Posted by Bob Martin

(Photo L-R: Bob Martin, Dr. Jeanne Hey and President Laura Young.)

Dr. Jeanne Hey, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, for the University of New England, reminded us again of the power and reach of Rotary. “I owe a big thank you to Rotary,” she said. “When I was 16, I was a Rotary Exchange student in Bogota, Colombia. I lived with a family, who remains my family to this day.” Her experiences as an exchange student propelled her into her interest and career in international relations, which is her teaching specialty.

“I learned to speak Colombian Spanish, which is the highest level of beauty—kind of like the ‘Queen’s English.’ When I speak it, people always ask if I learned my Spanish in Colombia.”

Dr. Hey pointed out the impact on her life of her year abroad as a Rotary Exchange student: 

“I became life-long friends with my host family—I talked to them last week, we’ve shared vacations together, my kids spend time with them; I spent my college year abroad in Columbia, and my first job was teaching Spanish.” She shared that the experience triggered her interest in travel.

According to Dr. Hey, few students take advantage of opportunities to study abroad. In the U.S. today, less than ten percent of baccalaureate students spend any time abroad, with only 3.7 percent spending a semester or longer in another country. This low rate of participation stems from a perceived increased cost for study abroad, parental fears and discomfort about their child being in a foreign country, so there is a lack of family support for the concept. “You are more likely to die or be injured on your own campus than by studying abroad,” Dr. Hey reported. “These problems don’t happen because of the safeguards and oversight in place.”

Dr. Hey said that it’s easy to forget how privileged it is to be an American abroad. “It shows up instantly with an American passport.” In Morocco, where UNE maintains a campus, she said that the Moroccan police look out for students to ensure their safety. “In my orientation session for my year abroad, Rotary made it very clear about their pride in the U.S., but also embraced the value of other countries and cultures.”

Dr. Hey pointed to UNE’s strong study abroad program, which has resulted in about 30 percent of its students spending school time abroad, either in a semester-long program, or in a field study project. The school created a campus in Tangier, Morocco and Seville, Spain, both of which have American lab facilities so students can pursue courses there that mirror the same ones on the UNE campus. In Tangier, students live in a dormitory; in Seville, students stay with host families. “We built a financial model that allows students to study abroad at no additional cost,” she said, adding that for the first three years, a donor paid for round trip plane travel for participants. She shared pictures of UNE students engaged in various projects and excursions during their time abroad, as well as some of her with her host family and friends.

Pointing to the advances stimulated by the leadership of Danielle Ripich, the retiring President of UNE, Dr. Hey said that when Dr. Ripich first came to UNE, it was borrowing money to meet payroll. “That’s not happening any more. We’ve come a long way.”