Eight students and a lecturer from the University of Dundee will embark on a trip across the pond tomorrow, taking news of a new educational institute based in Dundee to universities in the American South.
Dr Tony Parker, Director of the School of American Studies, is leading the trip, the purpose of which is partly to promote the University's new Institute of Transatlantic, European and American Studies (ITEAS) and to establish student exchange links.
The interdisciplinary Institute incorporates staff from the Economics, English, Geography, History, Philosophy and Politics departments and draws on a rich history at the University for research in the area of Transatlantic Studies to offer students several degree pathways in Transatlantic Studies, Contemporary European Studies, and American Studies. ITEAS builds upon the already vibrant and successful School of American Studies and the Contemporary European Studies Programme.
The group plan to visit Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, Presbyterian College in South Carolina and the Universities of Georgia and South Carolina.
Dr Parker said, "It is through a substantial web of contacts that the ITEAS will prove to be a potent academic force in the field of Transatlantic, European and American Studies.
"The establishment of the Institute will provide the University of Dundee with an internationally recognised centre of excellence in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, as well as continued global recognition for its research and publications."
Students will also take a historic tour of the American South, visiting former slave market areas and plantations and the site in Charleston where the first shots of the American Civil War were fired.
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk