SDSU EXCHANGE PROGRAM:

ENVIRONMENTAL BORDER STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COSTA RICA

REPORT ON AUGUST 19-26, 2001 TRIP

Dr. Alan Kilpatrick

American Indian Studies

During this past summer, I met with various faculty and officials of the University of Costa Rica at San Jose to discuss the feasibility of creating a set of specific courses in the field of environmental studies to enhance the classroom offerings of the proposed SDSU student exchange program which has been scheduled to begin its initial session in Spring 2002. The University of Costa Rica is well-known for its innovative programs promoting the conservation of its extensive natural and cultural resources and its many research centers in Sustainable Development, Border Studies, and Preservation of Bio-Species. As a result, Costa Rica offers a unique living laboratory for environmental research at all levels and the city of San Jose is an ideal location, rich with history and culture. Since Environmental Studies encompasses such a broad spectrum of intellectual and applied disciplines including public health, sociology (demographics), geography, biology and botany, anthropology (to mention but a few), this interdisciplinary core of courses should provide an attractive alternative for SDSU students seeking a meaningful international study experience to compliment their classroom coursework.

With the help of Dr. Hugo Murillo, Professor of Latin American Studies, I contacted (via email) the following individuals regarding my travel plans: Professor Luis Guillermo Solis, Director of the Trans-Border Program; Dr. Carlos Granados, Dept. of Geography; and Dr. Carlos A. Quesada-Mateo, Director of the Research Center for Sustainable Development. Once I arrived, I met with Dr. Soles who informed me about two on-going projects which he directs: 1) to investigate the socio-economic effects of Nicaraguan immigration on Costa Rica and 2) another program which investigates similar issues affecting Costa Rica's border with neighboring Panama.

I attempted to gain more information about possible faculty interest in the creation of a specific curriculum focusing on international border issues by contacting Drs. Carlos Granados and Quesada-Matea. I also had some preliminary discussions about the border studies emphasis with Dr. Manuel Murillo, who administers international programs for UCR. As a result, there are a number of issues which remain to be resolved:

1) Do we need to create a range of new courses or simply utliize the existing courses in the curriculum?

2) Will the majority of these courses be taught by UCR faculty or by SDSU exchange faculty?

3) What will be the specific content of these courses? Should they be lecture-based or structured as independent research?

4) What sort of academic pre-requisites should SDSU students have in order to participate in these courses?

5) What will be the financial costs of these courses for the visiting as well as host institution?

At the moment, we are waiting for more imput from the faculty at UCR before we can productively continue the discussion of this environmental border studies program. However, I remain hopeful that we can arive at some mutual agreements which will allow us to make this important collaborative education program a reality for both institutions.

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