by Debbie Hum

Loyola International College, Concordia’s newest academic unit, is putting the focus on international and global perspectives in a world of increased intercultural interaction.

The College, whose classes started this term on the west-end campus, will give students the opportunity to balance their discipline-based education with interdisciplinary study that addresses challenging issues at the start of the 21st century.

The new College brings together the “pockets of international perspectives all over the university, researchers with concerns about culture and development, international relations, aesthetics across cultures, variations in philosophy and religion around the world, and globalization,” explained Psychology Professor William Bukowski, who with Associate History Professor Rosemarie Schade is co-principal of the College.

In the spirit of its namesake St. Ignatius Loyola, the Loyola International College aims to cultivate good citizens and community leaders who are critically engaged in the contemporary world. Loyola was a 16th-century religious leader who founded the Society of Jesus, a religious order of men.

The Jesuits established numerous schools and universities throughout the world, including one of Concordia’s founding institutions, Loyola College, in 1896. Of course, while Loyola’s global work in education was religiously motivated, the Loyola International College is unquestionably secular, and these days, women are welcome to apply, too.

Courses on the modern world

Two programs of study are offered. The Loyola International College Program, for students accepted in the Faculty of Arts and Science, is a 24-credit program consisting of eight new multidisciplinary courses: The Twentieth Century; The Contemporary World; Global Diversity; Scientific Inquiry; Biodiversity on Earth; Self, Culture and Development; Culture and Communication; and an integrative seminar. Students will complete the courses over three years, in conjunction with their departmental major, specialization or honours program.

The 15-credit Loyola Foundation Year Program is designed for students enrolled in an extended credit program; typically, these will be students from outside Quebec. Two courses were designed specifically for this program, The Idea of Modernity, and What is the Environment? Both are being offered this term.

Foundation Year students will also complete at least three courses from a set of eight, drawn from the departments of History, Political Science, Theological Studies, Religion, Sociology and Anthropology, and Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Beyond its emphasis on the modern world, the Foundation Year Program will provide students with solid skills in reading, writing, critical thinking and information technology. Students will be expected to fulfill these credits during their first year of study.

Revitalization of west-end campus

The Loyola International College is an important component of the university’s commitment to revitalize the Loyola Campus, a plan initiated in 1998 following the merging or discontinuation of some programs and the relocation of some departments to the downtown campus.

With plans for a state-of-the-art science complex at Loyola (now well under construction), there were concerns that the west-end campus would become primarily focused on the natural sciences.

The Loyola International College was conceived over several years by a committee of Arts and Science faculty members who wanted to ensure the ongoing presence of the social sciences and humanities at Loyola. The committee included John Drysdale (Sociology and Anthropology), William Byers (Mathematics and Statistics), Andrew Wayne (Philosophy), Pamela Bright (Theology), David Howes (Sociology and Anthropology) and Bukowski and Schade. With high admission standards and small class sizes, the College will reestablish the Loyola tradition of a liberal education in an idyllic academic setting, modernized for our age.

“Understanding the whole world was important to St. Ignatius Loyola,” said Professor Schade, who will teach a course on different understandings of some of the critical issues that have shaped the 20th-century world. “In providing a broad-based, interdisciplinary education, we are training a new generation of well- educated and forward-thinking citizens who will help build bridges among people from different cultural backgrounds.”

For more information about Loyola International College call 848-2126 or email LoyolaIC@vax2.concordia.ca. Visit the College’s Web site at http://artsandscience.concordia.ca/loyola_college.

Speaker series begins this month

During the winter term, Loyola International College will present a series of presentations. The speakers in this series and the titles of their talks are listed below. All will take place at 4 p.m. on the Loyola campus (exact location listed below).

• January 23 – Peter Leuprecht, Dean, McGill Faculty of Law, on “Working on Human Rights Cases in Cambodia” (AD 308)

• February 6 – Frank Chalk, Department of History, Concordia University, on “The Crime of Genocide: Meaning, Prevention, and Punishment” (AD 308)

• February 27 – Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, on “The Argument About Humanitarian Intervention” (HB 130)

• March 13 – Allen Abel, journalist and author, on “Explorations and Misadventures on Six Continents” (AD 308)

• March 27 – Pamela Bright, Department of Theology, Concordia University, on “The Ancient Church and the Modern World” (AD 308)