UA Deans

UA Deans/Faculty Explore Opportunities in Cuba

Gallery of images from Cuba by photographer Chip Cooper

by Cathy Andreen

Interdisciplinary group of UA faculty, staff and administrators who recently traveled to Cuba to explore opportunities for educational development.

This interdisciplinary group of UA faculty, staff and administrators recently traveled to Cuba to explore opportunities for educational development. (Photo by Chip Cooper)

An interdisciplinary group of UA deans, faculty and staff spent a week in Cuba in January exploring opportunities to build academic and educational partnerships with their counterparts in that country. The trip became possible when the University applied for and received an academic travel license from the U.S. Department of the Treasury permitting travel to Cuba for the purpose of educational development.

The recent visit, one of a number of activities planned to develop relationships with Cuba, is already producing results. For example, Dr. Sara Barger, dean of the Capstone College of Nursing, Dr. John C. Higginbotham of the College of Community Health Sciences, and Dr. Jane Stanfield, executive director of Capstone International Center, finalized a program that will take UA nursing and medical students, medical residents and students in the Rural Medical Scholars program, to Cuba this summer. The program, in cooperation with the University of Havana Medical School, will allow students in the health professions to observe and examine a national health care system, different from that of the United States, that provides community-based care to rural populations.

In another project, Dr. Daniel Fonseca, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering, met with faculty at Superior Polytechnic Institute (known locally as Cujae), the largest engineering university in Cuba. Fonseca said faculty from UA and Cujae are planning initial cooperative projects in the area of water and the environment. The Cuban institute has invited faculty and students from the UA College of Engineering to participate in seminars in Cuba this summer. In addition, UA is working on a plan to provide English language training to the Cuban engineers through the English Language Institute.

"The trip was an eye-opening experience," said Dr. Larry Clayton, chair of the history department and interim director of the Latin American studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Virtually everyone came away with a profound desire to promote teaching and research opportunities in Cuba."

Clayton furthered his own research by meeting with Cuban historians and continuing work on a long-term project -- a biography of 16th century priest Father Bartolomé de las Casas. Clayton also chairs the Cuba Committee, a group of UA faculty and staff and members of the community with research and educational interests in Cuba.

Dr. Robert Olin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a key player in establishing UA's Cuba effort, said he saw many opportunities for relationships ranging from archaeology to green manufacturing to social work. "It was a very productive week," he said.

Ongoing activities with Cuba will be enhanced by a gift from UA Trustee Angus Cooper and his brother David Cooper. The Mobile businessmen have given $50,000 to the University to establish the Cooper Cuba Initiative. The gift will assist UA faculty, staff and students in studying, teaching and conducting research in Cuba.

"The Cooper Cuba Initiative will help support faculty research and projects related to Cuba under the University's license, but it is broader than that," said Stan Murphy, UA senior counsel for international development and strategic initiatives and coordinator of the Cooper Cuba Initiative. "It also will encourage cooperation between the University's Cuba programs and those of other educational and civic groups in Alabama and the region. Our goal is for The University of Alabama to become a regional and even national center for Cuba-related research and study. The University has a longstanding presence in international activities, and this will be an important addition to that mission."

Under the academic travel license, UA students may travel to Cuba as part of academic courses, conduct academic research in Cuba as part of their professional development and qualifications, and study at Cuban universities as long as UA will grant credit for that study. UA faculty and staff may teach in academic programs at Cuban universities and Cuban scholars may teach or participate in academic and scholarly activities at UA.

In addition to those already mentioned, UA officials traveling to Cuba included Dr. Carolyn Dahl, Continuing Studies; Dr. Richard Diehl, Museums; Juanita Garcia, Human Environmental Sciences; Dr. Nan Restine, Education; Dr. Jordan Kosberg, Social Work; Steve Miller, Communication and Information Sciences; Dr. Walter Misiolek, Commerce and Business Administration; Martha Morgan, Law; Dr. Louis Pitschmann, University Libraries; Dr. Ron Rogers, Graduate School, and Chip Cooper, University Relations.