Brown students' photographs from study abroad programs
A woman selling fresh fruits and vegetables at a small marketplace in Hue, Vietnam. (Photograph by Grace Cheung)
Puri Beach in India. (Photograph by Jillian Waid)
Bordering Brazil and Argentina, the Cataratas de Iguazu (Falls of Iguassu) are the largest waterfalls in the world. (Photograph by Daniel Alvarez)
Pope John Paul II gives a Mass for university students in St. Peter's Cathedral. (Photograph by Audrey Sato)
There's more to school than school.
Your work in the classroom will be fulfilling, intriguing, and rewarding. And Brown offers you many ways to enhance this experience. Here are some of your options:
Studying Abroad
Brown’s Office of International Programs provides students with the opportunity to spend a semester studying overseas. Overwhelmingly, students report that they come back feeling refreshed and invigorated from their experience, approaching their remaining studies with new energy and a broadened world view. From the chance to master a new language or to more clearly understand your role in the world community, studying abroad is an invaluable experience. Brown currently sponsors overseas programs in Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanzania, China, India, Japan, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, Mexico, Barbados, and Brazil. Students can also choose from over 120 pre-approved programs or petition to have a program of their choice approved for study abroad.
Undergraduate Teaching and Research Assistantship (UTRA)/Odyssey
Teaching and scholarship are regarded as collaborative ventures at Brown, and the UTRA and Odyssey Fellowships illustrate this philosophy in a dynamic way. Over eighty percent of Brown faculty and more than 1,800 students have participated in these programs over the years.
With an UTRA Fellowship, you collaborate on a research project with a faculty member. This can either occur individually or as part of a larger group and often takes place over the summer or during the semester. Some research is even done on-site out of the country. These fellowships are excellent opportunities to gain understanding of not only a particular topic, but also of the research process itself.
In an Odyssey Fellowship, you are directly involved in the development or revision of a particular course. These projects often take place with professors with whom you have successfully completed coursework. The fellowship might also involve a stint as a teaching assistant.
Independent Studies
There are two options for independent study at Brown: Independent Study Projects (ISPs) and Group Independent Study Projects (GISPs).
Group Independent Study Projects offer you a chance to design a class. Working with a group of students who share a common interest, you are given the opportunity to create a syllabus and design the work load of the class. Participating students are responsible for planning and carrying out the coursework. Although a faculty member advises the project and evaluates the students' work, a GISP is essentially in the hands of the students. The success of GISPs is perhaps best exemplified by the very philosophy on which Brown’s current curriculum is based. It was through the work of a group of students studying independently that the New Curriculum (now known as the Brown Curriculum) came into being.
An Independent Study Project is just like a GISP except there is no group component to it. You initiate, design, and execute your own course by yourself.
Royce Fellowships
Every spring, twenty-five students at Brown are inducted into the Society of Royce Fellows, receiving a fellowship of up to $4,000 to pursue a project of their own design. Through the support of senior faculty members from varied disciplines in the arts, humanities and sciences, the program seeks to enable undergraduates to explore their developing interests and passions in ways a traditional college curriculum alone cannot achieve. The Society continues its support of its fellows even after their projects are completed with dinners, presentations, and discussions. Its members form a challenging intellectual community within the university.
Honors Program
Students in any field of concentration may apply to their concentration advisor for candidacy in the Honors Program. Those who are accepted as Honors candidates are expected to demonstrate superior academic work in their concentration and to complete an Honors Thesis of distinction (as well as an oral examination in some programs). Students who meet these standards will, on the recommendation of the Educational Policy Committee, be awarded a degree with Honors upon graduation. Baccalaureate degrees are also awarded magna cum laude to the top fifth of the graduating class, as determined by the Committee on Academic Standing and approved by the faculty.