Seeking an international understanding of political science and economics, Judy Newman embarked on a semester abroad in London in 1977 with encouragement from a professor at Connecticut College. From exploring bookshops throughout the city to learning about the national debate on education to writing a thesis on privacy at the London School of Economics, Judy unknowingly laid the foundation for a future career in children’s book publishing. Today, as EVP and President of Scholastic Reading Club and E-Commerce, Judy is making a difference by connecting teachers and students with books and empowering children to succeed academically and beyond. Read on to find out how studying abroad redefined Judy’s life and taught her lessons she continues to draw upon today.

IES Abroad: How did you hear about IES Abroad and what motivated you to study in London?

Judy Newman: I heard about IES Abroad through my advisor at Connecticut College—a fiery and beloved Government professor named William Frasure. Bill made me excited about the idea of a more intensive concentration in my major subjects—political science and economics—and studying them in another country. I knew that to have a real understanding of politics and our emerging global economy, I had to have more of an international perspective than what I was getting in the U.S. alone.

IES Abroad: What are some of your most influential memories from your time in London?

JN: It was a turbulent and exciting time in London: Labor strikes. The Sex Pistols. The Yorkshire Ripper. It was all so interesting! I loved being a student—and being part of our little group of IES Abroad Americans—blending in with all the British students and students from all over the world. We also took in as much as London had to offer, like theater, parties, concerts, museums, lectures, traveling on weekends all over England. The economy was going through rapid inflation, and the political climate was complicated. There was also a roiling national debate on education, which I think, in hindsight, encouraged me to start focusing my attention and my career on children’s books and working with teachers.

IES Abroad: You have worked exclusively in publishing, an industry that has changed dramatically over the course of your career. What motivated you to get into the publishing industry? Were you able to draw on lessons learned in London as you launched your career?

JN: While in London, I did an individual tutorial on privacy at the LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science), which was a semester-long research project culminating in a thesis paper that I had to defend. Issues of privacy are very important in publishing, and I got quite an intellectual and rich foundation from my work on that tutorial. Given the privacy issues surrounding internet use today, I think we were ahead of the curve in doing that work.

Going to school in London means being surrounded by some of the best bookshops in the world and by people who love and appreciate books. I always had a passion for books, so I was very comfortable being in the mix there. Also, England has a rich and wonderful tradition in regard to children’s books, so I think my experiences poring over books in shops all over London accelerated my interest in becoming a children’s book publisher.

And you’re right: In some ways—with Amazon and digital book formats—publishing has changed. But the basic premise of publishing (particularly children’s book publishing) is that a great book—with a good story featuring relatable characters who do interesting and compelling things—is what matters, and this is as true as it ever was, from Lewis Carroll to Beatrix Potter to J.K. Rowling.

IES Abroad: You oversee Scholastic Reading Club, a unique school-based distribution channel that has changed the lives of children since 1948. What is the impact of this program?

JN: Scholastic Reading Club is such an effective partner for teachers, who do the most important work on our planet. Teachers tell us that without Scholastic Reading Club, they would have no books in their classrooms, since our program enables teachers to get free books for their classroom shelves and to give to students who can’t afford to purchase books.

And I am thrilled that we are able to establish the empowering and joyful experience for kids to choose, read, and own their own books, which we know, from years of experience and quantifiable research, is a major determinant of kids’ success both academically and in life. Our editors curate our selection from the more than 20,000 new children’s books published each year. Combining these choices with the best backlist and classic titles, we create monthly catalogs organized by grade, which are designed to engage, delight, and inspire kids to experience the joy and power of reading great books.

IES Abroad: You created the ClassroomsCare initiative in 1999 to stress the importance of reading and giving to children. What inspired you to develop this initiative?

JN: I believe kids all want to make a difference and help people less fortunate than themselves, but often they don’t have the wherewithal to do that. ClassroomsCare was a simple proposition. If you read books, Scholastic Reading Club will donate books to kids who don’t have any. It is a win-win-win: kids read, their actions trigger a donation, and they feel empowered; and we are able to get great, new books to kids who otherwise couldn’t afford them. Over the course of the program, Scholastic Reading Club has donated millions of books as a direct result of kids in schools reading and caring about others less fortunate than themselves.

IES Abroad: Giving back is something you are also personally passionate about. What organizations have you worked with?

JN: I do a lot of work with nonprofit organizations that support children’s literacy in underserved communities: I was Board Chair for eight years and currently serve on the board of Reach Out and Read,  a national nonprofit founded more than 20 years ago that’s dedicated to making literacy part of child health care. During wellness visits for children from infant to age five, trusted pediatricians provide parents with guidance on how to read with their child and develop a culture of reading in the home. In addition, the pediatricians give the families free brand-new books during the visit, which in many cases are the first books they have owned. 

I also work with Book Trust, a national nonprofit that subsidizes the Reading Club experience for children who cannot afford to purchase books. And I have long been involved with the Ruby Bridges Foundation, founded by social justice activist Ruby Bridges, who integrated William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960 and is the subject of Norman Rockwell’s famous painting The Problem We All Live With.

IES Abroad: Are there lessons you learned in London that have remained a constant throughout your life?

JN: IES Abroad in London was my first time living alone in a foreign country. I met people from all over the world. (Had Indian food for the first time. Now my favorite cuisine!) Embraced all kinds of new experiences and made incredible friends. And I did accomplish what I set out to do—learn more and study more deeply in my academic areas—politics, governments, and economics—which really helped me with my major studies when I went back to Connecticut College.

Travel—experiencing other cultures—opened up my world. Those are critical aspects to a full life. I see my experience in London in 1977 as a kickoff for a lifetime of travel for our family, who now all have a deep intellectual and emotional appreciation for the benefits of visiting, and living in, other countries.

For me, my semester in IES Abroad really advanced my worldview—I was more than a tourist. I was truly immersed.

IES Abroad: Have you been back to London since studying abroad?

JN: I was just in London to see the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child [which Scholastic is publishing in the U.S.] at the Palace Theatre in the West End. The whole experience of being in London from my time at IES Abroad came flooding back to me because we used to go to shows and get cheap student tickets. Though my seats were better now! It felt just as exciting and wonderful as it did when I was at IES Abroad.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students today who are interested in studying or interning abroad?

JN: Do it. It is a unique time in your life when you can be more than a tourist in another country. Embrace the community you live in and its culture. Spend the time immersed in your host country’s language and lifestyle. Try not to hang on to your ways of doing things at home. Be open and embrace the country you are studying in. And, of course, always be open-minded and interested and non-judgmental. You are an ambassador of your country too!

Study or an internship abroad will expand your perspective and give you tremendous insight into the world we live in, which is crucial to being successful and empathic and creative in our global community. Talk to other students who have gone abroad to weigh the benefits of home stays vs. living in a dormitory. If money is an issue, do research to find grants and scholarships. Find a way to get there!

As a Philosophy and French major at Holy Cross College, and at the urging of his mother, Dr. Joseph Coyle spent his junior year abroad in Paris. While there, Dr. Coyle’s thinking about life was dramatically transformed through his exposure to French appreciation for art, literature, and dining. From long dinners filled with discussion and debate to the abundance of cultural events, he learned how important these activities are for a rich life, as opposed to focusing solely on career advancement. Even today, as Director at the Laboratory for Psychiatric and Molecular Neuroscience at McLean Hospital and the Eben S. Draper Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School – two highly demanding positions – art, literature, and dining remain important aspects of his daily life. Read on to learn how Dr. Coyle went from studying literature, languages, and philosophy to a career in ground-breaking brain research, and how the skills he learned abroad have helped him all along the way.

IES Abroad: As a Philosophy and French student at Holy Cross College, why did you decide to study abroad in Paris as opposed to another French city?

Joseph Coyle: There were only a couple of programs in Europe, and I wanted to study in France. Even if there had been other programs in France, Paris is clearly the epicenter of French culture and is considered one of the finest cities in the world. I had taken six years of French in high school and college, and I was very interested in French literature, culture, and philosophers like Jean Paul Sartre and Jacques Lacan. My mother had an impact on my decision, too. She was a very unusual person. Her father came from Luxembourg, and even though he was a small town doctor in Iowa, she had a very cosmopolitan view of the world and felt it was very important for me to spend my junior year abroad. She probably had a clearer understanding of the implications of that experience than I did at that point in my life.

IES Abroad: Did you have an 'ah ha' moment during your study abroad that critically changed the way you think?

JC: The experience that really changed me in Paris was how one thinks about life and living one’s life. The French are very cosmopolitan. They think of the world more broadly. Art, literature, and dining are very important parts of their life. They aren’t afterthoughts. They are at the epic-enter of their life. I have many friends who are French scientists and clinicians. They are professionally as good as we are at what they do, but there is a whole other aspect of their life that tends not to be as important here in the United States. I have lived a very different life as a result of that year spent in Paris.

My roommate and I stayed with a widow who was a ‘veuve de guerre’ (war widow), and she was the President of the ‘Veuve de Guerre’ Association. We didn’t eat with her, but we were invited over for dinner with other students and their families on Sundays. These dinners were filled with discussion and debate, lingering over the meal for a couple of hours. That was special, and it did educate me on what is important in life, how those activities make your life richer, not just what your career is and what you do professionally.

