In 1923, America’s first study abroad program was launched at the University of Delaware when a young professor walked into the president’s office with a daring plan: to send students abroad for their junior year.
Prof. Raymond W. Kirkbride, an instructor in the Modern Languages Department and a WWI veteran, had seen firsthand what disagreements between nations could do; he had seen smoldering ruins and burned-out buildings across the French countryside. But he had also met, and greatly enjoyed, the French, and understood the potential that travel and study had for promoting cross-cultural understanding. And now, in 1921, he was home in Newark, standing before the desk of University president Walter S. Hullihen, pitching his idea to send students to France for their junior year.
A lesser president might have thrown the upstart Kirkbride out of his office. Study abroad was unheard of, and America’s isolationist tendencies were still strong, so soon after the war. But Hullihen recognized that the Delaware Foreign Study Plan (which came to be known as the Junior Year Abroad) had far-reaching influence. It would, as Hullihen saw it, produce better-rounded students, train future foreign language teachers, and provide experience for students who wanted to go into careers with international aspects.
On July 7, 1923, the first Delaware group sailed for France aboard the Rochambeau. Kirkbride’s group of eight juniors included Austin P. Cooley, Francis J. Cummings, David Dougherty, Herbert L. Lank, William K. Mendenhall, J. Cedric Snyder, T. Russell Turner and J. Winston Walker. The group spent six weeks experiencing intensive language immersion at Nancy and then moved to Paris.
The first Junior Year Abroad was a success, and the University continued to send student groups to France, and later to Switzerland and Germany. Students from a number of colleges and universities, including Columbia, Penn, Wellsley, Wesleyan, Brown, Smith, Harvard and Princeton participated in the program, and between 1923 and 1948, 902 students spent their junior year abroad with the University of Delaware.
In 1948, the Delaware Foreign Study Plan was discontinued because of post-War conditions in Europe and a new University president who felt that foreign study was not a priority.
Study abroad resumed in 1972, as the University instituted “Winterim,” a short semester between the fall and spring sessions. Early Winterim destinations included London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg; Geneva became one of the most popular Winterim destinations as well. So many students took advantage of the opportunity to spend their winter break abroad that Delaware could book large airplanes exclusively for the students. Pan American Airlines painted the fuselages of two airplanes with the words “Delaware Clipper.” The English department also launched a study abroad program in London, which was the first of the semester abroad programs. Eventually, Winterim study abroad evolved into its own University department, Overseas Studies, which ultimately became part of the Institute for Global Studies.
Today, UD remains a national leader in study abroad, consistently ranking among the top ten research-extensive institutions in the percentage of students it sends abroad (generally around 40%). UD students study on six of the seven continents with faculty from all UD colleges. The pioneering spirit of Prof. Kirkbride lives on in the faculty of the new millennium, who lead over 60 study abroad programs annually to such far-flung locales as New Zealand, China, Tanzania, and Chile, and represent disciplines as diverse as English, Mechanical Engineering, Animal Science, and Business Administration.
We hope you’ll continue to follow the IGS Blog to see how UD students and faculty continue to engage themselves around the world!