi
Delta, and then either go to Dillard or Morehouse
university in the spring.Check out a Web
feature on their experience so far.
Global Education
Dickinson College is a global community focused on not
only providing nationally recognized study-abroad options
for students, but also on bringing the world to Carlisle
through visiting international scholars, forums on topics
of worldwide concern, a faculty devoted to spending time
abroad and bringing the knowledge they gain back to campus
with them and a growing population diverse students from
around the world.
Study Abroad
More than half of all Dickinson
students study abroad at least once during their time
here. With more than 40 programs on six continents
in 24 countries, there are many options for students
in every discipline. Visit the global-education
Web site for more information.
Visiting International Scholars
Dickinson's international visitors come from all
across the globe and for a variety of reasons. The
college hosted several U.S. State Department programs
in recent years. The Young Ambassadors program brought
to campus 26 students from 13 countries in the Middle
East and North Africa. The South Asian Student Leaders
program enrolled 21 students from India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh. The Partnership for Learning Undergraduate
Studies (PLUS) program brings students from the Middle
East, North Africa and South Asia, who enroll at Dickinson
to complete their undergraduate degrees. And a Fulbright
scholars program has brought 18 leading economists
from around the world to campus for the last two summers.
Global Faculty
More than 60 Dickinson faculty members have directed
study-abroad programs, and about one-third of the faculty
has spent some time abroad. The faculty members establish
relationships with foreign college and universities
and use these relationships to forge new exchanges.They
also learn new methods and practices from overseas
that they incorporate into their classes at Dickinson.
International Students
Dickinson cannot be a truly global campus if the
student community does not encompass ample international
perspectives and voices. International students contribute
enormously to the globalization of the Dickinson experience.
Dickinson students come from 41 states and 46 countries,
including 132 international students.
In Our Neighborhood
Service-learning at Dickinson College is one way that
students encounter and create meaningful connections
between their studies and community experience. These
courses combine traditional classroom discussion with
hands-on community service in the Carlisle area. For
current and future service-learning courses and for
additional information, visit the
Service-Learning
Web site.
Dickinson recognizes internships as "Closely monitored
applied experiences in a professional setting, with
definite learning objectives incorporating reflection
on and integration of theories and concepts with practice."
Internships are an excellent way to explore career
choices and gain experience valued by employers and
graduate schools. Read about the recent internship
experience of four students in the Career Center's
Internship
Scrapbook.
Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg colleges
make up the Central
Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC),
which strives to improve and advance the intellectual
vitality of each campus. Examples of some recent events
include an astronomer's conference, a women's studies
conference and a Judaic studies conference. Students
from each institution also can take courses for credit
at either of the other two colleges.
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