Humboldt University Exchange Program
The following article is from Centenary's newspaper The Conglomerate. It is reprinted with the permission of its author, Marilyn Wheless.
Thanks to the efforts of Robert Caldwell and Dr. Mark Gruettner, Centenary students of German now have the opportunity to spend a semester or year studying at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. The university, which has been the home of such great thinkers as Albert Einstein and Karl Marx, maintains an outstanding academic reputation. Through the years, twenty-seven Nobel prize laureates have either taught or conducted research at the Humboldt.
This program provides Centenary students not only with a chance to study at one of the world's most prestigious universities, but also with an opportunity to teach. Although students may fulfill the Intercultural requirement of the Centenary Plan by studying at the Humboldt, they may also receive Service Learning credit for teaching English in a Berlin Gymnasium (high school).
Since nine percent of the students matriculating at the Humboldt come from abroad, any Centenary student who chooses to study there will not be entirely alone. Ines Bruenner, an exchange student from the Humboldt University, recommends both Berlin and the Humboldt to students who want to study abroad because they are "multicultural and very international." She believes that the Humboldt "offers a lot of facilities which allow students to study extensively in many different areas." However, Caldwell warns, "Berlin is not for everyone; its pace and attitude are similar to that of New York and Berliners are very independent." Despite this warning, any student who decides to go would certainly find the experience to be challenging and exciting, as did Caldwell. Because of the excellent education he received at Centenary and his own diligent work, Caldwell has been offered a position as a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry at the Humboldt.