This summer, the University of Southern Indiana is offering another opportunity for students to travel and conduct research in India through the University’s Global Engagement Initiative. Up to six USI undergraduates will spend four weeks (approximately May 27 to June 27, 2012) in India and earn three hours of course credit.
The Society for Development Studies (SDS) will first train the students in New Delhi in a United Nations award-winning community-empowerment model. The students will then visit and engage with a community in Alwar to experience how the model was implemented and, under the guidance of SDS faculty, will help design approaches to enhance the community’s empowerment. Visits to Agra and Jaipur also have been planned.
The trip will cost $1,000 including course credit, travel, room and board, airfare and local transportation, and some meals. The application deadline is Wednesday, March 14, 2012.
The Society for Development Studies is a non-government organization based in New Delhi, but is part of an international United Nations network. SDS faculty members have worked with students from many universities including Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and USI on applications of its community-empowerment model.
In summer 2011, three USI students – Amy Brown, Chanse Ford, and Daniel “D.J.†Horstman – spent two weeks in India working with SDS’s community-empowerment model through interviews and interactions with families in Alwar. One highlight of their trip was a visit to the village of Andhwari, where the USI group was welcomed with flowers, singing, and dancing. “It is amazing the progress these people have made since the implementation of Dr. Lall’s program,†Ford wrote in his blog about the trip. “It was an indescribable feeling to be there and have these people open up to us and share so much of their lives with us when they had only met us that day.â€
Plans for the second trip were initiated when Dr. Vinay D. Lall, director general of the SDS, visited USI in January.
In October 2010, Dr. Ronald S. Rochon, provost, led a team of USI faculty including Dr. Sudesh N. Mujumdar, Dr. Nadine Coudret, and Dr. Ann White to India for an initial exploration of partnerships. In addition to SDS, they met with representatives of organizations such as the University of Mumbai and the Reserve Bank of India. A follow-up visit by Mujumdar, Dr. Niharika Banerjea, Dr. Scott Gordon, and Dr. Mohammed Khayum took place in March 2011 to further opportunities for joint work across disciplines. Last summer’s student trip resulted from their efforts.
