Former Resident Director: 2006-2007

From Denise Antolini, UHM Law School (Spring 2007 in Florence)

The semester was very rewarding for me, both inside and outside the classroom.  The courses turned out very well, both substantively and in terms of process.  By teaching my subject area (environmental law) in a new way, to undergraduates, I was able to read (and use) some new textbooks, cover material in a different way, and learn more about both systemic and cutting-edge environmental issues in the EU and Italy.  I enjoyed teaching the oral and writing skills to beginners; it allowed me to return to and relearn some fundamentals that will help me in my own work and my teaching at the Law School.

Being in Florence for the semester was also essential for my completion of my own research and writing projects.  While I found it very difficult to make progress on my projects while I was teaching, this is more feasible now that the semester is over.  LDM was helpful when I asked about connections with particular academic institutions here, and by talking to the other instructors in natural resources issues, I made some good connections.  I already had a good friend at the University of Florence, so that allowed me to visit there to observe classes and lecture in my field (environmental law), which was really rewarding.  For my research on comparative environmental law topics, Italian language skills are essential, so I also have to thank LDM again for allowing me to have a personalized course in Italian with an excellent professor.

From Jennifer Engels, SOEST (Summer 2007 in Annecy, France)

The summer study abroad program in Annecy functioned as a professional sabbatical for me and allowed me to catch up on months of backlogged research, while at the same time preparing for next year's course load.

While in Annecy I was able to work 6-8 hours a day on my own research projects via internet, and actually got published a scientific paper that had been in preparation for nearly three years.  Though physically at IFALPES for 2 hours a day, the rest of my time was my own, and far from my phone and professional duties here in my department I was able to work extremely productively.  In addition, the institute's excursions and my own outings allowed me the opportunity to explore and photograph dozens of outcrops that I will use in my classes back here at UH.  Hawaii is fortunate to have world-class volcanology and beach processes close at hand, but we have no ancient continental rocks, no metamorphic rocks, and no fossils.  I was able to find excellent examples of Alpine and Jurassic fold belts, metamorphic textures, and marine fossils to complement my growing collection of geologic photographs, and hiking these features in person gave me a much better understanding of their formation mechanisms and emplacement origins.  There is no doubt that my summer in Annecy was more productive to me professionally than had I spent that month here at UH.

On a personal note, living in Annecy with a host family afforded me the opportunity to improve my French language skills, and I will have a lifelong attachment to my large, highly cultured and extremely open-minded host family, as well as the beautiful environment of Annecy and its surrounding.

From Mire Koikari, UHM Women’s Studies Department (Spring 2007 in London)

Spending a semester in London gave me opportunities to mature as a scholar-educator who is concerned with issues of gender, nationalism, and imperialism. To understand the history of colonialism and its legacies, there is no better place than England, the old empire that continues to struggle with its imperial legacies. With various cultural facilities close at hand, I was able to devise and develop my teaching methods and to draw on various resources (such as museums, libraries, communities of scholars, etc.) to add to my current research on the roles of feminism in Western nation- and empire-buildings.