Purpose

Ramapo College of New Jersey launched a Strategic Plan for Comprehensive Internationalization beginning in Fall 2015. In addition to specific targets within the plan, each academic year will also have a specific region of focus. Through these regional foci, our goal is to increase global awareness and the multitude of opportunities and initiatives the College is involved. Below, you will find specific details about some of these initiatives, plus an extensive calendar of events.

Opportunities for Students

Study Abroad Opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Featured Study Abroad Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa: 

Ghana: Public Health in West Africa
led by Ramapo Professors Elaine Patterson & Kathleen Burke / 4 undergraduate credits / Deadline: March 1, 2017

Study Abroad Scholarship for Sub-Saharan Africa
(other scholarships can be found here: https://www.ramapo.edu/study-abroad/scholarships/)

Fall 2016 Course options with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa:

You may also view the 2016-2017 course catalog for Africana Studies

Spring 2017 Course options with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa:

AFST 188 – African-Latin American Culture – Description here
AFST 202 – Introduction to African Studies – Description here
AFST 310 – Africans in Contemporary Latin America – Description here
AFST 330 – Voudoun and African Religion and the New World – Description here
AFST 331 – Italian Colonial Culture in Africa – Description here
ENST 209 – World Sustainability – Description here
ENST 336 – Global Ethics – Description here
ENST 339 – Sustainable Agriculture – Description here
ENST 340 – Global Climate Change – Description here
LAWS 201 – Global Legal Order – Description here
LAWS 206 – Human Rights – Description here
MUSI 202 – The Black Experience through Music – Description here
MUSI 204 – Music and Dance in the Africa Diaspora: Central and South America – Description here
MUSI 2015 – Music and Dance in the African Diaspora: North America – Description here
MUSI 245 – Music in Africa – Description here
PSYC 231 – Multicultural Psychology – Description here
SWRK 202 – Political Economy of Social Welfare – Description here
SOCI 250 – International Migration and Human Rights – Description here
SOCI 304 – Globalization and Society – Description here

You may also view the 2016-2017 course catalog for Africana Studies

Related LANGUAGE HAPPY HOURS (all take place in ASB123, unless otherwise noted):

French: (Date/Times Coming Soon)

Spanish :(Date/Times Coming Soon)

Portuguese: Tuesdays, 2 to 3 p.m.

The following is a list of student clubs of potential interest:

Black Student Union

Building Tomorrow

Culture Club

Diversity Action Committee Student Club

Ebony Women for Social Change (EWSC)

French Club

International Student Organization (ISO)

Model UN Club

Nursing Student Organization

Social Work Club

Students of Caribbean Ancestry (SOCA)

Opportunities for Faculty

Grants are made available to support Faculty initiatives during AY16-17 to support the Year of Sub-Saharan Africa. 12 grants of up to $2,000 are available to full-time faculty for travel to or related to Sub-Saharan Africa. The following criteria and procedures will be applied in distributing these funds:

1. Up to 12 grants will be awarded;
2. Funding will be limited up to $2,500 per grant;
3. Proposals will be vetted by the dean, recommended by Deans’ Council, and funded by the
   Provost;
4. Proposals must be submitted to the dean by noon on 10 October 2016. Late submissions will not be reviewed;
5. Proposals may involve scholarship, teaching and learning, or service/civic engagement in and/or involving Sub-Saharan Africa;
6. Proposals should be submitted to the dean on the Travel Request form with a meeting/conference agenda or a narrative attached. Please note to the dean that you are requesting Sub-Saharan travel funding ;
7. An end of the year reception will be held on 12 April 3:00-4:30 for grant awardees at which time awardees will report out on their funded work related to Sub-Saharan Africa. Awardees should plan to attend.

The following faculty have been provided a 2016-2017 Grant for Engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa:

Study Abroad Program Site visits

(organized visits in either groups or as an individual, to partner institutions with subsidized expenses. The following links below provide you with details on available group visits and how to apply.) 

International Studies Abroad
CIEE (South Africa – Spring 2017)
SIT Study Abroad

*If Faculty are interested in visiting any of our overseas partners,please contact the Roukema
Center for International Education and the Director can help coordinate this for you.

Faculty Development Seminars

faculty-only seminars on specific topics held overseas

CIEE: Lessons from South Africa – Experiments in Urban Sustainability (5 – 15 May, 2017)

CIEE: Traditional Religion, Spirituality and Christianity in Contemporary Ghana (12 – 21 May, 2017)

SIT Study Abroad: Democracy, the Media & Social Change in South Africa (15 – 23 May, 2017)

Book Club

The George T. Potter Library will be hosting a book club with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Fall Semester Books:  Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir AND Weep Not, Child – both books by author Ngugi wa Thiong’o

Books will be provided to the first 10 individuals who sign up. This group is open to faculty, staff and students. First priority of books will go to students. Please contact Katie Maricic Cohen (kcohen1@ramapo.edu) or Sam Wittenberg (switten1@ramapo.edu) with questions or to sign up. This program has been supported by the Center for Student Involvement & the Roukema Center for International Education. Discussion group will meet monthly from 12:50 pm – 1:50 pm in the Potter Library Reading Lounge on the following Mondays: 9/19, 10/17, 11/14, and 12/5.

Dreams in a Time of War will be discussed during our first three meetings. This memoir describes the author’s experience coming of age in rural Kenya during the Mau Mau Uprising of the 1950s. As traditions begin to fade away to modernity, Ngũgĩ acts on his dreams to receive an education during a time of war.

Weep Not, Child will be discussed during out last meeting. This powerful novel by the same author tells the story of two brothers, Njoroge, who attends school, and Kamau, who trains to be a carpenter. Also about Kenya and the Mau Mau uprising, the two brothers and their family need to decide where their loyalties lie- with the Mau Mau or the white colonial government.

Spring Semester Book: Nervous Conditions by author Tsitsi Dangarembga

Join the Potter Library in reading Nervous Conditions, a novel about a teenage girl and her British-educated cousin coming of age in colonial Rhodesia during the 1960s. The first 30 students to sign up will receive a copy of the novel. This group is open to faculty, staff and students. Contact Sam Wittenberg (switten1@ramapo.edu) and Katie Cohen (kcohen1@ramapo.edu) to join and for additional information. This program has been supported by the Center for Student Involvement & the Roukema Center for International Education. Discussion group will meet once a month on Wednesdays from 2:50 – 3:50 pm in the Library’s Current Periodicals Reading Lounge on the following dates: February 8, March 22, and April 12.

Calendar of Events