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About the Program

The Honors Program invites students to apply for this innovative summer study abroad program based in one of Europe's most progressive and oldest cities. This four-week study abroad opportunity, based on a preparatory spring seminar, is open to all undergraduate and graduate students in the humanities and social sciences; a variety of disciplinary perspectives are encouraged. The 2010 Honors in Amsterdam program is organized around student research, taking as its primary task a productive balance between structured research and international engagement on the part of its participants.

Read about student research from past years »

Purpose

In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, numerous Dutch specialists were called in to advise on strategies for maintaining a livable city in an otherwise uninhabitable natural condition: that of living below sea level while surrounded on all sides by water. While the character of this expertise might appear at first glance to be primarily technological, it also represents a cultural condition - an approach to the world that integrates technology, culture and environment in powerful and uniquely Dutch ways.

What other lessons can be gleaned from exploring these relationships in the Netherlands first hand? While maintaining a successful balance between nature and culture in its battle with the rising tides, the Dutch also face the full sweep of social and economic challenges facing the rest of Europe as it navigates the emergence of a rapidly (and messily) globalizing world. Climate change, immigration, ethnic and religious integration, international crime, terrorism and international and social justice issues all converge in the Netherlands. Their responses to these issues, when viewed in the light of Dutch traditions and attitudes toward culture, technology and the environment form a ripe field for research and investigation.

When looked at from afar, Seattle and Amsterdam appear similar in many ways. Both are port cities tied to international trade, with histories marked by waves of immigration and the aggressive re-working of their geographic settings. Both are recognized worldwide for technological innovation and for varying degrees of progressive policy-making. But these similarities mask underlying differences, some glaring and some subtle, in attitudes toward privacy, public space, housing, transportation, healthcare, and social interaction to name just a few. How can these similarities and differences be mapped, analyzed and communicated as a process of research? How can the spaces, artifacts and rituals of the city be employed as an urban laboratory to study the spatial and social effects of these and other contemporary issues.

Credit

Students will receive 15 credits of Honors Civilization credits for a combined Summer program and an intensive Spring prep workshop. Participating graduate students will coordinate the allocation of credits with their advisers. The culmination of this study will be student presentations at the University of Amsterdam. (Alternative credit may be available to non-Honors undergraduates; this must be arranged in advance with your departmental advisers)

Course Components (still under development)

Spring Quarter

The first stage of this study abroad program involves a mandatory intensive workshop consisting of 2 evening sessions during Spring Quarter 2010, and a 4-day intensive workshop during the first week of Summer Quarter (June 21 - 24, 2010). The purpose of these intensive seminars is to introduce Dutch culture and to develop student research projects that will serve as a vehicle to explore and experience Amsterdam's vibrant urban culture. The seminar is organized around two intellectual streams. We will explore the production of urban space as a shifting formation of social, political, economic, ecological, infrastructural and technological forces. We will also engage in experiments in reading writing urban spaces, recording data and impressions, and re-presenting these findings through collaboratively constructed documents that gather, encode and elaborate findings and provocations about urban space and experience. Students will work in 2-3 person research groups on topics of their own devising; they are encouraged to pursue issues that emerge from the seminar reading and discussion. Each research group will develop e-Research designs in preparation for engaging the people, places, and institutions of Amsterdam.

Summer Quarter

During the month long summer program, students will employ the research designs developed in spring to engage in self-directed research as a means to learn about Amsterdam's history, art, architecture, public policy, and of course its urban culture. To augment the fieldwork component there will be course instruction, guest lectures, city walks, museums, and weekend excursions that inform their research. Dutch academics and local experts will lead lectures and excursions.

Program Directors

Director

Rob Corser, Assistant Professor
College of Built Environments

Rob Corser, AIA is an architect, educator and designer who has worked and taught in the US, Italy and the UK. Educated at the University of Virginia and Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Corser has won numerous academic awards including Harvard's Peter Rice Prize for the integration of engineering and architecture. He has taught at Syracuse University and the University of Kansas before joining the faculty at the University of Washington where he teaches architectural design, computer applications and digital fabrication courses. Corser is a licensed architect in the state of California, and his professional experience includes work in San Francisco and London. Dedicated to design in the service of diverse communities, he has led collaborative design-build programs in Italy, and in post-Katrina New Orleans. His research focuses on collaborative design, and construction systems and strategies for deployable and sustainable structures.

Read more about Rob Corser at the Department of Architecture website »

Mirjam Schieveld - University of Amsterdam

Summer Institute International School for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Housing

Students will be housed in shared student dorms near the University of Amsterdam-ISHSS, located in the city's center on the Prins Hendrikkade. Classes will be held on the University of Amsterdam campus and, more often, the city itself. Students will conduct urban research and have guided instruction M-F, with weekends open for study, exploration, and relaxation. There will be opportunities for excursions on the weekends.

Program Cost

Program cost is approximately $4,000 per student (includes tuition, lodging, classroom and lab fees, some group meals, admission to all museums and exhibits, excursions, ground transportation, and conference fees). Course fee does not include IP&E fee ($250), airfare ($800-$1,200 roundtrip, depending on when and where you buy your ticket), food (about $20-45 per day), and personal spending money.

Financial Aid

Students may use their regular financial aid and scholarship funds for study abroad. The exception is any scholarship in the form of a tuition waiver. Tuition waivers cannot be used to pay study abroad program fees. You may want to check with the Office of Student Financial Aid in Schmitz Hall for more information.

There are funding opportunities through the Global Opportunities Program, and the Office of International Programs and Exchanges also maintains a funding opportunities list at http://www.ipe.washington.edu/forms/FundingOpportunities.pdf

IP&E Refund Policy

A $350 deposit is required at the time of acceptance. This $350 deposit is non-refundable. Any student withdrawing from the program within 4 months of the program start date will be responsible for a minimum of 25% of the total program fee. In addition, there may be other unrecoverable fixed program costs. Any student withdrawing from the program within 2 months of the program start date will be responsible for 50% of the total program fee. Any student withdrawing from the program within 1 month of the program start date will be responsible for 75% of the total program fee. Withdrawal after a program begins involves the loss of the entire program fee.

Once accepted to the program in order to formally withdraw, you must do the following, in writing:

• Contact the program directors.
• Submit a signed withdrawal form to the UW Office of International Programs and Exchanges (see http://ipe.washington.edu/forms/WithdrawDefer.pdf).
• Provide notice in writing to the program director that you will no longer be participating in the program for which you have signed a contract and accepted a slot.

Your withdrawal date is considered the date (business day) your withdrawal paperwork is received by the UW Office of International Programs and Exchanges.

Travel

To Amsterdam

Participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements to Amsterdam. You may wish to explore budget fares offered on websites such as Travelocity and Expedia, as well as STA and Council Travel on the Ave.

Within Amsterdam

Students and instructors will take at least one overnight trip during the course. In addition, we will be making several day-excursions. Students will also have opportunities to travel on their own for two or three day-jaunts.

All participants must have a passport valid for the duration of the program. It may take as long as six weeks to obtain or renew a passport.

Application Process

Acceptance into the program will be decided based on application materials, interviews, and the student's demonstration of motivation to challenge themselves intellectually across academic disciplines and cultures and to work both individually and in groups. Too, as representatives of the University of Washington while abroad, students must conduct themselves in appropriate fashion.

Apply online through Catalyst
Deadline: February 12, 2010

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