2006 Awards
Hans de Wit and the Journal of Studies in International Education
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Journal of Studies in International Education, CIEE honored Dr. Hans de Wit for a decade of extraordinary service as the Journal’s founding Editor.
“It is an easy thing to open a store—the difficult part is keeping it open.” (Anonymous)
Presented at the CIEE Opening Plenary Session on Wednesday, November 8, 2006.
CIEE 2005-06 Student Recognition Award
Deren Eaton faced more than culture shock and rice and beans on the Fall 2005 CIEE Tropical Ecology and Conservation program in Costa Rica. On the fourth day of the program, our first night camping in a rainforest, Deren was bitten by a poisonous snake. His story of surviving the ordeal and completing the program with academic excellence is a testament to his bravery, tenacity, and heartfelt dedication.
Like all participants, Deren was eager to see the tropical rainforest. Upon arriving in Costa Rica’s Corcovado National Park with CIEE staff and fellow students, Deren pitched his tent, took a swim, and went exploring. That night, Deren was bitten on the foot by a venomous snake. Resident staff immediately brought him to a clinic where a special serum could be administered to neutralize the snake’s venom. During the ten days of his initial recovery, he missed four field sites, Scarlet Macaws, Humpback Whales, insects, plants, frogs, and birds. Though he had only known the other program participants for two days, Deren’s greatest concern was reuniting with them.
Three days back in the field, Deren suffered a severe allergic reaction to the serum, causing hives over his entire body. In hopes of calming the itching, Deren decided to snorkel off shore. Forty-five minutes later, Deren came out of the ocean, a big smile on his face. He walked up to the Resident Director (without crutches), looked him in the eye, and said that he wanted to stay.
We all have students whose decision to stay is an act of courage. Deren’s case is truly remarkable. In spite of his difficulties, Deren not only persevered but excelled. He went on to score in the top five on the first field practical, largely on material covered while he was in the hospital. He did an outstanding job on all subsequent assignments and enthusiastically participated in all activities. Deren’s independent project was a very interesting and a technically challenging comparison of fungal interactions with terrestrial and epiphytic orchids. For his homestay, Deren selected a very simple rural family and walked miles a day to and from class on his newly healed foot. Deren’s demeanor, humor, resiliency, love of life, and sincere interest in Costa Rica and its commitment to conservation all led to his success.
Presented at the Academic Consortium Breakfast Plenary Session on Saturday, November 11, 2006.
CIEE Program Excellence Award
The CIEE Study Center in Paris initiated its French speech therapy program in September 2004, when Paris Critical Studies Resident Director, Brent Keever, engaged the services of Anne-Marie Ollier, a certified speech therapist, to help students work on their French pronunciation and articulation. Her presence soon gave birth to a course in phonetics. In this class, she has offered students with intermediate French the basic tools to understand many of the nuances and grammatical joys that link speaking with understanding the French language. Madame Ollier’s RAP sessions (R = Respiration, A = Articulation, P = Pronunciation) have become a standby for CIEE Critical Studies and Contemporary French Studies students. In a culture where not being able to intone well or breathe properly while speaking is considered a handicap, covered by French universal health care, CIEE students were and are able to work on how to articulate and formulate those all-so-difficult sounds that can really make the difference between making yourself understood in a French environment and potentially passing as a speaker of French.
It should also be noted that Anne-Marie Ollier’s experience as a speech therapist and speech pathologist made it possible for many students to identify speech impediments that were either overlooked or underestimated in their American environment. Madame Ollier takes students to the mirror, making them watch how their mouths are producing those difficult French sounds. She also gets down to the muscular basics of speaking, showing them how the tongue and palate must be placed to speak French properly. She teaches them how to use their diaphragm correctly, and to breathe through their sentences, calming them in their need to spit out that sentence as quickly as possible. With her energy, professional insight, and ability to listen, Anne-Marie has made it possible for dozens of students to stand up in a Parisian university classroom and give outstanding oral presentations, many times meriting 16 to 18 out of 20 (the French equivalent of A+ or A ++). She will grab your tongue, place Bakelite spatulas up against your glottis, push your belly, breathe in and out with you, make you cough and growl, and then hand you a poem by Jacques Prévert, and all of a sudden, you are speaking wonderful French. She is, without a doubt, a central feature of the CIEE students experience in Paris and thoroughly deserves to be recognized for her excellence.
Presented at the Academic Consortium Breakfast Plenary Session on Saturday, November 11, 2006.