The Columbia Global Scholars Program (GSP), administered by the Office of Global Programs (OGP), offers highly motivated students the opportunity to investigate global issues through studies and research in Paris/Europe. As they pursue their own projects, GSP students will delve into another society and culture, and test their own ideas against other peoples’ educational and intellectual system. To help them in this innovative intellectual endeavor, the GSP provides a framework to develop a range of research, language, and networking skills.
This Columbia Global Centers pilot undergraduate program begins the second semester of academic year 2011–2012 at Columbia Global Centers|Europe at Reid Hall in Paris. Students spend the spring semester of their Junior year plus the following summer based at Reid Hall and living in the International Student Houses, located nearby and offering group activities, shared meals, and other contact with local student life. In addition to participating in the Colloquium, co-taught by the resident Columbia faculty member in cooperation with leading scholars, and attending classes at Sciences Po Paris with tutor support, students conduct their own research projects. This research, under the immediate supervision of the instructor of the Colloquium, is co-directed by their Columbia advisor and a local specialist.
Students begin their projects during the spring term of 2012, continue work on them over the summer, and, in the early fall, present their research to faculty and students back at Columbia in the framework of the global initiatives. In most cases, the Global Scholars project will evolve into a senior thesis. In the year after graduation, GSP helps interested students obtain internships abroad on issues related to their research and professional interests, forming a kind of fifth year of study. To apply, students need a formal Advisor from their departmental or interdisciplinary major or area of concentration. The Advisor will help the student establish contacts with appropriate specialists and research facilities while in Europe, and will, in consultation with the faculty member teaching the Colloquium, award the grade for the research project after it has been formally presented in the early fall of the student’s senior year.
The Colloquium is organized around themes related to the Core Research Project at the Global Center, which for 2011-2013 is “Inequality/ies.” Applicants from all disciplines and undergraduate schools are welcome, in the expectation that all will want to engage with the conceptual framework and multi-disciplinary focus while developing their own disciplinary interests. Through a series of skills-building workshops, GSP students will also be developing a range of research, archival, new media, expository, and other skills needed to undertake their projects. The program is bilingual, and although the research can be conducted in whatever languages are appropriate (including English), applicants must be able to work in the French academic milieu. Scholarship support is available for intensive study of French during the summer prior to enrollment in Paris, as well as for summer research in Europe during the program.
Resident Faculty Director: Victoria de Grazia, History (Columbia University)
vd19@columbia.edu
Onsite Program Coordinator: Mallika Lecoeur
ml3377@columbia.edu
Admissions Contact: Lindsey Schram, Office of Global Programs
ls2553@columbia.edu
To apply, please click here.