Also, on any given night in Paris, there are so many cultural events going on. Bach being played in the setting of an old church, or going to see a play by Samuel Beckett who was just coming into his own at that time and capturing that sense of loneliness and alienation that only Beckett can do in a very severe way. Those were special opportunities that I will always remember.

IES Abroad: At what point did you decide you would go on to medical school? Did study abroad play a factor in your decision to become a doctor and research scientist, or confirm your previous interest in that career direction?

JC: I came from a family of physicians, my grandfather, my father, my uncles, my cousins were all doctors. Subconsciously, I was destined to be a physician. My father was an orthopedic surgeon, a very practical man, and he was very surprised when he learned that I was going to take my junior year abroad in France. The return for my last year of college in Worcester was quite painful. At my interview with the admissions committee at Johns Hopkins Medical School, I was asked if I had any experience with research. To some puzzled looks, I confidently responded in the affirmative that I did my senior thesis on Samuel Beckett, the Irish playwright, who wrote exclusively in French. But, stepping back now, in spite of this naivety about what was really meant by “research,” I am convinced that this eight-year immersion in literature, languages, and philosophy was extraordinarily helpful in developing the ability to think critically and to communicate effectively during my scientific career. Of course, the experience also greatly altered my view of the world and solidified my interests in the arts, music, and literature.

During the summer between college and medical school, I took a job as a psychiatric orderly at the local community hospital since I was vaguely interested in psychiatry as a result of my readings of Freud, Lacan, and Sartre. After a few weeks into the position, the older brother of my closest childhood friend was admitted to the ward with his first episode of schizophrenic psychosis. Soon, I became enmeshed in his paranoid delusions. I then saw psychosis as the ultimate epistemological conundrum but painfully not as abstract as Bishop Berkeley’s hypothesis of immaterialism. This experience cemented my decision to focus on psychiatry in medical school, as it seemed to be the best blend of epistemology, humanism, and medicine.

IES Abroad: You have played a key role in much of the ground breaking research that has taken place over the past few decades in the field of brain research. Can you point to any specific things you learned or experienced in Paris that contributed to the skills you have drawn upon throughout your career?

JC: At that point in my life, I had no experience in research and no real interest in biology. Brain science barely existed at that time. It was only after I went to medical school and got first hand experiences with research that I moved down that career path. However, my experience learning how to communicate in another language was ultimately very helpful for me in terms of being a scientist. The French language is incredibly precise. You know what each word is referring to; whereas English is a little more slippery. Doing experiments is crafting questions so that the answers are very clear. Both French and Latin were very helpful to understand the logic of science. And the product of science is – at the end of the day – the scientific paper. If your findings are not communicated clearly in a scientific paper, it didn’t happen!  So, learning to speak and write and think in another language was very helpful to write well and clearly.

IES Abroad: Most recently, you have been Chief Scientific Officer and Director, Division of Neuroscience at McLean Hospital, the largest psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School, in addition to teaching at Harvard. What are some of the exciting developments or projects you are working on at McLean?

JC: I feel extraordinarily blessed to be doing something that I really love doing and getting up in the morning and looking forward to coming into the laboratory. We are trying to understand the causes of serious mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism. What is very exciting now is the power of genetics (the sequencing of the genome that was mapped about 15 years ago) that has been brought to bear on these problems. Others have identified genes that confer risk for these disorders.  We’ve been taking these human mutations and making the same mutation in a mouse and then see what that does to the brain. How does it affect the brain structure and function? In this way, we are finding the common pathways that cause these disorders so that much more effective treatments can be developed. It is now possible to do large scale studies that are very informative. We take these broken genes and try to find out what they do in the brain. All the previous medications that we’ve had to treat psychiatric disorders and many neurological disorders were discovered by chance and serendipity. They work pretty well, but they have a lot of side effects and don’t really do a complete job.

Now that we can understand what is going wrong, we can develop treatments that are much more focused and effective. What we’re excited about right now is that because we’re replicating the effects of these defective genes in mice, can we uncover a way to reverse these effects. We’re collaborating with a colleague at Vanderbilt who makes drugs with specific targets, and we just published a paper that demonstrates that this drug in the mouse will reverse all of that brain pathology. Up until now, we’ve always thought about treating the symptoms of these conditions – like aspirin for a fever – and that may help one aspect, but not all. This suggests that there may be treatments that are curative.

IES Abroad: Looking back on your career, what are you most proud of?

JC: When I started out, psychiatry was dominated by psychoanalytic theory and existential theory. While that is very appealing and can be helpful for some situations, they are completely unhelpful for serious mental disorders. I am proud of the fact that I started out as a part of a very small group of psychiatrists who emphasized that brain science was the way forward. The science I did was sufficiently credible that as a clinician I was elected President of the Society for Neuroscience, a worldwide research organization that is comprised almost entirely of basic scientists. I was an early advocate of brain science being the way forward in effectively dealing with serious mental illness.

IES Abroad: A few years ago, you returned to Paris with your classmates to celebrate your 50^th anniversary of studying abroad. What did you and your classmates remember most fondly about your time in 1963-64?

JC: What was gratifying to me was seeing how lives unfurled for many of my classmates in very diverse ways. I remember people who were young students at the age of 19. It was a pleasure to now see them 50 years later, having made, each in their own way, very important contributions to society. Everyone who came back was gratified and changed by their experience that year.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for pre-med students today who are considering study abroad but worried about fitting it into their rigid academic curriculum?

JC: Well, Holy Cross told me I couldn’t study abroad for a whole year 50 years ago! Junior year was the year that I was scheduled to take all the rigorous science classes I would need for medical school. And it was based on your success in those classes that you got your letters of recommendation for med school. So I didn’t do that! They told me it would be hard to get into medical school. So I took the requisite science classes in summer school at Loyola in Chicago. The bottom line was how you scored on your MCAT exam, and I did fine. However, the first two years of medical school were a struggle for me!

There are vigorous debates going on in medical education about the overemphasis of science in undergraduate years and the under emphasis of the humanities. Today there is so much emphasis on a college education being the preparation for your career, and I think it is misplaced. A grounding in the arts and sciences is necessary to being a full citizen.

After moving to the U.S. from Taiwan when she was just four years old, Sue Chen (Singapore, Fall 1990) struggled with her identity. Majoring in Asian Studies in college, Sue embarked on a path of self-discovery and studied abroad to reconnect with Mandarin Chinese, the language she had spoken as a very young child. In 1993, when she was just 23 years old, Sue launched NOVA Medical Products in the U.S., which has grown to become an industry leader on a mission to unlock the potential in millions of physically challenged people. In addition to her work as CEO, Sue is a passionate shark advocate and an avid diver. Read on to see how Sue’s study abroad experience laid the foundation for her professional success, and why she credits sharks with saving her life.

IES Abroad: As a student at Trinity University, how did you hear about IES Abroad and what motivated you to study abroad in Singapore?

Sue Chen: For college, I wanted to go to a small school where no one in my high school went. This was a common theme that led to my study abroad experience. I wanted to be in an unfamiliar place so I could get to know myself. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I was so frustrated that I didn’t. When I was in college, I started out as one major and then switched to another. Then, I went down this path of taking classes in Asian Studies – studying Asian culture, politics, history, etc. As I began taking classes, I began knowing myself as this amazing by-product [being Asian American]. I knew I had to take advantage of this. I knew I wanted to study abroad.

Studying abroad, I could take an intensive class in Chinese. This complimented getting to know myself. I spoke Mandarin when I was a kid. I came over from Taiwan when I was four years old. But I grew up in a predominantly white community, and I was confused. When we would travel to Taiwan, I didn’t really fit in and when I was in the U.S., I didn’t really fit in. It wasn’t that I didn’t fit in anywhere, it was that I didn’t know myself. I chose Singapore because there were not a lot of options in Asia at the time. I wanted to speak Mandarin and I could do that there. And I liked the fact that Singapore was a very sophisticated country, and it was also a good landing place to travel to the rest of Southeast Asia.

IES Abroad: What were some of the most influential memories from your time in Singapore?

SC: The greatest memory was being a part of the community with my floor. When you first got there, you were with other American students. Then, all of the sudden this experience to assimilate with other Americans went away. They separated us and put us all in separate dorms. At first, we were all very upset. But it ended up being the best part of the program. My most amazing, wonderful, defining experiences was assimilating with my hall, my floor, my dorm, and becoming part of that micro-culture.

When it was time for me to say goodbye, these girls on my floor all got together and gave me a surprise party. I will never forget it to this day. When had I arrived, I thought, “I am different from these girls.” And then I quickly realized how much we all were the same. I still get emotional thinking about it. Forcing us apart from our group was so powerful. That’s what college is about. What really defines you are the relationships you make.

IES Abroad: You had traveled overseas with your family before studying abroad. You had been to Taiwan and other places. How was studying abroad different?

