An International Edge

If you’re interested in engineering, like to explore other languages and cultures, and want to succeed in an increasingly global job market, the International Studies and Engineering major may be a perfect fit.

This major is designed to allow students to earn a B.S. degree in chemical, civil, electrical and computer, or mechanical engineering and an A.B. degree in international studies that combines foreign language, literature, government, law, art, economics, and history.

Students choose a language of concentration—generally French, German, or Spanish—and take courses that help them develop an in-depth cultural understanding of a country or region where the language is spoken.

Students, particularly those choosing French, are encouraged to participate in the “Lafayette in Brussels” study-abroad program based at Vesalius College of the Free University of Brussels. The program is designed for second-semester sophomore engineering students so that they may study abroad with only mimimal changes in the sequence of required courses.

Full immersion in a foreign culture after language study has been completed serves as the capstone experience for the major. Students either study or work abroad in a country where their chosen language is spoken, typically during the summer before their senior year. Students are eligible for financial aid during their foreign culture immersion experience.

The program is directed by a chair and an advisory committee. Members were selected for their knowledge, interest, and experience in international areas.

Courses

STUDY ABROAD

All students are encouraged to participate in a study abroad program. The Lafayette in Brussels program based at Vesalius College of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium is especially appropriate for engineering students. Other study abroad programs led by a Lafayette faculty member include: “Lafayette in Dijon,” based at the Centre Internationale of the Université de Bourgogne, France; “Lafayette in Greece,” based at College Year in Athens; “Lafayette in Guatemala,” based in Antigua; “Lafayette in London,” based at Huron University, England; and Lafayette in Spain, based predominantly in Madrid.

Each year, Lafayette faculty members offer six to eight three-week courses abroad during the January interim term and in May. Each course counts for one course credit. With five other local colleges, Lafayette also participates in six-week summer language study programs in Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Spain. Faculty members help students select a program and prepare for the experience.

EXCELLENT FACILITIES

A massive renovation of the engineering facilities upgrading the entire 90,000-square-foot engineering complex was completed in fall 2003.

The new Acopian Engineering Center includes innovative student learning centers, additional laboratories designed specifically for collaborative student/faculty research, and additional high-tech classrooms equipped with the latest instructional technology. The learning centers, laboratories, and faculty offices for each field of engineering are grouped together to facilitate interaction among the students and faculty.

Students use the language laboratory in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures to study their chosen language. The multimedia facility has a wide array of self-instructive software and a collection of contemporary foreign films and audio and videocassettes about the culture and literature of countries around the world. For example, you can use the software to begin a guided reading program on the text of a French novel. You can highlight an unfamiliar word, receive the definition, and hear it pronounced. Maps and photographs illustrate the story, as does Quick Time video. Native speakers and/or advanced language students are also available to help.

AFTER GRADUATION

Engineers with proficiency in a second language and an understanding of foreign cultures are well prepared for engineering and technical positions overseas or with American companies that have international branches. Students typically secure jobs or continue graduate study in their engineering field.

Among all engineering graduates in the class of 2003, 65 percent accepted full-time positions, 23 percent enrolled in graduate programs, and 9 percent were in the military, volunteering, traveling, or applying to graduate school.

Faculty Advisory Committee

Leonard A. Van Gulick, Matthew Baird Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chair of B.S. Engineering/ A.B. in International Studies Program, Ph.D., Princeton University; P.E., Pennsylvania. Special interests: mechanical design, finite element analysis, dynamics, medieval architecture, French language and culture. Recipient of Marquis Distinguished Teaching Award and Jones Lecture Award.

Michelle Geoffrion-Vinci, Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature. Ph.D., Stanford University. Teaching areas: 19th and 20th century literature and civilization of Spain, Spanish for Heritage Speakers, business Spanish, Women's Studies, poetry. Research Interests: Spanish Women's narrative of the 19th and 20th centuries, poetry, socio-linguistics, and second language acquisition theory. Recipient of Jones Faculty Lecture Award.

William D. Jemison, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Ph.D., Drexel University. Teaching areas: analog and digital electronics, control systems, applied electromagnetics. Research interests: microwave and mm-wave communications systems, antenna systems, solid-state device modeling, biomedical applications of microwaves and optics.

Edward R. McDonald, Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Ph.D., Columbia University. Special interests: German literature and film, German cultural and literary history, teaching methodology, educational technology applied to foreign language study. Recipient of Jones Teaching Award.

Rado Pribic, Edwin Oliver Williams Professor of Languages and Literatures and International Affairs program chair. Ph.D., Vanderbilt University. Special interests: German scientific readings, interdisciplinary studies, Eastern Europe, Germany, comparative literature. Recipient of Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award and Jones Lecture Award.

Javad Tavakoli, Associate Professor and Head of Chemical Engineering. Ph.D., New Jersey Institute of Technology. Special interests: equilibrium and kinetics, reactor design, catalysis, thermodynamics, environmental studies.

Leonard A. Van Gulick
Head, International Studies & Engineering
(610) 330-5445
vangulil@lafayette.edu

For general information:
Office of admissions
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
(610) 330-5100
FAX (610) 330-5355
admissions@lafayette.edu