Vice Provost International Fellowship’s Trip to Rome in the New Year

St. John’s University makes a once unattainable prospect—the opportunity to travel, learn, work and serve around the world—a reality for its students. This January, students from St. John's Staten Island campus spent a week studying abroad in Rome, Italy with support from the Vice Provost International Fellowship Program.  Vice Provost Fellows started their “Politics of the European Union” course with Dr. Azzedine Layachi, Professor of Government and Politics, and paid only a $500 program fee and their airfare.

The Vice Provost International Fellowship, now in its third year, brings Staten Island campus students to St. John’s Rome or Paris campuses before the start of the Spring semester.  Its greatly reduced allows more students to study abroad than ever before.   “St. John’s wants its students to reach out to the world, discover the world, and also for the world to come back to St. John’s,” said Layachi. “This is a great opportunity for the students; some of them are traveling abroad for the first time and they are getting a lot out of it. Not only are they learning about the issues but also about Rome and the Romans.”

While in Rome, St. John’s Staten Island students’ attended classroom studies and visited various tourist sites. They also visited a refugee camp and participated in a midnight soup kitchen—preparing sandwiches and delivering them to the homeless living on the streets.

The goals of the Vice Provost International Fellowship program are to interest students in a full-semester study abroad program and to bring global perspectives back to the Staten Island campus. As of the 2014-15 school year, nearly 39 percent of St. John’s students traveled abroad in one or more opportunities offered by the university. Thanks to the Vice Provost’s International Fellowship and many other global studies programs,  St. John’s student gain an enriching experience that will inform their studies and lives. 

For Dr. James O’Keefe, Vice Provost of St. John’s Staten Island Campus, the Staten Island campus is a gateway to the world. “We can go anywhere from here,” he said. “When students apply to St. John’s and we tell them this is a global university, it doesn’t sink in until you are walking the streets of Rome – then you see the reach that this university has. Students come back absolutely raving about how much they learned, how great it was and how they can’t wait to do it again.”

O’Keefe listed highlights from a study abroad trip that included an inside tour of the Italian Supreme Court and a public Mass where Pope Francis welcomed St. John’s University to the Vatican. “There are so many things you can learn by going abroad that you can’t appreciate in a classroom,” he said.

“Years ago, study abroad was something only available to wealthy students. The university has it set up to be more affordable … that’s a great advantage to having campuses abroad. The university opens up all those doorways for you.”

To learn more about St. John’s University’s Global Programs, visit www.stjohns.edu/global.