SC: It’s totally different. I tell everyone that they have to have this experience. You are just becoming an adult. The study abroad experience forces you to become that adult. You have to get to know yourself to make this a great experience for you. That is probably the most powerful component of a study abroad experience. You are thrown into a situation. You are forced to adapt, be flexible, etc. These are all the qualities that are so important in your 30s, your 40s, and as you are an adult and a professional. You develop these qualities when you are abroad.

IES Abroad: How did you change the most during your time in Singapore? Did the experience shape the way you think in a profound way today?

SC: I was going into a country with very different political views, ideologies, and laws. When you are younger, you are little rebellious and you think you know what is right and wrong. Going to a country that is very different and has very different rules, it makes you think about things in a different way. Whether right or wrong, the world has different perspectives. When I arrived, I remember thinking, “I’m going to stir things up!” But the girls on my floor looked at me like I was crazy. They just didn’t do things that way. The cultural rules were different. Being in Singapore, I quickly realized that there are different perspectives. I may not have to agree, but I have to respect them.

IES Abroad: NOVA is a family business, started by your uncles as a leading medical manufacturer in Taiwan. How did you decide to assume this role as CEO and launch NOVA Medical Products in the U.S.?

SC: My story is rather humble. I was sure that going through college, I would come out with a career plan that was set. I was voted most likely to succeed out of high school. So I was shocked that I graduated with an Asian Studies major, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was so upset at myself that I didn’t have a plan. I started taking the LSAT and GMAT and thinking about continuing my education. I took a job. As I was studying and working, I was offered the opportunity to start NOVA in the U.S. How I came to found the company was very unglamorous. It was humbling. I graduated and didn’t have a plan. But what did happen, the way it happened, is the best thing. And I got to know myself.

IES Abroad:  Were there lessons learned in Singapore that helped you in the early days of your career as a young, female CEO in a male-dominated family business and industry?

SC: When I was in Singapore, I sounded American but I looked Chinese. It was constantly confusing. Then I realized, that’s just my story. Everyone has a story. When I left, I had made so many amazing relationships. What I learned was connection. And connecting people. Trust. Getting to know someone and learning and trusting. With my company, I did the exact same thing. Connecting with people, getting to know them. I didn’t know a lot about the technical side, but I connected with people, learned about them and learned the business. It is my love of connecting with people that continues to shape this company. Every amazing thing we have ever done was the result of human connections.

IES Abroad: Do you feel that your experience in Singapore continues to have an influence on you professionally today?

SC: There’s no question it does. There is a skill set you develop when you are abroad. When you are young, your brain is still being wired. There is a confidence and a courage and a fearlessness that starts becoming part of your wiring when you are in a new place and begin experiencing new adventures. Today, as a business leader who wants to make change, it requires this fearlessness and courage. I absolutely attribute those experiences in Singapore to learning all those things you need today to run a company, or be successful, in whatever way you define it. That wiring started back then.

IES Abroad: You have many impressive accolades, among them being named by Fortune as one of the “Ten Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs” in 2011; by Ernst and Young as a finalist for the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2012; and by Forty over 40 as one of “40 Women to Watch over 40” in 2014. When you think of your company and yourself professionally, what are you most proud of?

SC: Yesterday, I met a WWII hero. We provided him with a mobility device that has given him his freedom back. I have this calling that we can do more to support our veterans and their mobility. Freedom was on their shoulders back in WWII. I want to provide mobility to all of these veterans and to all these folks who are still here. My proudest moment of running this company and being CEO is that it allows me to do these amazing things, like create little miracles. The veterans are my proudest moment.

IES Abroad: You are active in several organizations focused on shark conservation and empowering physically challenged people. How did you get interested in these causes and what drives your passion?

SC: I did a TED talk at the end of February – “Sharks Saved My Life. What Will Save You?” – that is along these lines. I’m a Christian and I believe God is calling me to do this. I kept feeling called to save sharks. I had just started diving and had had a few encounters. At first, it didn’t make sense. But sharks came at a very dark time in my life and got me back on track when I was going through a very hard time with my company and my now ex-husband. Everyone has their emotional bucket. When I become passionate about one thing, it fuels me up for my company and for other parts of my life. It’s all interrelated. I’ve run this company for 22 years and I am still so grateful and passionate. I attribute that to going where your calling is.

IES Abroad: Is there anything further you would like to tell us about Sue Chen the CEO or Sue Chen the activist, and how your study abroad in Singapore has influenced you?

SC: If my 44 year-old self were talking to my 20 year-old self, I would say: “You made a really good decision to go a do a study abroad program.” It has shaped who I am today.

IES Abroad: Is there any fun fact that you would like to share about yourself?

SC: My experience in Singapore also made me the foodie I am today.

Ever since freshman year at the University of Missouri, Deborah “Debbie” Schuler dreamed of studying abroad. When junior year came around, she packed up and went to Durham for the entire academic year, intrigued by the opportunity to attend classes at Durham University with local students in a shared language. Meeting new people and finding herself challenged by new ideas, she not only found the experience enjoyable, but she was inspired to pursue a career working overseas. After receiving her MBA, Debbie embarked on a career in international finance. She found that her previous experience abroad, especially as a woman, gave her a leg up, and she was transferred to Singapore with Continental Bank in 1981. Most recently, Debbie worked at Moody’s Corporation where she served as Senior Vice President and Group Credit Officer for the rating of financial intuitions in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Having lived and worked abroad for most of her career, Debbie is now retired and living back in the U.S. She is eager to help other students embark on their own life-changing study abroad adventures and recently made a bequest to establish the Deborah Schuler Scholarship at IES Abroad to support students with financial need. In our interview, Debbie shares her story with us.

IES Abroad: How did you hear about IES Abroad and what motivated you to study in Durham?

Deborah Schuler: I heard about IES Abroad at the Office of International Studies at the University of Missouri. I had dreamed of a junior year abroad for years, so I sought out information my freshman year. I chose Durham because: a) it was a full academic year program, b) IES Abroad students attended regular Durham University classes with local students, and c) the shared language allowed me to study at a higher level than I was capable of in a foreign language.

IES Abroad: What are one or two of your most impactful study abroad memories?

DS: First was just how much history there was all around me, compared with how little history we have in the U.S. And second, how much I enjoyed meeting new people and being challenged by new ideas and ways of doing things – so much so, that I decided I wanted to equip myself to work overseas when I graduated.

IES Abroad: How did you change most during your time in Durham? 

DS: I grew up. I proved to myself that I could handle awkward situations in places I couldn’t even speak the language. That gave me the confidence that I really was as capable as I had told my parents I was.

IES Abroad: Early on in your career, you worked for Continental Bank and were transferred to Singapore. How did studying abroad help prepare you for working internationally?  

DS: Most importantly, it was a key factor in getting me the opportunity. Failed international transfers are expensive and companies try to avoid them. In 1981, women were still often considered too delicate to handle foreign lands. My year abroad removed that obstacle. And once I arrived, I was prepared to be flexible in all the little things – food, date formats, toilet paper, etc. – and I was able to focus on the work and building a new network of friends.

IES Abroad: You went on to work for Moody’s Corporation where you served as Senior Vice President and Group Credit Officer for the rating of financial intuitions in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Were there skills learned while abroad that were particularly useful in order to be successful in your career?

DS: When the Middle East and Africa were added to my responsibilities, one manager mentioned that a consideration had been that I didn’t “freak out in emerging markets.” But seriously, every step I took –and they were sometimes small – added to my ability to do the job, even in the most foreign and more logistically-difficult places. If you keep pushing a step or two beyond your comfort zone, eventually you can be comfortable almost anywhere.

IES Abroad: You recently made a bequest that will establish the Deborah Schuler Scholarship at IES Abroad to provide support to students with financial need. What inspired you to create this fund?  

DS: Having spent most of my working life either overseas or working internationally, I have grown concerned about the small proportion of Americans who spend any time outside the U.S. and how parochial Americans often can be. The U.S. is a global power, and its businesses operate in the global economy. I believe that it is vitally important that both our future leaders and we, members of the U.S. electorate, have material, first-hand experience of other countries. On a more personal level, I think the world is a fascinating place to live and work. My study abroad experience was a key factor in setting the course for my career and life. I would like to give others the chance to share the fun and excitement of discovering how to live and work abroad.

IES Abroad: In 2017, you are planning to attend IES Abroad’s first ever Alumni Weekend in Durham. What are you most looking forward to about this event?

DS: Meeting my fellow classmates and those like-minded souls from all the other Durham classes in that ancient and dearly loved city. My most recent visit to Durham was in 1996. I was working in London from 1994-1996 and introduced my parents and my aunt to Durham in that period.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students today who are interested in studying or interning abroad?

DS: Get serious about learning a foreign language, now. Start your planning early and find the longest (in months abroad) program that you can afford and that suits your educational needs. Go for it!

Fascinated by the events and debates leading up to the establishment of the European Union, Faye Sahai studied abroad in Freiburg to see history unfolding first-hand. The experience reinforced her appreciation for diversity and curiosity about the unknown, giving her skills that helped launch her career in innovation. For more than 20 years, Faye has led innovation and strategic initiatives at companies including Blue Shield, Deloitte, Charles Schwab, Disney, HP, Kaiser Permanente, and Toyota. Today, Faye serves as Global Head of Innovation and Digital Business Centers at AIG and is an advocate for diversity in the workplace. Read on to learn how study abroad helped Faye prepare for a global career and why she believes diversity is a driving force for innovative thought.

