American Culture

American Culture 282: A Spring 2008 Course and Study Trip

Application for American Culture 282 (also GEOG 282, and LALS 282)
The U.S.-Mexico Border: Nation, God, and Human Rights in Arizona-Sonora

All fields are required.

Course information

Meeting times: Course meetings will take place on Tuesday and Thursday, 9am-10:15am. Students are also expected to attend weekly film showings on Wednesday evenings at 7pm (through March 4, 2009). Regular course meetings will only take place through the week of departure for Arizona. Upon returning to Vassar, course participants will have one additional, formal meeting (time and date to be determined).

Financial matters: The Arizona-Sonora trip will cost approximately $2,500 per participant. The price covers all costs—transportation, lodging, and meals from the time of departure from Poughkeepsie until the return—with the exception of individual spending money. There will be financial assistance available to course enrollees, the goal being to provide assistance to individual students at a level commensurate to that which they receive from the Financial Aid office.

Transportation Poughkeepsie-Tucson: Participants will take the train (Amtrak) back and forth between Poughkeepsie and Flagstaff, Arizona. Between Flagstaff and Tucson (where Borderlinks is based), participants will take a bus. Course participants will depart from the Poughkeepsie train station in the late afternoon of Thursday, March 5, 2009. (Participants will gather at 2pm on March 5 in preparation for departure.) The return to Poughkeepsie is scheduled for 6pm on Sunday, March 22, 2009.

BorderLinks: BorderLinks will host the Vassar delegation during its time in Arizona-Sonora. BorderLinks describes itself as a “bi-national, nonprofit educational organization at the U.S./Mexico border dedicated to raising awareness and inspiring action around global political economics.” To learn more about BorderLinks, go to http://borderlinks.org

N.B.: Please note that the trip to Arizona-Sonora is a study trip, not a service one; in other words, course participants will not engage in activities aimed at "helping" anyone in the border region. Also please note that, if you take the course, you will be effectively giving up your Spring Break as the time in Arizona-Sonora will be intensive.

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Name		Class:
Major(s):
Correlate(s):
Email:		Phone:
Name of your major advisor:

Name of one other professor who can provide a reference for you:

Please list any courses that you have taken that are relevant to themes and issues associated with the U.S.-Mexico border course.

Please list all courses you have taken in American Culture, Geography, or Latin American and Latino/a Studies.

What level of competence do you have in Spanish? (Select the category that best describes your level.)
	None
	Rudimentary (I can understand and give straightforward directions.)
	Basic (I can have a simple conversation.)
	Proficient (I can understand a lecture and read a newspaper in Spanish, and can communicate almost anything outside of highly specialized fields.)
	Fluent (Spanish is a language I grew up speaking, or I have learned to speak it so well that I am very close to the level of a native speaker.)
If you are a senior, will you be working on a senior project or thesis during the Spring 2009 semester?
	Yes No If so, what is the topic of the thesis/project? What is/are the name of your adviser(s)? When is the project/thesis due?
Did you go abroad/are you currently abroad as part of your junior year?
	Yes No If so, where, when, and through what program?
Have you ever taken a course at Vassar that involved travel (either within the United States or abroad) during the semester break?
	Yes No If so, please list the course(s) and when it/they took place.
Prepare the answers to the following questions on your computer (in Word or other word-processing program) prior to pasting answers in this form online. Do not exceed one page for both answers at 12-point type:
	1) Why do you want to take this course? 2) Given that the trip (and the course as a whole) will be demanding in all sorts of ways—from what students will experience and be compelled to think about, to inter-cultural exchange, and modest accommodations (among other things)—explain what in your life has prepared you to, or why you feel you ready to, undertake such an endeavor.

Applications (to be submitted electronically) are due by 5pm on October 17, 2008.