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Autumn 2003 | Volume 26, Number 4 | Campus | |
| Passage to India: Graduate Psychology
Students Immerse Themselves in Another Culture WHEN FIVE STUDENTS from the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Seattle Pacific University arrived in Vellore, India, in August 2003, they quickly noted the city’s vitality — people everywhere; cows, goats and dogs on the roads; honking cars and buses; and motorcycles carrying multiple passengers. “The most people I saw on a motorcycle was six,” says Associate Professor of Psychology John Thoburn, faculty advisor for the trip. “It was the whole family — father, mother and children.” In the southeastern Indian city of 500,000, Thoburn led the doctoral students on a five-week “International Psychology Cultural Immersion Experience.” The students worked with the Christian Counselling Centre (CCC) in Vellore, focusing on clinical research. They took classes, presented papers and toured the 2,000-bed Christian Medical College, a psychiatric clinic and a jail. They also met Father Joseph, a Catholic priest who established the organization Pravaham Ashram to foster dialogue between Christians and Hindus. As part of the SPRINT (Seattle Pacific Reachout International) program, the students had both life- and career-changing encounters. “I became more aware of my own culture by experiencing another,” says third-year doctoral student Theresa DiVago. “I gained a greater understanding of community and family.” She wasn’t alone. “I have a heightened awareness of the importance of hearing each client’s story, knowing that it may be greatly different from what my experience has taught me,” says Vanya Sandberg, also a third-year student. Their responses were just what SPU’s School of Psychology, Family and Community had hoped for. The immersion experience, says Thoburn, is designed to develop graduate students of both competence and character. “To me, that’s the heart of what we’re trying to do,” he says. The School plans to expand the overseas immersion program to six locations, with India, Ireland and Kenya as potential sites. In all cases, the overseas experiences directly impact the work of doctoral students. Says Thoburn, “In essence, every encounter between a therapist and a client is a multicultural experience, because each of us is unique.” |
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 From the President “What is a college education really worth?” asks President Philip Eaton. With universities under scrutiny today, SPU must reflect about its influence and impact. Closing the Gap Fighting for Family Creativity Takes
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