IES Abroad: As an undergraduate at Claremont McKenna College, why did you choose to study abroad in Freiburg?

Faye Sahai: I was really interested in the Freiburg program because it was studying the European Community market. It was not just about that one country but how a group of countries were going to emerge as a new market. It was a chance to explore the process at that period of time. It has been wonderful to reflect upon that experience now given the European situation and their questioning of where they are going. So, the socio-political situation and the opportunity to visit several of those countries as part of the program is really what attracted me to the Freiburg program, in particular.

IES Abroad: What are some of your greatest memories from your time in Freiburg?

FS: It was a wonderful program! The people who were selected were very diverse. There were people with multiple interests and representing various universities from Italy and different parts of the U.S. The comradery of living together in a big house and exploring Europe and the education system together were tremendous. I found the professors very intriguing. Having both verbal and written final exams was interesting.

One memory in particular stands out. It was right before midterms, and we said we would all go to Italy, where we had never been. As luck would have it, Pope John Paul II came out and canonized someone as a saint while we were at the Vatican. I’m saying to myself, “How many places can you see this! I’ve got midterms next week, but I think that it is really important to see the new saint in Italy!” We actually got to see the Pope, and it was amazing. We then came back and studied for our midterms. We all did well. The Pope had blessed us! It was a really unique opportunity.

IES Abroad: In 1988, the Single European Act was just coming into being, and the heart of the discussions and debates leading up to the establishment of the European Union were taking place. How did this impact your experience in Freiburg?

FS: It was an exciting time. We saw a moment in history. We got to study it. We got to see the countries, hear the debate, and learn from the different perspectives. The countries involved had very different perspectives. For example, England’s perspective was very different from Spain’s perspective. And to actually visit those countries to see the different perspectives was really interesting. Freiburg, of course, is so centrally located that we easily could go to other countries.

IES Abroad: In what ways did study abroad impact your career path as an innovator?

FS: Study abroad confirmed my love of travel, my interest in other countries, and my respect for other cultures. I have a global role here at AIG looking at global innovation. Having lived and studied abroad, I have a respect for the different business practices and the nuances as I work towards different perspectives, whether I’m going to Europe or Japan or the Middle East. I’m better prepared to view how businesses and people operate, having developed a heightened sense of empathy and close observation skills. It has helped to develop my skill set. When you are studying abroad, you are going to the unknown. As an innovator, you have to take risks and go to the unknown. For me, I have always loved that part of it – that exploring, that learning something new, that learning a new skill set, that taking crash courses in German to be able to communicate (I went to Freiburg speaking no German).

IES Abroad: You have worked tirelessly to bring diversity to the workforce. What advantages do you see in study abroad for people who want to maximize their potential?

FS: Study abroad is a wonderful opportunity for people to stretch, to challenge themselves in a new environment – learning a passion, a commitment, an area of topic, learning from a different culture. I’m a strong advocate for diversity and cross cultural understanding. Studying abroad adds a whole other nuance to diversity. I think we get more innovative ideas and a better result when we are more diverse. You have diversity of thought, diversity of experience, diversity of skill set and perspectives that enrich a solution and where you are going. For some, it can be the challenge of it, too, because you have diversity of opinion and not all agree. The richness of the results comes from this diversity. You learn so much from it.

IES Abroad: You are passionate about traveling with your family. Has your experience abroad shaped how you raise your children?

FS: I think that it is the appreciation of different circumstances, traveling, and other cultures. Studying abroad is an education in itself. It helps you to grow your perspective, understand others, and empathize. Especially in this day and age, with our virtual communications and how we are engaging digitally, the world is shrinking, becoming smaller and smaller. Understanding others and cultures is so important. I thought that it was very important for my kids from a young age, since they were one, to travel every year. They are very travel-hearty! Raising my children in Silicon Valley, there are wonderful resources here, but it is, in a sense, a bubble. I have encouraged my children to study abroad when they are in college. So travel is that much more important.

My parents emigrated here from Thailand. I grew up in an immigrant family where they said you have to work twice as hard. You have to learn the perspective of the country you are in and understand that. I married someone who was born in India and raised in Brazil. His family is all around the world, too. Many of our vacations are visiting family all around the world. We made a commitment as a family to explore a different country every year. It is an important education process for our children, having them be aware of different cultures, countries, and history.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students considering studying abroad today?

FS: Go for it! Whether it is a country, a topic or an experience that you are craving, something you dreamed of, something that interests you, use this time. This is a wonderful opportunity to explore and to dive into culture and environment, to live there for a period of time. It is very different than touring a country or going on vacation. To actually live there, study there, be with your peers there, and explore for an extended period of time is an experience that everyone should have.

With a love for languages and a deep desire to study abroad, Erika Martinez aspired to be an interpreter. But after she studied abroad in Madrid and discovered her ravenous appetite for literature, she changed course to pursue a Masters in Fine Arts. As she continued to travel and live abroad in Argentina, Mexico, and elsewhere throughout Latin America, Erika took literature courses but never found Dominican authors being taught, and she was hard pressed to find them in bookstores. So, she took it upon herself to make it happen, starting with a Fulbright fellowship to conduct research in creative writing in the Dominican Republic. Over the course of many years, she compiled an anthology, Daring to Write: Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women, which was recently published in April 2016. Read on to find out how Erika’s experience in Madrid helped change the course of her life and career.

IES Abroad: You were born in New Jersey to Dominican parents and spent many years of your childhood in Santo Domingo. What led you to study abroad in Madrid, and how was it different than your previous international experiences?

Erika Martinez: To me, going to the Dominican Republic was going to visit family. In a sense, it was going home. It wasn’t an adventure. I’d longed to go to Europe ever since I began studying languages. In seventh grade I started studying Spanish, in eighth grade, French, and in college, Italian. I wanted to visit the places mentioned in my language textbooks. In high school, I saw students return from spring-break trips to Europe, and I always wanted to do what my friends were doing but could never afford to. Flying to Europe, staying in hotels, and taking educational tours was much more expensive then flying to the Caribbean and staying with family.

When I went to Ithaca College, I enrolled as a Spanish major with French and Italian minors so that I could work as an interpreter. I’ve been translating and interpreting for my mother since I was a child. I told myself that I would do a semester in each country; studying abroad would be a way to satisfy the longing I’d had since I’d begun studying languages. But I had to figure out how to do that financially since I couldn’t afford a semester in three different countries. I went to France as an au pair the summer before my junior year. Then I worked as an RA my fall semester, which allowed me to use my full Stafford loan for a spring semester of study abroad in Madrid. I didn’t get a term in Italy, but studying abroad in Madrid allowed me to visit a lot of other places in Europe.

IES Abroad: In what ways did study abroad help you explore your own identity?

EM:  Living in Madrid changed how I saw myself in the world. I’d wanted to go not only because my peers had been there, but also because every time I saw my aunt in the Dominican Republic she referred to Spain as the motherland. On each of my visits to the island, she took me to the colonial zone in Santo Domingo, and had me take a tour of the Alcázar Colón. She wanted me to feel a connection to Spanish colonial history. But I had a difficult experience in Madrid. One day I was using a public phone and someone was waiting for it. I was talking to my friend who was studying abroad in Granada, but I had to end my call because this guy kept telling me to get off the phone. He cursed at me and said, “You and your damn black race.” I was stunned. That moment reminded me that people saw me as black. Spaniards didn’t see me as someone with any tie to their country because of language. That was really difficult.

I also had the opportunity to connect with a cousin who was working in Spain. In 1994, before Spain had become part of the EU, there were a lot of immigration issues with Dominicans in Madrid. My cousin told me I should always walk around with my passport because the police could pick me up. If I didn’t have my passport, they would think I was an undocumented worker from the Dominican Republic. My cousin’s advice made me think about my place in Madrid. I wasn’t just a college student abroad. I had to be careful because of my race and because of my Dominican heritage. This wasn’t something I talked about with my peers, but it was always in the back of my mind. It was scary to think that I could be picked up at any time, and if I didn’t have the right documents on hand, I wasn’t sure where I would end up.

IES Abroad: When you studied abroad, did you have any career goals in mind? Did the experience influence your decision to pursue writing professionally in any way?

EM: Studying abroad sparked my passion for literature. When I went to college to study languages, my end goal was to be an interpreter. I loved languages. I loved learning about other countries. I loved traveling. But the classes that I took in Madrid really opened me up. I took a class called La Generación del ‘27 (The Generation of ‘27) with Marcos Rocca. His passion for poetry was amazing. Before his class, I did not like poetry. But being in class with him changed everything. He recited poems to us. He asked us to read verses aloud, and I fell in love with it. I realized that poetry was meant to be read out loud. I also took a Latin American novel class; I was devouring literature all the time. I had been an avid reader before I went to Madrid, but never as part of my school work. I remember exchanging letters with someone who had studied at IES Abroad Madrid the previous year, and he had had the same experience. He said, “Don’t you just love literature now? Don’t you wish you could write this way, too? I wish I could write like the authors we read.” I wanted to write, but I didn’t think I could. I realized that I could continue studying literature, get a Masters and, perhaps, teach literature.

