IN FOCUS: Vietnam is a project developed by the Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Union College Partnership for Global Education (PGE) in support of its study abroad program in Hanoi, Vietnam. Created in 1999, the PGE is dedicated to exploring the benefits of consortial collaboration in study abroad as well as to developing innovative pre-departure and reentry programming for study abroad students.

In 2001 the PGE was awarded a grant from the United States Department of Education’s Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language program (UISFL) to enhance its study abroad program in Hanoi, Vietnam. In addition to supporting faculty development opportunities, a speakers’ series, and an international symposium on Vietnam, this grant has contributed to the development of two key pre-departure activities for students who participate in the Hanoi program: an intensive Vietnamese language seminar and the IN FOCUS: Vietnam video orientation program.

The IN FOCUS project brought together faculty and students at both Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Union College, along with a number of experts in a variety of fields, to develop a series of short films designed to introduce students to important aspects of Vietnamese culture and society. The films cover a wide range of topics, including the country’s history, its folk culture, religion, economy, arts (literature, music, and art), the role of women, the “American War” and US-Vietnamese relations, and other contemporary issues. Each is accompanied by a study guide that will enable students to explore the topic in greater depth as they prepare themselves for their study abroad experience.

Mark Ashwill, author of Vietnam Today: A Guide to a Nation at a Crossroads, serves as the Institute for International Education’s Director for Vietnam. He was the first American to receive a Fulbright Senior Specialists Grant to Vietnam in 2003, and he founded the nonprofit U.S.-Indochina Educational Foundation, Inc. in 2000

Lowell Bloss was the faculty director of the 1999 Vietnam Term Abroad program and is Professor of Religious Studies and Asian Languages and Cultures at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Raymond Burghardt served as United States Ambassador to Vietnam from 2001-2004. He is currently Director of East-West Seminars at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Thomas D’Agostino is Executive Director of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Union College Partnership for Global Education as well as Director of the Center for Global Education at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He co-directed (with Jack Harris) a project funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) program designed to enhance the Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Union College Term Abroad program in Vietnam.

Gwynne Decker is a 2004 graduate of William Smith College and participated in the Spring 2002 Vietnam Term Abroad program. She has returned to Vietnam twice, conducting research on Vietnamese business and economic development through a grant provided by the ASIANetwork-Freeman Faculty-Student Research Fellowship program, and currently serves as Director of the Corning, New York-Kakegawa, Japan Sister Cities program.

Marie-France Etienne is Professor of French and Francophone Studies and Associate Dean of the Faculty at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. A native of Vietnam, she organized and directed the first Vietnam Term Abroad program for Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1995.

Catherine Gallouet was born in Da Lat, Vietnam and is Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.  

Jack Harris is Professor of Sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He served as faculty director of the Vietnam Term Abroad program in 1997 and will return to direct the 2007 program. In addition to co-directing (with Thomas D’Agostino) a grant focusing on enhancement of the Vietnam program through the U.S. Department of Education’s Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) program, Harris teaches a course entitled The Sociology of Vietnam and has received numerous grants to support research and facilitate student and faculty exchanges in Vietnam.

Jo Beth Mertens is Associate Professor of Economics at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She spent the Fall 2003 semester as a Fulbright Scholar in Ho Chi Minh City through the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, jointly administered by the University of Economics – Ho Chi Minh City and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Eshragh Motahar is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at Union College. In Fall 2002 he was as a Fulbright Scholar in Ho Chi Minh City through the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program.

Phong Nguyen is a native of the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. He left Vietnam in 1974 and pursued graduate study in France, earning a doctorate in ethnomusicology at the Sorbonne. Since coming to the U.S. he has taught at the University of Washington, UCLA, and Kent State University and in 1997 he was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor for achievement in the traditional arts.

Jim Spates, Professor of Sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, was faculty director of the Spring 2002 and Fall 2005 Vietnam Term Abroad programs.

C. David Thomas is founder and Director of the Indochina Arts Partnership and was the first foreigner to be awarded the Vietnam Art Medal, the highest art honor given in Vietnam. He has curated numerous exhibits featuring the work of Vietnamese and American artists and published An Artist’s Portrait of Ho Chi Minh and As Seen by Both Sides: American and Vietnamese Artists Look at the War.

Funding for the IN FOCUS: Vietnam project was provided by the U.S. Department of Education: Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation.