Whitworth students will have the opportunity to study at a satellite campus in Costa Rica in the fall of 2010.
“Approximately 30 students each semester and Jan Term will have a chance to take general education courses in Costa Rica,” said Lindy Scott, professor of modern languages.
By the year 2012, Michael Le Roy, vice president of academic affairs, and the Board members for this project want to reach the amount of 60 students attending the satellite campus.
The number of students studying at the campus in Jan Term will remain at 30, Scott said.
Students who study at the campus will continue to pay Whitworth tuition, Scott said. There will be an added cost for flight expenses.
Le Roy announced at a faculty assembly meeting held earlier this month that a piece of property has been chosen for the campus.
The Barbizon property, located in the San Jose valley in Costa Rica, meets all of Whitworth’s selection criteria for the property, Le Roy said.
Selection criteria for the campus location included the safety and security of the location, its distance from a town center, and the presence of neighbors and friends supportive of Whitworth’s academic program plans, according to information presented by Le Roy to the faculty assembly.
Also taken into consideration were criteria relating to the academic program and the infrastructure of prospective sites.
At the Board of Trustees plenary session held on Friday, Oct. 9, Le Roy presented assets of the property and the academic program students will follow while studying at the school campus.
“We recommend purchase of this property,” Le Roy said.
The Board of Trustees unanimously approved the academic program.
The process of securing the property will move forward as planned.
Scott said he and the Board of Trustees want students to have more chances to travel.
“We want to give students additional opportunity to go overseas,” Scott said.
He said he would like to see Whitworth continue to expand globally.
Students accepted into the program will stay with host families to build relationships and experience the lifestyle of Costa Rican residents, Scott said.
Though all students may apply to the program, the campus was created to give students in the Latin America Studies Program an additional opportunity to study abroad.
“Spanish majors will probably double or even triple their skills in the Spanish language while studying at the campus,” Scott said.
An additional advantage of a new campus will be the relief of on-campus student housing overflow as Whitworth continues to expand, Scott said.
Dave Myers, chair of the Board of Trustees academic affairs committee, said the establishment of an international satellite campus fits with Whitworth’s goal to integrate with the global community.
The plan to create a satellite campus in the Central American region was developed in 2003 by Jim Hunt, former chair of the faculty assembly.
Student demand and faculty experience in the area were two factors that led to the development of the plan, said Le Roy.
Le Roy said 60 students applied for the last Central America study abroad program, and only 22 were accepted due to the program’s limited capacity.
Also taken into consideration were the results of a survey administrators sent out to students several years ago. The survey asked students which overseas location they would best like to study abroad at. Latin America was ranked second, Scott said.
Administrators decided to choose Costa Rica as the host nation for the satellite campus in 2008. From the time the decision was made, faculty have conducted 18 months of site research in the region, including visits to international campuses within the nation.
Costa Rica was chosen by administrators as the location of the satellite campus for a number of reasons.
“Costa Rica is one of the most politically stable countries in Central America,” Le Roy said. “It is a very suitable environment to bring students into from a risk management point of view.”
Scott also said the government system of Costa Rica is considered more stable than systems of surrounding nations.
“Their government system is democratic,” he said.
Faculty contacts in Costa Rica were also taken into consideration while prospective locations for the campus were being considered.
“We’ve had good contacts there for 30 years now,” Scott said.
Most of these connections have been made during past study abroad programs, he said.
“Also, Costa Rica is known to have beautiful scenery with fascinating history behind it.” Scott said.
A total of 15 months were spent researching potential locations for the satellite campus within the nation.
Multiple factors were taken into consideration for the selection of property.
“We didn’t want a place that was too urban. But we also didn’t want the campus to be too far removed from urban centers,” Le Roy said.
Le Roy said he hopes that students will succeed at the satellite campus.
“[Our goal is to] help our students to live in a cultural context,” Le Roy said.
Kim Hernandez, instructor of Spanish, believes the new campus will present a good opportunity for all students to study abroad.
“I think that all students, not just Spanish majors, can benefit from an immersion experience,” Hernandez said.
Students who are not majoring in Spanish, or who are not proficient in Spanish, should not be intimidated to apply, Hernandez said.
“This is a great opportunity for all students to experience life globally,” Hernandez said.
Senior Libby Schmit, Spanish and psychology major, also believes any student who is interested should apply.
“All students should try this. Costa Rica is an enhanced multicultural view,” Schmit said.
Schmit, who has studied abroad in the Central America region, said her time abroad was the best experience she had ever had.
“It was worth it to get out of my comfort zone,” Schmit said. “The locals were very open and friendly.”
Contact Andy Song at andy.song@whitworthian.com
Satellite campus to open in Costa Rica
Published: Monday, October 12, 2009
Updated: Friday, October 16, 2009
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Map by De Andra Kenoly
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