Dartmouth and the American University in Kosovo have signed an agreement confirming and extending the two institutions’ relationship, which was first formally established in October, 2010. On June 15, 2011, Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim and Christopher G. L. Hall, president of the American University in Kosovo, met in Hanover to mark the next phase of the partnership.
The signing ceremony was attended by representatives of both schools, including Lindsay J. Whaley, Dartmouth’s associate dean for international and interdisciplinary studies; Laurel Stavis, executive director of the Dartmouth-American University of Kuwait Project; Laura Zylstra, director of advancement for the American University in Kosovo Foundation, and Dartmouth Medical School chair of Community and Family Medicine Michael Zubkoff, who is also a member of the American University in Kosovo Board of Trustees.
Over the past year, President Hall noted, Dartmouth has helped the American University in Kosovo “prepare a road map” as the university made plans to initiate the accreditation process with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the regional accreditation agency for colleges and universities in the six New England states. NEASC’s Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE) also accredits a number of international institutions.
Going forward, explained Hall, the schools’ relationship will facilitate continuing consultation on accreditation, enable increased faculty and student exchange programs, and support curriculum development at the American University in Kosovo. “Dartmouth is a role model for the American University in Kosovo,” said Hall. “We have much to learn from Dartmouth’s experience as we build an institution that offers a high quality American liberal arts environment in a region that has no such tradition in education.”
“We are delighted to continue and expand this collaboration,” said Dartmouth Provost Carol Folt. “The American University in Kosovo is an inspiring institution whose graduates are already making significant contributions to their new nation’s development. It is a privilege to work with this aspiring young university, and we look forward to participating in its continuing development.“
The American University in Kosovo, Hall pointed out, is “the only educational institution in the region that has students from all ethic backgrounds—there are Albanians, Serbs, Bosnians, Roma, Turks—all in the same classrooms, developing what we hope are lifelong friendships with each other.”
Stavis, who coordinates the Kosovo collaboration, recently met with students and alumni in Prishtina, Kosovo. “Everyone I spoke with,” she recalled, “said they hoped their educations at the American University in Kosovo would prepare them to help rebuild their country.”
“When we work with a university in another part of the world,” added Stavis, “we learn something about ourselves. Whether it’s about designing curriculum, creating infrastructure, or considering how higher education relates to government, there’s always something new and surprising that develops—something that benefits both institutions.”
Dartmouth’s involvement in Kosovo began in 1999, when Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) faculty provided critical care to the war-torn area and opportunities for medical students to participate in exchange programs. James Strickler ’50, DMS ’51, Dean of Dartmouth Medical School Emeritus, spearheaded this work.
In June 2011, a group of Dartmouth students and recent graduates traveled to Kosovo as part of Project Preservation, which directs yearly volunteer service trips to restore Jewish cemeteries in locations throughout Eastern Europe. American University in Kosovo students joined the Dartmouth team during the trip, visiting Auschwitz and restoring a cemetery in Prishtina. The relationship between the institutions facilitated a broadening of Project Preservation’s traditional curriculum, allowing students and faculty to address ethnic cleansing and the process of reconciliation.
The American University in Kosovo is Kosovo’s only private, nonprofit university teaching entirely in the English language. It was founded in 2002 with funds from the government and the people of Kosovo, and by a donation from the Union Fund for the Reconstruction of Kosovo (UFORK).
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