Two Wheaton faculty members are heading to Africa in June to participate in faculty development seminars sponsored by the Council for International Educational Exchange (CIEE). The seminars, supported with funds through the Wheaton Office of the Provost, will help the professors enrich their classroom curriculum.

May 28, 2008

Malaria. Leishmaniasis, giardiasis, amoebic dysentery and trichinosis. Adventurous, well-traveled Wheaton faculty members have had a taste of all kinds of tropical parasitic diseases, including having their skin invaded by nematodes—creeping eruption—chiggers, and bot fly larvae, according to Professor of Biology Betsey Dyer. She knows because each year she welcomes these travelers and their tales into her classroom to share their first-hand experiences when she teaches parasitology.

But this academic year she will have her own first-hand knowledge. No, no, Dyer is quick to note, "I am not seeking a personal encounter with a parasite—and a subsequent harrowing story to tell." Instead, she is aiming for a first-hand understanding of the illnesses and the challenges of tropical medicines through a seminar that she will attend in Africa, where such diseases occur.

Dyer is one of two Wheaton faculty members heading to Africa in June to participate in faculty development seminars sponsored by the Council for International Educational Exchange (CIEE). The seminars, supported with funds through the Wheaton Office of the Provost, will help the professors enrich their classroom curriculum.

Dyer will attend "Ghana: Challenges of a Developing Nation" at the University of Ghana. Deyonne Bryant, the Samuel Valentine Cole Associate Professor of English, will attend "Building a Multiracial, Multicultural Society in South Africa," in Cape Town and Pretoria, South Africa. Bryant's equally compelling goal is to better understand the racial politics in South Africa before, during and after apartheid.

The Council for International Educational Exchange faculty development seminars are short-term, concentrated educational experiences that include lectures given by local faculty and experts at public and private institutions, and coordinated site visits. The aim is to "explore fascinations, challenge perceptions and open eyes to a wide variety of issues shaping the world today," according to CIEE's Web site. CIEE, the leading U.S. non-governmental international education organization, creates and administers programs that allow high school and university students and educators to study and teach abroad.

"I teach parasitology and am fascinated by the complexities of parasitic infections," said Dyer. "In some tropical parts of the world, parasites causing diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness and filariasis are major health problems. Access to effective and affordable medicines, if there are any, can be a challenge. These and other issues make tropical medicine quite different from medicine in many industrialized countries."

Bryant said her commitment to "adding global dimensions to her teaching and scholarship through critical and empirical practices" led her to apply for the seminar in South Africa.

"The seminar gives a historic overview that helps put into context contemporary issues in South Africa, such as the new constitution and the vexing problems of inequity, and opens opportunities for collaboration on research or creative projects in the future," said Bryant, who has a doctorate from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. "Ultimately, I plan to design a course for first-year students based on my research and experiences in South Africa, and to publish an essay about this research and teaching."

She said the course would compare multiculturalism in the United States and South Africa. "Multiculturalism in the United States grew out of a real concern that the move toward colorblind policies and practices would circumvent the progressive reforms that had been put in motion as a result of civil rights legislation, and for this reason it was and is a good thing," she said. "However, somewhere along the way, the celebration of cultural differences and identity politics displaced the focus on social justice, especially for poor people in America, which is unfortunate."

Dyer, whose research interests include field microbiology, cell evolution and bioinformatics, said she too plans to use the seminar on tropical medicine to inspire the work she does in classroom by revising her parasitology course based on what she learns in Ghana.

"My research has always been strongly influenced by and enhanced by travel," said Dyer. "Parasitology has been a passion of mine for a long time and is directly related to my understanding of the greater spectrum of associations between organisms that includes symbiosis. I would expect to gain from this program nuances and depths of understanding that can only come from witnessing directly."