IES Abroad: After receiving your MFA from Mills College, you were awarded a Fulbright to conduct research in literature and teach creative writing in the Dominican Republic. In what ways did your study abroad help prepare you for this experience?

EM: My IES Abroad experience was a big part of my foundation for the Fulbright. Receiving the grant allowed me to continue pursuing my passion. This is what I should be doing, I reminded myself when I faced challenges throughout that year, and coming back to that again and again was helpful. Fulbright fellows, receive the grant and are expected to work independently. In the beginning, the State Department issues all the warnings and then tells fellows to get out there and make connections. It’s not at all a study abroad program. I had to navigate the literary world in ways that I didn’t know how to, but I learned every day by doing it. In a lot of ways, I replicated for myself the experience that I had had in Spain. In Madrid, I learned that it was important to hear poetry read aloud the way Marcos Rocca recited poems from La Generación del ‘27, so when I was in Santo Domingo I went to readings and I went to the theater. These weren’t assignments. IES Abroad had also programmed many cultural activities outside of the classroom, so I did that for myself during my Fulbright year. I took educational trips. I wanted to learn about the trees and the wildlife because those details needed to be in my writing so I joined a birdwatching group, and I joined a spelunking group. I shaped my experience in the Dominican Republic using my IES Abroad semester as a model.

IES Abroad: Your newly published book, Daring to Write: Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women, brings together stories written by Dominican women and women of Dominican decent living in the U.S. What was the inspiration behind the book?

EM: My Latin American Novel class in Madrid didn’t include a Dominican author, and when I lived in Argentina and took Latin American literature, I didn’t study a Dominican novelist either. I also took a poetry class in Mexico, but again I didn’t study any Dominicans. Every time I traveled, I didn’t find Dominican authors being taught, and when I went to bookstores, I didn’t find Dominican books. I had been searching for a long time, so when I finished my MFA, I realized that I wanted to go back to the Dominican Republic because that was the only place I was going to study Dominican literature and that’s where I was going to find those books. That was when I realized that I wanted to work on a book that would be available here in the United States that contained Dominican authors, and I wanted to focus specifically on women authors. Since I had worked with an all-female theater company I knew how important it was to have a female-only space in order to express our experiences, and not have our voices silenced, especially because of the machismo culture in the Dominican Republic and in the Latino community, in general.

The idea had been germinating for a long time, but not until I finished graduate school and decided to figure out how to finance a year of study in the Dominican Republic did it begin to unfold. In fact, a mentor of mine at Mills College was the one who suggested I edit an anthology, and I lit up at the idea. That year, I had an essay published in a women’s anthology called Homeland: Women’s Journeys across Race, Place, and Time. My essay explored the experiences I’d had in Madrid, including my incident in the phone booth and the time I spent with my cousin. Working with the Homeland anthology editors, who were two peers from my MFA program, made me think that I could take on a project like that one day. I never imagined it would be that soon, but I embarked on the process.

IES Abroad: In addition to writing, you are passionate about teaching writing. You served first as a fellow and are now a staff member at the National Writing Project in New Hampshire. How did you get involved and what is your role today?

EM: When I was in Santo Domingo, I met the other Fulbrighters. One was Meg Petersen, who is the director at the National Writing Project in New Hampshire. She was there to start a writing project, and we began collaborating. I participated in one of the institutes that she gave at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, and she served on the reading committee for my anthology. From the beginning, we talked about the need for creative writing classes that taught the writing process in Santo Domingo. Halfway through the year we teamed up with local author Frank Baez to co-teach a creative writing class. The work generated in the class was very engaging. I was even more inspired to write and to continue teaching. Since I loved the theory and research we conducted to develop our lesson plans, Meg suggested that I apply for their Invitational Summer Writing Institute. I applied for 2010, then went as a returning fellow the following year, and then went back as a staff member. I’ve been through the institute for five times. I didn’t go last year, and I won’t go this year, because of the birth of my daughter, but I am still very connected with the National Writing Project. I serve as a judge on their Scholastic Awards Committee. Then, I edit the anthology of the winners. I also edit the Invitational Summer Writing Institute anthology. Since 2008 I’ve also remained involved in the establishment of the writing project in the Dominican Republic. We finally have a director there, who was one of the writers included in the Daring to Write anthology, and this year we will have our first Invitational Summer Writing Institute in Santo Domingo.

IES Abroad: Why do you feel study abroad is important for students today?

EM: Studying abroad is a way to help us understand the world first-hand. And we live in a more global world now. The internet has brought us very far. When I was in college, the internet was just emerging. I remember our French teacher giving us detailed instructions to go to the World Wide Web to look up French culture. Today, there is endless information at our fingertips. Virtually we are more connected, but we tend to be more disconnected at a personal level. At home in our daily rhythm, we tend to engage only with whom we come into direct contact at work or at school. And we disconnect even more, now, because we walk around looking down at our cell phones all the time. I remember when the switch happened—I’d been abroad. And when I returned to the U.S., I noticed BART riders were looking down at their phones instead of looking out and up. I loved living abroad because it helped me look at everything around me. Look up at the buildings. Look around at the parks and engage with people. I felt more alive. I think travel abroad can be an awakening. It makes you come more into your body because you have new sensory experiences. It is so important for our writing. For writers and people, in general, traveling helps open us up. When you are going through new experiences and meet new people daily, you start realizing what you like and what you don’t like, or you notice what types of situations bring out your different characteristics. You get to know yourself more, and you get to know other people in the world. That is so important in order to figure out how to live your best life and how to live it to the fullest.

Studying abroad in London was an eye-opening experience for Mark Shriver. Through travel in Europe, the Soviet Union, Egypt, and Israel that year, Mark was exposed to a multitude of new perspectives, cultures, and different political systems resulting in personal growth. On top of it all, Mark got a first-hand look at the British political system through an internship in Parliament. Coming from a family background of public service, Mark has dedicated his life’s work to advocating for children. Today, as president of Save the Children Action Network (SCAN), Mark fights to make sure that every child has a strong start in life. As the political advocacy arm of Save the Children, SCAN has two goals: to make sure every child in the U.S. has access to high-quality early learning and that no mother or child around the globe dies from a preventable death. In 2012, Mark wrote a New York Times best-selling memoir, A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver. Mark is now finalizing a book on Pope Francis, Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis, scheduled to be released this fall. Read on to find out more about the book, the inspiration behind Mark’s passion for children, and why he believes study abroad is important for students today.

IES Abroad: What are some of the most influential memories from your time as a student in London?

Mark Shriver: I think it was not only the classes I took but the internship I had at Parliament, working for a Member of Parliament, and being exposed to a different form of government than what I had experienced in America. It was also the ability to travel, not only through the United Kingdom but also being able to go to Ireland and then Europe, being exposed to France and Holland and Italy. And then from there – I did my second semester junior year – I traveled after school was over to what at that point was the Soviet Union, and through Egypt and Israel. So, exposure to history, exposure to different cultures, exposure to different political systems, not just the Parliamentary system but communism in the Soviet Union and being able to go into Berlin – East Berlin and West Berlin – when it was still divided, and exposure to so many different aspects of the world was eye-opening for me as a 21-year-old kid.

There is obviously great value in the act of taking classes abroad, but when you are able to travel abroad and be exposed to the actual places where the history took place, whether it was Paris or Amsterdam, seeing real paintings in museums in Amsterdam to going to museums in Paris to exposure to the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, it was just fantastic for six months. None of that would have happened if I hadn’t had the Junior Year Abroad experience. My point is that I wouldn’t have been over there dealing with any of that – seen Europe, gone to classes there, or been exposed to the travel during the summertime – if I had not been on the IES Abroad program.

IES Abroad: How did you change the most during your time in London?

MS: I don’t know if I “changed,” but I think it was the exposure to all these different cultures, history, and different people that helped me grow the most while studying abroad. I didn’t have a “Saul on the Road to Damascus” experience. I just think it is exposure to different political systems. It’s exposure to different people, different lifestyles, and I think it is all part of the maturation process. It was a fascinating real life experience.

IES Abroad: Were there any lessons learned abroad that have remained a constant throughout your life?

MS: I think there are different ways of learning. When you are exposed to different people, different ideas, different experiences, you grow as an individual. You can study all you want through a book, but if you live it in a setting that is different than the college or university campus that you are used to, for four or six months or a year, that’s going to profoundly alter your education and really enhance it. And that’s what the study abroad experience was for me. I think if you are weighing whether to stay an extra semester at your university or go travel to Europe or Central or South America or Asia, the case was strong not only in 1985 when I went, but even stronger today, because the world is flatter and the world is smaller than it was when I was in college. So, am I encouraging our daughter to go when she is in her junior year? Yes. Hugely.

IES Abroad: You have dedicated your life’s work to advocating for children and the right of every child in the U.S. to have a ‘safe and vibrant childhood,’ including access to high-quality, early childhood education and to end preventable deaths of moms and kids around the world. What has compelled you to fight for children’s rights?

MS: I think it was my experience in college working in an Upward Bound program. My brother ran an Upward Bound program for kids in the Hartford and New Haven Connecticut Public Schools System, and I worked there two summers tutoring inner-city kids who were struggling in school. They were very bright, yet for one reason or another were struggling. I enjoyed that work immensely, and when I got out of college, I had a friend who worked with kids who had been arrested, juvenile delinquents, and it just seemed like there was huge opportunity to help kids and essentially start something new that could succeed. That is why I started a program called The Choice Program, and that has really taken off. That is where I have spent most of my career. We are trying to help children, and we are trying to mobilize people and resources around that issue, trying to get people to work together to make a difference in kids’ lives. It’s exciting. It’s rewarding. It makes a big difference in other people’s lives, so it is a pretty good job.

IES Abroad: What is your vision as President of Save the Children’s Action Network?

MS: There isn’t a really strong voice for kids in America. There is no NRA for kids. The AARP is for adults. There is the NRA, which is for hand-gun control or lack thereof. The question is: what organization is that strong voice for children that makes a difference in the political arena, and there isn’t one. So we are trying to be that voice to mobilize people to care about children and their needs and to put some pressure and accountability on elected officials so that they will do well by our kids.

IES Abroad: You are finalizing a new book on Pope Francis, Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis. Can you give us an update or tell us how the project is going?

MS: It is coming out the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (2016). It has been an incredible journey. I got to talk to dozens of Pope Francis’ colleagues and friends trying to figure out who he is, to get a better understanding of who the man is and how he thinks and acts. He is a fascinating individual who really does walk the walk. He is very humble, he is very dedicated, and he is incredibly committed to not only the concept of mercy and love but of service to others. There is this Catholic ideal of being a man or a woman for and with others, and he is definitely a man for and with others. He listens to poor people. He doesn’t just serve, but he listens and tries to learn from everybody that he meets. He is a real role model.

IES Abroad: Looking back over your career and your life in public service, what are you most proud of?

MS: I am most proud of being married for 25 years and having three kids who are thoughtful and who help others. They do a lot of community service work and they work hard and they give back. When all is said and done, that is the most important thing. You can have buildings named after yourself, but if your kids don’t like you or talk to you, you’re not doing too well. It doesn’t really add up to much. That is what I am most proud of. The kids are doing great work. And I work with a lot of fantastic people every day who are trying to make the world a little bit better, so I’m proud of that, too.  

IES Abroad: What words of wisdom do you have for future generations – today’s children and young adults – regarding the importance of gaining an international experience, regardless of financial means?

MS: I made the decision to enroll at IES Abroad on short notice, and I’m so glad I did it. I’m definitely encouraging our children to study abroad. My wife studied abroad her junior year in France. She learned a language. She understands that culture better than anyone I know. I think having a better understanding of the world is so much more important than it was when I was in college in the mid-80s. So, if a kid has an opportunity to study in a country that they are interested in, and they can travel from that country or stay within that country, or travel around that continent that they are on, that’s a tremendous opportunity. It just breaks down walls of misunderstandings and prejudice. If you think the culture is not that sophisticated or not that thoughtful, and you meet people who are thoughtful and sophisticated and you understand the issues that they are dealing with and the problems they are facing, the solutions they are trying to implement – that is always going to help you in life. It is going to broaden your horizons, and it is going to make you a better leader, a better employee, a better mom or dad. I think it’s great.

While studying abroad in Salamanca to improve his Spanish-language skills, Leighton Rice immersed himself in the rich history and culture of Spain. The experience left him inspired to learn about his own history and return to his hometown of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. There he joined the family business, Rice Fruit Company – the largest apple-packing facility in the Eastern U.S. – despite not having a background in agriculture. In our interview, Leighton shares how the lessons and skills he learned in Salamanca continue to impact his career, and why he supports scholarships for IES Abroad students.

IES Abroad: As a student at Haverford College majoring in Religion, why did you decide to study abroad and what drew you to Salamanca?

Leighton Rice: I decided to study abroad because I had talked to so many people who said that it was a must, that it was a life-changing experience and gave them a healthier attitude towards their college education. I wanted to go to a Spanish-speaking country because I had two years of college-level study in the language and thought that immersion was the best way to improve. This turned out to be very true. I remember towards the end of my study…renting some bikes and riding through the little pueblos outside the city with a friend who was doing study abroad concurrently in Holland. We stopped and chatted with some locals out for a walk. They asked me, after hearing me speak for ten minutes, if I was from Salamanca. That was a “wow” moment for me!

I wanted to go to Europe instead of Latin America because I’m more interested in European history and culture. I’ve also had a fascination with Spain since the summer of 1999, when my family went on a three-week vacation to Spain where we drove most of the Camino de Santiago. Also, I had recently read James Michener’s Iberia which details the different cities and regions of Spain. Salamanca called to me for some reason. For one, I’ve never been a big-city guy and Salamanca seemed just the right size. I feel like I explored every little nook and cranny of that beautiful town.

IES Abroad: What are some of the most influential memories from your time in Salamanca?

LR: One of the things I loved most about study abroad and about Salamanca, specifically, was the sense of discovery. You could walk down a crooked side-street and discover something magical – the likes of which would make it the main attraction in a town in the U.S. But in Salamanca, it was just one those hidden treasures that almost seemed forgotten. It might be a beautiful 900-year-old church or civic building or maybe a beautiful park or a piece of public art. The history practically dripped from the walls. I took a class on literature and poetry from Spain’s golden age. I remember one morning studying a poem written by a poet who, the book stated, also happened to be an organist. Stepping outside the classroom into one of the many beautiful plazas in the town, I took notice of a statue standing in front of what looked like organ pipes glistening with water that was trickling down in the fashion of a public fountain. When I looked closer, I saw it was the same name as the poet we were just reading. Somehow the professor didn’t think to mention that the same poet was an organist at one of the large cathedrals in Salamanca and that his statue stood just outside the door of the building.

IES Abroad: Why did you decide to go into agriculture and work for the family business, R&L Orchards and Rice Fruit Company?

LR: My role now is Quality Assurance Director at Rice Fruit Company. It is a fairly large business that packs and sells fruit for the wholesale market, mainly on the East Coast. Our largest customers are Walmart, Costco, Kroger, Sam’s Club, Publix, and Whole Foods. We also sell heavily into the New York and Boston markets. I came here about two years ago after seven years working at R&L Orchards, which is the field branch of the same family company. When I left Salamanca, I had the strong sense that I wanted to go into the family business. Similar to that was the feeling that I wanted to learn more about my hometown of Gettysburg. I can’t say why, exactly. For one, when you immerse yourself in world history, you become more aware of your own history and your role in the world. Just like the native Spaniards who might not think much of the cultural riches that surround them, I didn’t think much of the National Park at Gettysburg and all the monuments and stories about the battle. Now, I am more curious to learn about those things. And I am more interested to do my part to supply the world with quality apples and peaches.

IES Abroad: What are some of the biggest challenges you face in the business? Were there lessons learned in Salamanca that are valuable in your work today as both a farmer and a businessman?

LR: A family business presents many challenges that a normal business does not. I’ve weathered many challenges related to that aspect of my career. In the end, I see it as a positive thing, and I have to attribute some of that optimism to the lessons I learned while studying abroad. Specifically, I learned a great deal of humility when I was abroad. Study abroad is not an easy experience, and I don’t think anyone should expect it to be smooth sailing. You are stepping way out of your comfort zone into a culture and language that might not be familiar to you. So, you are forced to use the language skills you have. If those skills are not highly-developed, you are often left feeling stupid and weak – a good life lesson. Having Spanish language skills has been very important in my career. Most of the force behind agriculture is Spanish-speaking. Most industries in the U.S. employ Hispanic workers at some level. Half of the interactions I have during the day are carried on in Spanish. When I worked on the farm it was more.

IES Abroad: What is one thing you learned while abroad that remains a constant in your life today?

LR: The importance of spirited action. The only way to do anything in life is to do it! I walked into the family business knowing practically nothing about an industry which is highly complex and relies on nuanced aspects of weather and world markets. It was very overwhelming, but I never ran from anything out of fear. I just got out there and learned it, one day at a time. That means hop right up on the tractor, drop the clutch, and go. I made plenty of mistakes, which are all-the-more embarrassing when you’re the boss’s nephew. Once I even drove a tractor straight into an irrigation pond. But after nine years in the business, I’ve learned a tremendous amount. I guess you could say that study abroad helped me to embrace the principle of spirited action. Just give it a try, even if you don’t know what you’re doing (within reason of course). And don’t look back.

IES Abroad: You participated in IES Abroad’s first ever #GivingTuesday campaign in 2014. Why is study abroad so important to you, and what motivated you to make a gift to support scholarships for future students?

LR: I think we learn a lot about ourselves by experiencing contrasts. Therefore, one of the greatest achievements of the study abroad experience is self-discovery. I came away from my semester in Salamanca with a much clearer idea about my future and many of the skills I would need for that journey. In the context of most people’s lives, there is no better opportunity to undertake this type of learning than through study abroad. IES Abroad provided each of us with a greater chance to explore. I have given to IES Abroad because it is a sure bet for positive change.

