Rutgers Undergraduates to Benefit from New Study Abroad Opportunity in Turkey
Three-week program in Boztepe coordinated with Akdeniz University
July 9, 2012
Prof. Adnan Turgut, Dr. Burhan Özkan, and Prof. Robin Brumfield meet with Tevfik Şenozan, mayor of Boztepe and his family.
Robin G. Brumfield, professor and extension specialist in farm management at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, is visiting Turkey this month to finalize arrangements for a three-week Study Abroad opportunity for undergraduate students from Rutgers University to the farming village of Boztepe, Turkey, next May and June.
This new international opportunity builds on Suzanne's Project, an already existing partnership between Rutgers University, Akdeniz University, and the Provincial Directorate of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, which was launched in Antalya, Turkey, in September 2011. Suzanne's Project aims to train Turkish women farmers on the best practices, tools and basic skills necessary for them to sustain and scale profitable agricultural businesses within the local context.
Brumfield, who travelled to Turkey to interview host families, is excited to see this development. "Suzanne's Project, when it came online, helped to empower Turkish women farmers program and to see the study abroad opportunity evolve from this is very gratifying," she said.
A new offering in the growing list of summer International Service Learning Programs through Rutgers Study Abroad Program, the three-week undergraduate experience will be conducted in partnership with Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey, with which Rutgers signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the last year. Students will have home stays in Boztepe, which is approximately 25 km from Antalya, Turkey.
This service learning project will be coordinated with Dr. Burhan Özkan, advisor to University President. Özkan is also coordinator of the Bologna Process Coordination Office and professor of Agricultural Economics at Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey. In addition, Adnan Turgut, professor in the School of Physical Education and Sport, Akdeniz University, and a resident of Boztepe, is helping to finding host families for the visiting students.
The course will include instruction on the project in Turkey on Rutgers campus prior to the students' departure in May 2013. Students will also receive basic instruction in Turkish and will be required to develop case studies for business management training during their three-week stay in Turkey.
"As raw material for their case studies, students will work on the farms and interview the women farmers, as well as observe and assist with Suzanne's Project classes," explained Brumfield. In addition, students will visit other partners, including the Horticultural Stock Exchange; the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock in Antalya Province; and the University Research Institute. Upon their return, students will be required to present a seminar that would reflect on their experiences in developing programs to empower women farmers.
Brumfield and her co-coordinators in this inaugural student abroad program home that this partnership will advance the vision of Rutgers' "Jersey Roots, Global Reach" initiative that's devoted to communicating the university's "distinct strengths in the Garden State and across the globe."
To learn more, visit the Suzanne's Project website or Facebook page.
Contact: Robin Brumfield
Extension specialist in farm financial management
Rutgers Cooperative Extension
848-932-9130
brumfield@aesop.rutgers.edu
