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EUROPE SEMESTER PROGRAM FALL 2012

APPLICATIONS

What is Europe Semester?

Westmont’s Europe Semester Program has been going for over forty years since its beginning in 1969 with 10 students. Enthusiasm for the unique learning opportunities it affords has remained strong ever since. During its history, over 1500 students have completed the program.

Europe Semester couples intensive study with first-hand experience of the places and people that have shaped European history and cultures. You'll travel widely, read, research and write extensively, and learn from experts and everyday people from across Europe. Your courses will fulfill four Common Inquiries requirements from Westmont's General Education program, but your academic experience will be much more than meeting requirements. You will discover new perspectives, wrestle with challenging questions, and see abstract ideas embodied in real people's lives, all while being a part of a small, Christian learning community.

Your learning will begin well before we depart, as you equip yourself to get the most from your experience in Europe with summer readings, research, and essays. Once in Europe, our learning will take many forms: some scheduled, like traditional classroom lectures and discussions, site visits to museums and galleries, and cultural events such as concerts and plays; some unscheduled, like good conversations on long bus rides, one-on-one chats with a professor, and encounters with locals on a subway or in a coffee shop. In the end you'll find that learning permeates your whole experience--your classes, your worship, your play, and even mundane tasks like grocery shopping and laundry.

Europe Semester can be as challenging as it is rewarding. Travel is exciting, but can also be tedious. A close community is supportive in hard times, but can also test our patience. Study deepens our experience, but can also limit our freedom to see the sites. But these very challenges often bring the greatest growth--personally, intellectually, and spiritually. We hope you'll share these opportunities and challenges with us.

Europe Semester 2012 Program Description

Europe Semester 2012 will provide students with a rich opportunity to explore the many layers of European history as well as the many complexities of twenty-first-century Europe.  From the art of ancient Rome and the upheavals of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations to the world wars of the twentieth century and the new Europe embodied in the European Union, the program will literally take us across Europe in time and space. We will begin in central Europe and move westward, eventually reaching the British Isles. During those first seven weeks, students will be engaged in courses on the Reformation, European nationalism, and contemporary Europe. From there we will fly south and spend four weeks in Rome and Florence. During that portion of the semester, students will focus exclusively on an Italian Art course. We will then move westward once again, crossing southern France to Spain and Portugal, where we will spend the final four weeks of the semester. There we will resume the three courses from the first half of the semester. Students will enroll in all four courses and earn 16 units.  

Tentative Itinerary

Prague-Berlin-Salzburg-Zurich-Geneva-Paris-Normandy-Brugge-Amsterdam-London-Rome-Florence-Avignon-Bilbao-Madrid-Granada-Seville-Lisbon

2012 Courses

Contemporary Challenges in Europe – Many commentators see Europe as a continent in crisis. This course will study selected challenges or problems facing European societies individually and collectively. Issues to be examined may include migration and immigration, political and economic consolidation (the European Union), racism, extreme nationalism, the debt crisis, religious vitality and secularization, and environmental protection. Emphasis will be placed on understanding these challenges in the context of Europeans’ relations with one another and with the rest of the globe. 4 units. Team-taught by Dr. Steve Pointer and Dr. Rick Pointer. Will Satisfy GE: Thinking Globally (Understanding Society GE is anticipated)

Italian Art: Ancient Art and Renaissance Art in Rome and Florence – This course will explore firsthand the riches of ancient and Renaissance Italian art in two of the great art centers of the world, Rome and Florence. We will begin with a focus upon the art of ancient Rome, primarily the architecture of the Pantheon, Coliseum, and the Forum. Then, while still in Rome, we will study the Renaissance art of Michelangelo and Raphael at St. Peter’s and the Vatican, through both class study and site visits. Our study of Italian Renaissance art, particularly painting and sculpture, will continue in Florence. The course will include hands-on studio projects and opportunities to view much other Italian art through visits to museums and galleries across Europe before and after our time in Italy. 4 units. Taught by Professor John Carlander. Will Satisfy GE: Performing & Interpreting the Arts

Reformation Christianity in Early Modern Europe, 1450-1650 – This course will combine both historical and theological study as we investigate the ideas and issues of the major Christian reformers and reformations (magisterial Protestant, radical Protestant, and Roman Catholic) of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We will also examine the social context of these persons and ideas, the diverse models of church reform proposed, the historiography of the Reformation era, and the legacies of this tumultuous, but very significant, time period. Course readings and discussions will often be linked with the historic locales and art we will be visiting. 4 units. Taught by Dr. Steve Pointer.

European Nationalism, 1750-Present – Few ideas have been more powerful than nationalism in shaping European history and life over the last 250 years. And despite unprecedented steps towards European consolidation, nationalism remains a vital force in Europe today, perhaps for both good and ill. This course will study the rise, development, and impact of the various strands of nationalism within Europe from the eighteenth century to the present. Scholarly theories of nationalism will be considered alongside historical analysis of nationalism’s major role in shaping Europe’s internal evolution and external relations with the wider world. 4 units. Taught by Dr. Rick Pointer. Will Satisfy GE: Thinking Historically

Program Leaders

Dr. Rick Pointer has taught history at Westmont since 1994. With his wife Barb, he has previously led Europe Semester groups in 1996, 1999, 2004, and 2007. Barb currently serves as Westmont’s Coordinator of Off Campus Programs.

Dr. Steve Pointer has been a history professor at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois since 1985. He has previously been a visiting professor at Westmont twice, including co-leading Europe Semester 2002 with his wife, Jackie. She works as a staff person in Trinity’s Education Department.

Professor John Carlander, MFA, has taught studio art at Westmont for 30 years, and has taught art history courses at Westmont and elsewhere for 15 years. He has led seven tours of Rome and Florence for Westmont. Professor Carlander will be joining Europe Semester 2012 for the four weeks we are in Italy.

Europe Semester Program Objectives

For each participant, the Europe Semester faculty desire:

  1. An enlarged understanding and appreciation of the history and contemporary character of European culture and society, including the role of the Christian faith in Europe’s past and present.
  2. An increased grasp of Europe’s place in the world both historically and in the twenty-first century.
  3. An enhanced ability to acquire knowledge through observation and experience.
  4. A new empathy for the perspectives and perceptions of other peoples and cultures.
  5. An experience of the need for and process of creating a caring Christian community.
  6. A personal maturation in Christian graces such as loving, forgiving, communicating honestly,and experiencing Christian freedom responsibly.

Expenses and Payments

Westmont College attempts to secure reasonable group travel rates and adds these costs to regular campus charges to arrive at a final fee for Europe Semester. This final fee, in other words, is the sum of campus tuition, fees, and full room and board, plus a Europe Semester supplemental charge as yet to be determined.

Eligibility

Faculty leaders take into consideration all of the following:

  • Class standing
  • GPA (minimum 2.3 gpa for eligibility)
  • How many Common Context courses you have completed (since these will provide an intellectual foundation to better understand and appreciate what is seen and learned experientially in Europe)
  • Application essays
  • Familiarity/proficiency with a foreign language
  • Leadership experience
  • Faculty and personal recommendations