International Professors at Barnard

 

Prof. Peter Connor speaking at Barnard with Indian poet Arvind Mehrotra

As an international student who grew up in different cultures and has always enjoyed being around people of diverse backgrounds, I was looking for a college community that would allow me to continue living like a global citizen. What made Barnard stand out from all the choices that I had was the exceptional presence of an international population on campus. As a comparative literature major, I have come across professors in various language and cultural studies departments and it often surprises me that many of them are from foreign countries just like I am! Barnard’s diversity is not only cultivated in the student body, but is also deeply rooted in the faculty body.

Professor Brian O’Keeffe is one of my favorite international professors at Barnard. He teaches both in the French department and the comparative literature program. The first class that I took with Professor O’Keeffe was Introduction to Comparative Literature. As he was born in Ireland and educated in England, his academic interests are focused on Irish/English literature. Since I wasn’t familiar with this particular literary tradition at all, I reached out to him, explaining that I may not have enough background knowledge for his class. However, Professor O’Keeffe responded surprisingly well to my concern! Not only did he fill me in with a brief presentation of the Irish/English history and literary tradition, he also shared many personal anecdotes that led him to his academic interests. Because he is international as well and appreciates the diversity of Barnard’s student body, Professor O’Keeffe even invited me to study the Chinese translation of an Irish literary work that he was working on at the moment. It turned out that the interactions with Professor O’Keeffe played a deciding role when I decided to major in comparative literature. Now he is my academic advisor and a mentor in every way. After hearing that I will be interning near Oxford in the UK this summer, he told me not to forget to get some good restaurant recommendations from him -- an Oxford alumnus -- before leaving. 

Another of my favorite international professors at Barnard is Professor Peter Connor. He is the Director of the Barnard’s Center for Translation and simply a walking library of language and translation related knowledge. I first met Professor Connor in his Intro to Translation Studies lecture. It is a class advocating a diverse lingual and cultural community at Barnard and probably the most international class that I have ever taken. There were about 20 languages represented just by the students in the class. Professor Connor himself is from Dublin originally and then was educated in California. Knowing that I am extremely interested in languages and am studying French and German at the moment, Professor Connor often shares with me scholarly materials related to my academic interests. He even shares his experience of learning languages with me and helps me with his knowledge of languages whenever I struggle.

At Barnard, I meet many international students and become friends with them, but the international professors complete this experience and make it a more unique one. I love embracing the international community at Barnard and being embraced by it in every possible way.

Fangdai

 

An International Student's Self-Discovery at Barnard

Name: Fangdai Chen
Year: 2015 (Junior)
Hometown: Shanghai, China
Major: Comparative Literature (Chinese, English & French)
Clubs/Organizations/Jobs: International Admissions Intern, Housing Advisory Board, Barnard Student Government Association (SGA)

I thought that coming to the U.S. on my own at the age of 15 was the biggest challenge that I could ever have in my life. I thought that after having attended a boarding school in a surburb of Boston for three years, going to college wouldn't be so different from attending another boarding school. I thought that I would just write a few more papers and meet a few more people. But I was wrong. Barnard has surprised me and gone beyond all of my expectations for this stage of life called college.

In high school, I was always the student answering questions and expressing my opinions in class. I thought that it would all be the same in college. However, on the first of class at Barnard, I walked into my first-year English seminar and realized that everyone else in the class was just as confident as I was. The professor was not there to walk us step by step through reading the text, but to inspire us to discuss and study the text with each other. This was a competely different academic dynamic from my high school experience and yet an exciting challenge and adventure. I pushed myself to work harder, to learn from my classmates and to make them learn from me. I also made full use of the professor's office hours whenever I need extra help. By the end of the semester, the professor invited us to tea time in her appartment and we were all happy that we had struggled and learned together.

This leads to another reason why I love Barnard. Having attended a small boarding school with only 300 students, I was worried that I would never have the same kind of close relationships with teachers in college. But not only did my first-year English professor invite us to have tea in her apartment, we continue to stay in touch. She introduced me to the Comparative Literature program and various academic opportunities outside Barnard. We meet regularly to discuss my progress. We even went to an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts together!

Throughout my time at Barnard, I have been well challenged and supported at the same time. I never expected myself to grow so much. But this is Barnard: it challenges you to take adventures that you would not be able to take elsewhere, it inspires you to discover what you did not know about yourself, and it helps you to become a better you.