18-19 / 80
16
17
Fifty years
ago
A professor’s stern admonition at the dawn of the France Program in 1964
INTRO BY NEAL BURDICK ’72
launches a half-century of
international study growth.
Don , t mess it Up.
,,
,,
Evidently they didn’t. For today, St. Lawrence has more than
20 programs in 18 countries on six continents, plus many more
options through the International Student Exchange Program
(ISEP), as well as five off-campus programs in the U.S.
“Junior Year Abroad” no longer applies, with academically
rigorous short-term, semester and year-long programs available,
and first-years through seniors eligible for some. Preference is
no longer given primarily to language majors, as was the case
with the program in France and those in Austria and Spain,
which followed quickly. Today’s programs span a wide range of
disciplines and are open to students in every major.
As on campus, internships, research and other forms of expe-
riential learning have become key components of off-campus
study. And St. Lawrence has crossed the 50 percent participation
threshold, with about half of each graduating class studying
off campus for at least a semester and many more for shorter
durations at some point in their college career. In no small
part because those 21 pioneers didn’t in fact screw it up 50
years ago, the University has since become a national leader
in student participation in semester-long programs.
St. Lawrence began its first international
program, inFrance.“The future of St. Lawrence’s
Junior Year Abroad program depends on each
of you making a success of this inaugural year,”
Oliver Andrews Jr., head of the modern languages
department, told the 21 students as they set off
for their nine-day ocean-liner crossing of the
Atlantic inSeptember of 1964. “Don’tmess it up.”
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALESSANDRA OLANOW
>
We’ve got it covered:
Until fifty years ago,
almost all St. Lawrence
students went to class
in just one place:
Canton, New York.
In 1964, Rouen, France,
was added. Look
what that started.