Forced by her German mother to study abroad and learn the language, Alexandra Jewett didn’t have much of a choice, but it ended of being one of her greatest experiences and opened up numerous opportunities as a result. After the CIA showed interest in her after college graduation, she took what she believed was a safer route and returned home to Washington, D.C. to instead take a job in television production. She soon moved to NYC to work on The Phil Donahue Show, which won several Daytime Emmys during her tenure, and was eventually tasked with launching American-style daytime talk shows internationally. The skills she learned abroad proved instrumental as she successfully launched shows in Germany, France, Holland, England, Israel, and Malaysia. Three children later, she easily stepped into launching and executive producing shows back in the U.S. Today, Alexandra runs programming and development for Debmar-Mercury, a leading television production, syndication, and distribution company, overseeing shows such as The Wendy Williams Show and Celebrity Name Game with Craig Ferguson. Nominated for several Daytime Emmys herself, Alexandra remains extremely grateful for her year abroad and is forcing her daughters to study abroad in college, too.

IES Abroad: What motivated you to study abroad and why did you choose the program in Freiburg?

Alexandra Jewett: I wasn’t so much motivated to study abroad. I was forced by my parents, and it turned out to be one of the best gifts they gave me. My mother is German. She was born in Nuremburg. German was not offered in my high school, so I didn’t start studying German until college at Vassar. It wasn’t going well. It was dragging down my GPA quite a bit. My mother decided that I really needed to go spend a full year in Germany studying the language and continuing my studies, which was the last thing I wanted to do. She was quite high on Freiburg because it was a beautiful university town, and she knew it well. She was the driving force. I don’t know if they even offered a semester program. None of my friends were studying abroad for a full year. I had some of my high school friends at other colleges that were doing a semester in Rome or a semester in England.  It really was a life changing experience. Just in terms of understanding the culture and learning the language, and not to sound trite, but in finding myself and understanding who I was in a lot more meaningful way than I think I would have staying at Vassar for that year.

IES Abroad: Did you have an 'ah ha' moment while you were in Europe that critically changed the way you think?

AJ: I went the summer before, and then I stayed through the following summer, so I was there for 15 months.  And again, not by choice. I was really alone. I had no friends, no family in Freiburg. I became friends with the other Americans who were studying in Freiburg, and they were unlike any friends I had ever made in high school or college. We didn’t have any cell phones, and it was always snowing in Freiburg. I would have to trudge through the snow to the pay phone to put the coins in to reach my family or friends. I remember feeling very lonely and sort of not in control of my life, and in the beginning I really wanted to come home. But by the time I left, I had the opportunity to travel to so many different places and countries and meet so many people that I would have never opened myself up to meet. I came back a changed person, changed for the better.

I think maybe my “ah ha” moment came after I came back home for my senior year. That was when I felt this enormous gratitude that I had gone and done that, had the experiences, and had in that one year seen so much of the world, met so many interesting people, and learned things that I never would have been able to learn in my classrooms and about myself and about the world. And I also came back speaking German fluently, which ended up being a real gift to me in my career, especially in the early part of my career.

IES Abroad: How did studying in Freiburg impact your career, particularly early on as you started your career in television?

AJ: I was a political science major and international relations minor in college, and I studied international relations in Freiburg. When I came back, the CIA was showing an enormous interest in me, which was an interesting twist. It was this sort of entry level job but I had to commit to living abroad for three years, and the pay was really good. I don’t know that I even considered it seriously. The thought of it terrified me. It was during the Cold War, and what I imagined I would be doing, no real facts, but my imagination got the better of me. But there was real interest in me because I spoke fluent German, I had spent a good deal of time in Europe, and I was able to assimilate well into another culture. When I graduated from college and moved to Washington D.C., like most graduates, I couldn’t find a job. So I ended up, by default, taking an available job in television production, something I knew nothing about. Early on in my career, I was a producer on The Phil Donahue Show in New York City, and my husband took a job in Albany. I had to quit my job, which I loved, and the chairman of the company that owned and produced Donahue asked if I spoke any other languages. Freiburg is very close to France, and I had taken French in high school, so I said, “Yes, I speak German and French,” and he said, “Great, let’s go start American-style talk shows in international territories. We’ll start with Germany.” And I went to Germany and launched the first of three shows we did in there, including two extremely successful daytime talk shows, one called Fliege and another called Vera am Mittag.

IES Abroad: What skills in particular helped you launch daytime television shows in international territories?

AJ: I went over and I tried to understand not only the landscape of daytime television, but even more importantly, the culture and habits of the country, so I could figure out what kind of show would work. Then I would begin the process of finding and recruiting talent, a production partner, etc. etc.  We launched the first one in Germany, then went on to launch shows in France, Holland, England, Israel, and Malaysia. We launched a number of really successful shows in international territories. We had U.S. competitors, but I think I really had an advantage because I knew how to walk into a foreign territory and very quickly assimilate and very quickly have enormous respect for their culture, their values, and work with the team, a local team there, to create something that would work for them and their audience. I eventually had three children, and I was spending 18 days a month abroad, and it just became too difficult. I decided I really needed to focus on working here in America, not traveling. Because I had launched almost a dozen television shows, it was a big stepping stone, and I was able to step right into launching and executive producing shows in the U.S. 

IES Abroad: Tell us about your work today at Debmar-Mercury. What gets you up in the morning and excites you the most?

AJ: I run programming and development for Debmar-Mercury, a production, syndication, and distribution television company. We have multiple formats on the air, from talk shows to game shows to sitcoms. The company is partly owned by Lions Gate. I oversee the current programming that we have on the air as well as develop new programming, new shows for syndication. Right now, we produce The Wendy Williams Show. We have a game show called Celebrity Name Game with Craig Ferguson. We distribute Family Feud. We have Anger Management with Charlie Sheen in syndication. We have a lot of shows from game shows to talk shows in the development pipeline as well as continuing to develop scripted. At the end of every day, no matter how difficult of a day I’ve had, I feel like I had a more interesting day than most people. You’re telling stories, you’re working with talent, and you’re meeting people that you would never ever get to meet or talk to if it weren’t for your job. Because I spoke a couple of other languages, I was chosen early on in my career to travel a lot and now 25+ years I have traveled to most parts of the world – Russia, Malaysia, Israel, and throughout Europe – for work, and that has been extraordinary. I feel enormous gratitude that I’ve gotten to go so many places, meet so many people, and work together with so many different people. I just can’t imagine what other job I would have had that would have allowed me to do that.

IES Abroad: You have been nominated for a Daytime Emmy several times and many of the programs you have worked on has won prestigious awards. What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?

AJ: For many, many years I was a daytime talk show producer and executive producer. A dozen of those, I certainly helped create and launch. But creating and launching daytime talk shows in foreign territories successfully is probably one of my greatest accomplishments. It was a herculean task, and I would have never ever been able to do it successfully or do it well if I hadn’t spent a year studying and living and working abroad. No way would I have been able to feel confident, feel comfortable, be open enough, understand that I was the stranger in the land and needed to assimilate. Because I may know how to launch a TV show, but that doesn’t mean I know how to launch a TV show in France or in Italy or in Malaysia. So, for me, that is what I am most proud of.

IES Abroad: Are there lessons you learned in Freiburg that have remained a constant throughout your career?

AJ: I think one big lesson for me was that you can’t control everything. I was used to having much more control over my life. I was young, I had gone through high school and two years of college, but I was able to control who I hung out with, my schedule, what classes I wanted to take, what I wanted to do with my free time. Moving to Germany with no cell phone, not speaking the language, and knowing nobody and knowing that I was going to be there for 15 months, I had to figure it all out. I remember feeling very out of control and feeling very lonely at times, but I also remember coming home and feeling enormous pride that I had done the year well and had much more self-confidence than I even knew was possible. I had incredible gratitude for the experiences that I had, the places that I had been able to go, the people that I had been able to get to know, and I had a stronger sense of who I was and how I wanted to live my life. I didn’t have control over a lot of it. A lot of it I just had to accept, and that wasn’t something I was all that used to. I have looked back on that experience a lot over my life when things feel a little out of control. You just have to put one step in front of the other, and your attitude is going to determine what kind of a day you have. So, just have a good attitude and move forward. I think that is one lesson I learned from studying abroad.

IES Abroad: In what ways do you stress the importance of studying abroad to your own children?

AJ: With my own three daughters, my line has always been: I will not pay one penny of college unless you commit to study abroad. Two of the three have already gone off and studied abroad and have come back a changed person for the better – more mature, more empathetic, a deeper understanding of themselves and what their capabilities are, a willingness to be open to other people and cultures. It may have taken them much longer to figure out how important it is to embrace curiosity, to know how to adapt, to make an effort to try to fit in to disparate cultures and places, and to embrace things that feel and seem foreign to you, rather than turn away. They know how important an experience it was for me because I’ve talked about it always. Just to go and live on your own in a place that is so unfamiliar and really try to embrace that experience, though maybe lonely at times or sometimes too far from the comforts of home, I don’t know many people that ever regretted doing it. In fact, it is the opposite. When else in your life can you go and live in some totally new land for six months at a time? Once you graduate from college, you get on that hamster wheel pretty quickly, and it is hard to find a job that will even give you two weeks off. The opportunities for travel and the opportunities to sit in a café and talk to somebody who you would never ever have the opportunity to meet in your lifetime are just extraordinary.

