An online
publication for University
alumni and friends
FALL 2005
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Q & A Five Questions With:
Scott Manning – director of international study programs
Scott Manning, associate professor of French and Italian, joined the university in 1997 and has headed up the international study programs since 1999. Manning shares information on current study-abroad trends, his own study-abroad experience, and his dream travel destination.
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Question: How many Susquehanna students study abroad each year, and what are the most popular destinations?
Scott Manning: All told, about 200 SU students study abroad for credit each year, either for the semester, summer, or a two-week focus or service-learning trip. For semester programs, the U.K. remains the most popular destination – England and Scotland. Australia and Spain are close behind. But the two-week service-learning trip to Nicaragua and Costa Rica and the Focus Australia trip are both full every time they are offered, as well.
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Q: What might be the most far-flung place a Susquehanna student has studied?
SM: In the past six years, probably Windhoek, Namibia, in Southern Africa. We have also had a student on the Amazon in Brazil; two in Cape Town, South Africa; and two in Jaipur, India.
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Q: If you won an all-expense-paid trip to the destination of your choice, where would you go, and why?
SM: The answer to this question probably changes every day – there are so many places I want to visit! Today, my choice would be Dakar, Sénégal. I have been interested in Sénégal since one of my first college French classes. We read the poetry of the then-president Léopold Senghor and watched the films of Sembene Ousmane, which were made in both French and Wolof so that everyone in the country could enjoy them.
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Q: You have recently spent some time in France. What was the nature of that trip?
SM: I was on sabbatical, doing research on study abroad. I am studying the stories that people who have studied abroad tell about their experiences. In particular, I am looking at how people talk about the impact study abroad has had on their professional and personal lives. I have already heard from a few SU alums about their stories, but I would love to hear from more of them!
I also accompanied four Susquehanna students to a study-abroad program in Aix-en-Provence, France, and researched ways in which we might begin to develop more of our own study-abroad programs at SU in the future.
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Q: What do you enjoy most in your work with study-abroad students?
SM: Two things: I really enjoy the opportunity to work with students from disciplines across the campus whom I might not ordinarily see in my language classes. I learn a lot about all kinds of things from talking with them about their studies and their interests. But mostly I enjoy talking with students after they come back to campus and seeing firsthand the ways in which they have grown through their experience. They are almost universally more self-assured, more independent and more able to step outside of themselves in a way that lets them view the world from a new perspective.
Manning can be reached by e-mail at manning@susqu.edu. |
Bonus Questions:
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Q: Did you study abroad as an undergrad?
SM: I did, twice. Both times were through a summer program my university arranged to Strasbourg, France, where I could study French and German..
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Q: What countries have you visited, in academic contexts?
SM: I have most frequently visited France and Italy, since these are the languages I have studied and taught the most. In addition to the two summer study abroad programs in Strasbourg I mentioned above, I was awarded a French government teaching assistantship to teach English for one year in a high school in Marseilles, France. Later, I served as a program assistant on a summer study abroad program in Paris, France, and on another in Florence, Italy, while a grad student at Kansas University. I also served as associate director of the Florence Program the first summer after I came to SU. Finally, I also worked with a former Susquehanna faculty member on a focus trip to Martinique.
For my work as director of international study programs, I have also visited study abroad programs in Canada, Denmark, England, France, Italy and Spain.
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Q: What countries besides those listed above have you visited?
SM: A few other European countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland. .
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