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News and Event Releases > Millsaps Signs Student Exchange Agreement with Albanian University

Millsaps Signs Student Exchange Agreement with Albanian University

Posted: 1/5/10

Professor Dr. Dhori Kule, rector of The University of Tirana, signs the first student exchange agreement between his university and an American college or university. Millsaps College representatives Dr. Michael Galaty, professor of anthropology, and Dr. Tim Ward, professor of chemistry and associate dean of sciences, participated in the December ceremony in Tirana, Albania.
Professor Dr. Dhori Kule, rector of The University of Tirana, signs the first student exchange agreement between his university and an American college or university. Millsaps College representatives Dr. Michael Galaty, professor of anthropology, and Dr. Tim Ward, professor of chemistry and associate dean of sciences, participated in the December ceremony in Tirana, Albania.

Millsaps College is the first American college or university to establish a student exchange agreement with the University of Tirana in Albania, a public institution of higher education in Albania's capital city. The agreement, signed in a December ceremony in Albania, is the latest development in Millsaps' growing repertoire of study abroad programs.

"International education is an integral component to Millsaps' offerings, and opportunities such as this student exchange in Albania will enhance learning opportunities for our students and prepare them to fully participate in an increasingly complex global society," said David C. Davis, interim vice president and dean of the college. "The unique nature of this relationship between an American liberal arts college and an Albanian public university is evidence of Millsaps' innovative curriculum and entrepreneurial faculty."

Millsaps' relationship with the University of Tirana began through a connection Michael Galaty, professor of anthropology at Millsaps, had with Lorenc Bejko, a professor at the University of Tirana. The two worked together for six years on the Mallakastra Regional Archaeological Project in central Albania as part of an international team of archaeologists who surveyed the remains of a Greek colony, Apollonia, founded in 588 B.C.

The two professors will begin a new joint research project in the summer of 2010 in Shkodra, Albania's second largest city. Galaty and two students will spend a month studying the 3,000-year-old city.

"Albania is a country where exciting things are happening," Galaty said. "After decades of communist rule, it has emerged and is integrating with the European Union and the world. By attending the University of Tirana, Millsaps students can be a part of that process. Tirana is a vibrant capital city and Albania possesses an impressive history and archaeology."

The student exchange agreement allows Millsaps students to pay the same tuition and use their financial aid awards just as if they were spending the semester at Millsaps.

Over the last ten years, Galaty has led students to Albania for research projects including work on the Shala Valley Project in the northern Albanian high mountains. The international project, which Galaty directs, studies the remote valley's cultural resources and the impact of cultural isolation.

One of those students, Chelsi West, a 2008 graduate of Millsaps, completed a year of research study in Albania as a Fulbright Scholar.

Millsaps student exchange programs are administered by the college's Office of International Education. Each year, approximately 40 percent of Millsaps students study abroad and the college offers faculty-led programs in 20 countries across Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. Direct exchange programs in 42 countries and 150 sites are also available to Millsaps students as part of the college's participation in the International Student Exchange Program.