You may notice that our organization has a new look and a new name, SIT Graduate Institute, a program of World Learning. These changes are the beginning of a number of exciting developments at World Learning/SIT, as we execute a plan to broaden the impact of our mission and head into the next 75 years of our history.
In the coming weeks, keep an eye out for our completely redesigned Website.
There were a number of reasons for changing the name of The School for International Training, including extensive feedback over the years about the words “school” and “training,” which don’t carry particularly positive perceptions with many prospective students and employers, both in the US and internationally. We believe SIT Graduate Institute better represents the stature of this program as an institution committed to educating tomorrow’s global leaders and agents of change.
Exciting New Graduate Programs
SIT Graduate Institute is going global.
One of our strengths is that our program is a part of World Learning, which runs international education and international development projects in 77 countries. As part of a global NGO, we have tremendous opportunities to connect theory and practice. We are going to launch a series of new programs that will connect our students to people and projects across World Learning, and around the world.
Our new approach to graduate education preserves the core of what SIT represents: high-quality, experientially based education with a global focus, while developing stronger connections to World Learning as a whole. Beginning in 2009, we will start to expand our graduate program to become a campus without borders, with six graduate instruction sites around the world – in Vermont, Oman, East/Southern Africa, South Asia, and two locations in the Americas. We plan to fully implement this plan by 2011, continuing to offer degrees in language teaching, sustainable development, management, conflict transformation, social justice in intercultural relations, and international education. Students will be able to choose whether they want to study in Brattleboro with a field-based practicum – similar to our current program – or to study at one or more of our field instruction sites.
New in 2008…
In fall 2008, we will start four new programs:
World Learning Practitioner in Residence
Each week, a member of the World Learning staff will serve as practitioner in residence in the graduate program. This might include: Azra Kacapur, who oversees programs for at-risk and displaced children all over the world; Preeti Shroff-Mehta, who works on our civil society programs in Indonesia, Angola and other countries; Jose Alvarez or Mary Lou Forward, who run our study abroad programs in Latin America and Africa, respectively; or James Bernard, who is building a reputation as one of the emerging communication/marketing voices in the nonprofit world. Each week the practitioner in residence will be available to lecture in classes, provide career advice to graduate students, or just informally meet to share ideas about common interests.
International Seminars
We hope to use the second half of the year to offer seminars in various places around the world where World Learning already has study abroad and international development programs. This year we piloted the idea when 25 students did their Intercultural Communication(ICC) course in Managua, Nicaragua. Associate Professor of International Education David Shallenberger, developed the class in collaboration with SIT Study Abroad Academic Director Aynn Setright. The course included homestays in Managua and on a rural coffee cooperative, field excursions, meetings, and individual research projects. The feedback from students and faculty was very positive. Read more…
Next year, in January and June, we will have a series of similar classes, including language intensives, where students can spend a number of weeks at World Learning facilities across the world learning Spanish, French, Arabic or a variety of other languages.
World Learning Structured Practicum
Students have long had – and will continue to have – the flexibility to self-design the second half of their graduate experience at SIT in the Reflective Practice Phase. But we will also have pre-arranged opportunities for students to do their practicum with various parts of World Learning or in organizations with whom we work around the world. For example, students might be able to work on our new project in Uganda helping reintegrate child soldiers back into their home communities. Or they might intern in our SIT Study Abroad office, observing firsthand how a premier study abroad operation works. These are envisioned as six- to eight-month opportunities, both paid and unpaid. All will give students incredible opportunities to learn by doing within World Learning, as part of the World Learning family.
Concentrations in Arts & Social Change and Youth & Peace Work
We pride ourselves on listening to our students. We have seen a growing student interest in the connection between the arts and social change and also in engaging with youth in the peacebuilding process. We will have new concentrations for students who are interested in the areas of arts & social change and youth work revolving around leadership training and peace building (more information on exact concentrations and degree requirements coming soon). Students will spend part of the spring semester taking field-based classes with organizations in Brattleboro.
For instance, Arts and Social Change students will take a course on Arts and Social Change. As part of that course, students will have an extended residency with an organization in the Brattleboro region (for example, at New England Youth Theatre, with a local artist, at The Asia Cultural Center or with a Photography Lab).
Youth and Peace Building students will, for example, take a course on youth work. They will then have a residency with the youth programming unit of the World Learning Visitor Exchange Program, helping to set up and deliver one of our inbound youth programs. Two recent examples of these programs include:
- From January 12 – 26, 2008, 35 high school age Brazilian Youth Ambassadors came to the U.S as parrt of an initiative of the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, with support from corporate partners including Fedex and Continental Airlines. The 35 students were selected from over 3,000 applicants, and are all from economically disadvantaged public schools across Brazil. The program started and ended in Washington, DC. Small groups of students spending a week in 6 cities: Seattle, Bozeman, Mont., Tulsa, Okla., Cleveland, Charlotte and Kalamazoo, Mich. The Washington program included meetings at the White House with First Lady Laura Bush, the State Department, the Organization of American States and the Brazilian Embassy, plus a host of local and international NGOs.
- From January 20 – 30, World Learning Visitor Exchange Program hosted 10 Jordanian students, ages 13 – 16, on a special sports and leadership program. This is an initiative of the U.S. State Department, in partnership with the King Abdullah II Awards for Physical Fitness and the U.S. Department for Health & Human Services. The 10 students were accompanied by three adults from Jordan and several translators. Their program includes time in Washington, DC, Baltimore and Delaware, and their activities include a ropes course, high school visits, sports events, teambuilding, workshops, visits to sports organizations, and sightseeing.
A Note On Academic Credentials / Accreditation
As mentioned above, The School for International Training has been renamed the SIT Graduate Institute beginning on Feb. 1, 2008. The name change obviously affects many things, from our signage to accreditation. One such affected area is the institutional name that will appear on your diploma. Beginning in Fall 2008, all newly matriculated students will receive diplomas and transcripts from SIT Graduate Institute upon graduation.
Parting Words & Next Steps
As you finalize your plans for graduate school, we wanted to share these exciting changes in our programs. All of these new innovations complement the strong and innovative Master’s degrees that SIT already offers to make the programs even more cutting edge and relevant in our changing world. Please read this post, it includes a letter from SIT Provost Adam Weinberg as well as a video clip of Adam describing what makes the SIT Graduate Institute so unique.
