The University's broad plans to improve its image abroad and bolster the study of international issues on campus are moving forward despite slow progress on some initiatives due to the economic crisis.
As part of the internationalization effort, which began in 2006, the University has embarked on a number of new programs and is working to provide more opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to incorporate international aspects into their academic experience.
A signature priority of President Ruth Simmons, internationalization has been added to the original goals of the Plan for Academic Enrichment and has advanced despite the fact that the man hired to spearhead it, David Kennedy '76, was needed in a second, challenging administrative job as interim director of the Watson Institute for International Studies.
Kennedy, the vice president for international affairs, said internationalization is right on track. "It's still on," he said. "We expect to continue as we've been planning in the international area."
Since its inauguration, the initiative has launched the International Scholars Program, which will award up to $5,000 each to 14 students to conduct research abroad this summer. It has also created the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes, a summer program that brings together faculty and postdoctoral students from around the world for workshops in various international fields.
The advanced research program, which ran a pilot program last summer, held "intensive workshops" in the fields of international law and global governance, archaeology, development studies and Latin American studies.
"It's a very exciting project," Kennedy said.
The drive to give Brown an international flair has also been boosted by new alliances with international universities. Most recently, the University formed a memorandum of understanding with the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, a top-ranked business school. More of these partnerships, which create "opportunities for graduate students," are in the works, Kennedy said.
"The economic crisis makes it even more important that we collaborate," he added. "No university can do it alone."
The internationalization effort uses a "Johnny Appleseed approach," said Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98. The initiative is meant to "spread its seed" to all aspects of the University, he said.
Members of the Internationalization Committee, which designed the original goals of the initiative and hired Kennedy away from Harvard Law School to lead it, said the program is moving forward in accordance with its initial goals, if at a slower pace than expected.
"A lot has been accomplished," said Michael Steinberg, a former committee member and the director of the Cogut Center for the Humanities. "The internationalization initiative is part of the University's core mission."
"I think that the mandate for internationalization at Brown remains as strong or stronger than ever before," said Associate Professor of Anthropology Daniel Smith, another committee member.
The program is "bringing together things we're already doing and making those things more cohesive and more coherent," he added.
But the program has slowed its pace since the economic crisis began, Smith said. "The original lofty ambitions of internationalization as had been conceived in 2006, 2007, have not materialized as quickly or as grandly" as expected, he said.
"There are all kinds of things going on, but perhaps not at the scale that people hoped for," he added.
Kennedy said the initiative would slow, given the economic climate. "We'll need to move more slowly than we hoped, and we'll need to look for more resources more aggressively," he said.
In addition to his role as the vice president of the internationalization initiative, Kennedy stepped into the role of interim director of the Watson Institute in July 2008 after former director Barbara Stallings announced she would step down from the position.
"He essentially has two full-time jobs right now," Kertzer said, adding that the committee charged with appointing a new director of the Watson Institute is currently "deep in the search."
"I've been busy," Kennedy said, adding that his role as vice president of international affairs "helped me understand more deeply what Watson has to offer" and has "been helpful for the Watson as we go through strategic planning."
In addition to his administrative responsibilities at Brown, Kennedy also taught at Harvard Law School as a visiting professor last fall. Kennedy taught a course called "Law and Development," which he also taught in the fall of 2006, that met once a week during the semester, according to the school's Web site.
Kennedy's lingering teaching commitment at Harvard was part of a "disengagement process" from his former job, Kertzer said.
The class was "in the works before I got to Brown," Kennedy said. He admitted that managing his schedule was "a hard juggle."
Philip Terrence Hopmann, professor emeritus of political science and a former director of Watson, said heading the institute was a demanding job.
"From my experience, the director is not an eight-hour-a-day job," he said. "It's far more than eight hours a day, five days a week. It would be hard to do outside teaching."
While Kennedy has not yet taught a course at Brown and does not plan to teach next fall, he said he would "love to teach an international law and global governance course" in the future.