My advice: don’t go over there and immediately find the other Americans and only hang out with them because that you can do anytime. This is quite possibly the only time in your life you will ever have the opportunity to go live in a different country and really try to understand that place and the culture and the people. When else do you have the opportunity to do that? Go study abroad if at all possible. And once you get there…soak it all in, and do your best to fit in. It will enrich your life in ways you can’t imagine. And you will have extraordinary memories for a lifetime.

A true cosmopolitan, a “man of the world,” Dr. William G. Durden never realized what the world had in store for him as a first generation college student. After getting the travel bug during a high school immersion trip and having a “mindful” year-long experience in Freiburg, Dr. Durden went on to lead an impressive career in higher education. Through it all – from professor at Johns Hopkins University to President of the Division of Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. to President of Dickinson College – Dr. Durden has been a champion of international education. In our interview, Dr. Durden explains the important role study abroad played in his life, and why he believes it remains such an important experience for students today.

IES Abroad: You were one of the first in your family to attend college. Had you traveled internationally before studying abroad?

William Durden: I had studied German in junior high and high school, and there was a German teacher who organized summer trips to Germany in two parts – the A plan and the B plan, or the economy class and the business class versions. I went on the economy class trip, which was far less expensive. We went over on a ship, which was great fun, and lived with a family in a German city. As I spent my summer in a small German town, I realized there was something that attracted me to another dialogue and another way of looking at the world.  

IES Abroad: How did you hear about IES Abroad and what motivated you to study in Freiburg?

WD: I originally intended to be an English major, but I realized I would have to “destroy” the English language by overanalyzing and dissecting it in order to learn it well. I didn’t want to do that, so I switched over to German and combined it with Philosophy. Somehow it felt more comfortable to take apart another language in order to learn it. I was the first or second group to go overseas with IES Abroad from Dickinson. Everyone in the College was behind the idea of study abroad and supported it. There was something about being abroad that appealed to me. This encouragement – that of course I would study overseas – made it easier to go.

IES Abroad: What were some of the most influential memories from your time in Freiburg as an undergraduate student?

WD: I think I was practicing mindful international education. By being a first generation student, I had the feeling that I knew I wanted to have a purposeful education. So, before I went, I read lots of German literature that was asking questions about life. I came upon German philosophers that practiced in Freiburg, and I was lucky enough to get into this first semester course that turned out to be a nine-year seminar in Heidegger’s philosophy.

The second element was that I learned some things about myself. I didn’t really realize until I was in the IES Abroad environment about how we (our group) would approach that year and help take care of each other. I was elected the class speaker. I realized that maybe I do have some abilities to get things done, organize experiences, etc. I also realized that I liked people – I like helping people, I like engaging with them, working with a sense a humor. I liked negotiating and figuring things out.

I began throughout the year to recognize my lifestyle, how I felt most comfortable existing. We would go to the café, have coffee, exchange our ideas. It became a habit, a lifestyle – reading books, challenging each other – with both my American IES Abroad friends and my German friends. With my IES Abroad friends, I remember just wandering the city and observing. It very much became what I still do today. When I go to places, I still seek out the local café, wander the city, and observe as much as I can.

IES Abroad: During your 16-year tenure at Johns Hopkins University as German professor and executive director of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY), you also had a long-standing engagement with the U.S. Department of State. How did you get involved with the State Department?

I have always had an international component. The world is bigger than the U.S., and we need to consider the bigger world. I was the founding director of CTY. International education is an international issue. As you get out there, people notice. They came to me. They knew Johns Hopkins’ reputation, and they asked me to get involved. There is no doubt in my mind that they saw I had an international experience in my background. Obviously, they wanted to engage someone who was comfortable internationally and had experience. The State Department just celebrated their 30^th anniversary of the gifted and talented program they recruited me to start. It is going strong, with an effort to help ensure U.S. students in international schools around the world focus on gifted and talented and learning challenges. The more you are out there, the more you see how the world is related, and people are related. I wrote a book, Living on the Diagonal, that addresses these issues. It all started years ago in Freiburg.

IES Abroad: From Johns Hopkins you took a dual-leadership role with Sylvan Learning as President of the Division of Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. and Vice-President for Academic Affairs of the Caliber Learning Network, a joint distance-learning venture of Sylvan and MCI. What motivated you to make this change?

WD: One of things I got involved in at Johns Hopkins was testing and the SAT. I was never really satisfied with administering the test solely or focusing on verbal and mathematic abilities. It was missing those who didn’t have proper learning about these things. I thought, maybe there is another intelligence, a spatial intelligence. We might find people who we could identify and nurture, those whose first language is not English, for example. There was imagery that was beginning to show up beyond letters and numbers. I wondered if we could make tests more readily available if they were computerized. The place that was doing this was Sylvan Learning Systems. They had a huge division of prometrics, computerized testing. I approached the company and they did it pro-bono, they published the test.

There was a part of me that was an academic entrepreneur. I liked building things. The CEO of Sylvan Learning Systems called me up and asked me if I was interested in working with them. My first trip with them was to Germany to look at a Germany company that they were looking to buy. I helped with the negotiations, and I ended up staying in Dusseldorf for two years.

IES Abroad: After Sylvan, you served as President of Dickinson College for 14 years. Tell us how that happened. 

WD: I was totally happy where I was and the College came to me. I said no. I didn’t think Dickinson College was achieving academically how I wanted it to achieve nor

did I want to be a part of it. I didn’t have the confidence in the leadership. The headhunter came back and said the Search Committee refused my answer. I told them, as an alum, I was extremely disappointed. I would shake thing up and do things the way I thought best. I don’t want a contract. I said I would stay as long as I feel I am being effective. Except for the military and Dickinson College, I’ve never had a job that pre-existed me. It was either made up for me, or I made it up for myself. The foundation for that came out of my international explorations.

IES Abroad: In 2006, The Forum on Education Abroad, the official Standards Development Organization for the field of education abroad, moved its operations to Dickinson College. Why was it important that Dickinson play a lead role in international education at the national level?

WD: Dickinson College always had that international bent. Even back when I was a student there, they were so supportive of students having international experiences. I attempted from my position to support that. It was a very natural and easy fit for me to engage in that. What Dickinson College was lacking was a leadership narrative – something people would want to be part of. It lacked the ability to drive self-confidence and know who it was. The founder was Dr. Benjamin Rush, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Rush went to Princeton but he did his medical degree in Edinburgh. That year in Scotland was the most formative of his life. He wrote a letter where he would advise how to approach overseas study – steps to take, including going to dances and speaking to all types of people. I was trying to reclaim the international influence of the founding and reinvent the institution. International education was an issue that mattered, and I wanted us at the table. The Forum just fit in with my narrative. It was an additional way to participate with others in the national and international conversation.

IES Abroad: What advice would you give students today as they are embarking on their study abroad?

WD:

1. Have a mindful experience. It is somewhat purposeful, not accidental. There is virtue in the accidental, but not totally. You need to prepare and to think about it. So, give it some thought. Prepare as much as you can. Prepare for where you are going – read the literature, learn about the customs, try to understand what is different.
2. When you are there, engage. Be out there. Absorb every bit of the experience that you can. It is nice to have a focus that orients you, but then find connection to random things that happen. Be engaged, live very intensely during that year.
3. Reflect on the meaning of that year. We don’t do it enough. Specific skills may have been picked up, but what about the subtle things. Whole set of things start to change when you are abroad for a sustained period.
4. Have an ethical frame of mind to going overseas. People are more alike than they are different. Our effort should be to find that commonality. It is a lifestyle, a disposition. Today, in particular, students should be poised to reflect upon where they are going, how that location is a shared place of global challenge, and use that to give structure to their experience. Higher education costs too much to be a frivolous experience. There needs to be intentionality.
5. Form a deep sustained relationship to a local person in the foreign context, and sustain it beyond the year. It is really difficult to do, and to do that with just one person is a success.

IES Abroad: You retired as President of Dickinson College, but you haven’t slowed down. You remain an active champion of international education. Why is it so important?

WD: It’s not work. It’s all about living the fullest life that is possible. When you extend your points of contact both in the U.S. and overseas, you are increasing the possibility of a wholesome life. You then want others to have this opportunity. It’s the right path for others if they want to accomplish it, too. You want them to have the most expansive area from which to build the quality of their own life and their contribution to the rest of the world. It turns out that it is absolutely essential to have global connections. I’m such an advocate of international education because, look, for a first generation kid, it opened up such a playing field for me, such mobility. I can only recommend it for others.

Today, Dr. Durden juggles several demanding positions – commuting to the U.K. once a month as Dean of the new School of Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE) at Bath Spa University; lecturing as Professor of Liberal Arts at Dickinson College; serving as Joint Professor (Research) at the Johns Hopkins School of Education; and working as an Operating Partner for Sterling Partners.