Editors' Note: Several CU-Boulder and Dillard students are available to talk about their experiences in the exchange program. Please contact Michael Grant, Lucy Sanders or Monteith Mitchell for names and contact information.
A group of University of Colorado at Boulder students toured cities in the southern United States that played major roles in American civil rights history June 7-12 as part of an exchange program with Dillard University, a historically black liberal arts college in New Orleans.
As part of the program, students from Dillard will visit the Boulder campus June 20-25 to experience the West.
The visits kick off a joint leadership program bringing together 10 undergraduate students from each university to engage in educational activities including regional studies, racial issues, information age topics, student government, community involvement and public policy, with the overarching goal of learning more about effective leadership in a highly diverse world.
"Â鶹ÒùÔº from each university should gain a much deeper, more nuanced appreciation for the greatly different physical environments -- especially water abundance -- as well as greatly different cultural environments and how those two connect," said Michael Grant, associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education.
At each location, the programs travel to multiple sites to meet with experts on the themes of each region. The week at Dillard focused on American civil rights history and the places, people, institutions, cultures and practices of the southern United States, including the Civil Rights Historical Heritage Tour through Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham and Tuskegee, Ala.
The week at CU-Boulder will focus on the semiarid regions of the American Southwest and historical and contemporary struggles among diverse groups, with special emphasis on the American Indians of the desert Southwest regarding the regions' most limiting resource: water.
There are plans to visit American Indian reservations, commercial agriculture interests, state legislators and city water planners as part of studies on how leadership affects political, economic and social elements of the distinctive Southwest region of the United States.
Faculty from Dillard and CU-Boulder provide instruction, readings and other materials to support the travel and hands-on approach at both locations. Â鶹ÒùÔº will prepare and submit a narrative portfolio of their experiences for academic credit.
Â鶹ÒùÔº are participating in the program at no cost, thanks to generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and private donors. Plans are under way for additional visits during the academic year.
CU-Boulder's partnership with Dillard University is primarily funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. For more information visit the Web site at .