News & Events

A conference was recently hosted in Tirana, Albania, by the Atlantic Treaty Association, a networking facilitator that works in conjunction with NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. This annual conference, which brings together Atlanticists (people such as students, young professionals, academia and practitioners of international relations dedicated to improving ties among nations of Western Europe, the United States and Canada), was held during the 57th General Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association. Thanks to the notification and support received from Franklin alumnus David Kirk ‘03, Director of the Young Atlanticists Program at the Atlantic Council of the United States, Stephen Rakowski '13, a student at Franklin College, applied to attend the conference and was accepted. His participation was sponsored by the Franklin College Student Government Association (SGA).

"Do the Hokey-Pokey, and turn yourself around. That's what it's all about!" Thursday, December 1, 2011, twenty students from the Sorengo public elementary school filled the Falcon's Nest student center at Franklin College in Sorengo to perform English songs and skits to the delight of the parents, grandparents and neighbors who accompanied them. The performance was the culmination of the first half of the doposcuola (after-school) English course currently being offered by Franklin student-teachers. The English teaching program will continue into spring, 2012.

Kudos to Artyom Machekin ’12. On November 27, 2011, the Franklin College senior became the Swiss National Swimming Champion for the 100-meter freestyle, a time-consuming and demanding sport that requires intense and constant dedication. Artyom, who is from Minsk in Belarus, will be returning to that country in May to compete for a place on its Olympic team for the Games which will take place in London in the summer of 2012.

In the summer of 2011 three intrepid Franklin students set off on a grand adventure. Their destination was the Spiti Valley, in the remote and spectacular Himalayan mountains. Their mission was to teach English to Buddhist monks and other young people … without the luxury of textbooks. Dashiell Jordan, from Dallas, Texas; Callie Robson, from Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Hannah Weeks, from Issaquah, Washington, were participating in Franklin’s Spiti Valley Program, a credit-bearing course that counts toward Franklin’s Certificate in English Language Teaching (ELT).

The Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Committee have found a new President for Franklin College. P. Gregory Warden, Ph.D., the Associate Dean for Research and Academic Affairs at the Meadows School of the Arts and University Distinguished Professor of Art History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, will become the fourth president of Franklin College Switzerland on July 1, 2012. He will succeed Erik O. Nielsen, Ph.D., who has skillfully served as Franklin’s president since 1995 and will continue to lead Franklin as its President through the current academic year.

Ten Franklin women are providing the backbone for the Swiss Women’s National Team of Aussie Rules Football—the Swiss Swans. The players, including Franklin students Quinn Flanagan, Ashton McGinnis, Claudia Rybienik, Novia Dela Rosa, Erin Walter, Katrina Lamarre, Anna Hixson, Stephanie Erichsen and Abigail Alston, were in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on October 8 representing Switzerland in the 2011 Euro Cup Championship, which was televised by ESPN. (Leslie McNulty is also on the team but was unable to go to the tournament.) Their task was to wrest the title of European AFL champions from the defending champs, the Irish Banshees, who were playing on home turf. Last year the Banshees defeated Team Italia at the 2010 Euro Cup in Milan. The Swiss team is coached by Mattia Sacchi and Luca Urso, former players on the Swiss Men’s Aussie Rules team who got into the sport through their involvement with rugby.

Thanks to the generosity of Trustee Rick Bell and his wife Paulise, in addition to Trustees Ernst Matthiensen, Tim Darrin and Frances Stewart, a new video conferencing center will be available to graduate and undergraduate students as well as faculty and staff in the offices of the Taylor Institute for Global Enterprise Management.

Designed to create a dynamic, intellectual community for both scholars and undergraduates built around innovative teaching and learning practices during the summer session, the Faculty Fellows program has infused the summer offerings with courses not normally available to Franklin students.

Collaborating with some of her long-time colleagues, Professor Satomi Sugiyama, Department of Communication and Media Studies at Franklin College Switzerland, organized an international exploratory workshop entitled "Social Robots and Emotion: Transcending the Boundary between Humans and ICTs" from June 03 to June 04, 2011.

The atmosphere was festive as participants in Franklin College's 41st Commencement ceremony gathered at the Palazzo dei Congressi in downtown Lugano on Sunday, May 15, 2011. Applause filled the large amphitheater as the seniors in their traditional black caps and gowns proceeded down the aisles followed by Franklin's international faculty members and members of the Franklin Board of Trustees. This graduating class of 94 students was the largest in the history of the College.

Professor Robert McCormick, Jr., one of Franklin’s great teachers, has significantly contributed to the Franklin College spirit over the past 23 years. He has achieved much in his many years as a professor, and many students will say that they cannot imagine their Franklin experience without him. Yet, as of this fall, Professor McCormick will turn a new page.

Franklin College is known for being a hub of international gathering and this year’s Caribbean Conference, which took place from April 7-9, proved to reinforce this reputation with scholars attending from the world over. The three-day "Caribbean Unbound V" was held on the Sorengo (Lugano) Kaletsch campus and was the largest and most international edition of the conference yet.

On a recent trip to visit Franklin alumni and parents in Saudi Arabia, Erik O. Nielsen, President of Franklin College, and Pascal F. Tone, Chairman of the Board, negotiated an agreement of cooperation with Jeddah-based Dar Al-Hekma College, a leading institution of higher education for women. The agreement runs for five years, with options for both partners to renew. Dr. Suhair Hassan Al Qurashi, the President of Dar Al-Hekma, signed the agreement on behalf of her institution.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the official accrediting body in the United States, reviewed the strategic plan and graduate curriculum of the Taylor Institute for Global Enterprise Management at its December 15, 2010, meeting and approved Franklin's new Master of Science in International Management degree (M.S.) for inclusion within the scope of Franklin's accreditation. This means that the M.S. in International Management is now fully accredited in the United States. We have also informed our Swiss body of accreditation, the Organ für Akkreditierung und Qualitätssicherung der Schweizerischen Hochschulen (OAQ), concerning the launch of graduate studies this year. Review of the M.S. degree will be part of the regular accreditation renewal process with OAQ which will take place in 2012. Upon successful completion of that process, the M.S. in International Management will be recognized and fully accredited in Switzerland as well.

At its fall meeting held in New York City on November 12, 2010, the Franklin College Board of Trustees elected Mr. Pascal F. Tone as its new Chairman. Tone replaces Paul Lowerre, '77, who stepped down after ten years as Chair. Mr. Lowerre continues his membership on the board, which began in 1995. Mr. Tone has a long history of association with Franklin, beginning with his role as an instructor at the former Fleming College, the immediate predecessor to Franklin, and as a co-founder in 1969 of Franklin College itself. In the College's early years he served as its director of admissions and development and then as its President from 1973-79. He is currently Vice President of Wealth Management at Neuberger Berman in New York and has served in voluntary leadership positions for many years for the US Equestrian Team. Mr. Tone was awarded his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has earned graduate degrees from Columbia University and MIT. He is a long time benefactor of the College: the Tone Athletic Center on campus is named in his honor.

The Institute for Global Enterprise Management has been established by the Franklin College Switzerland Board of Trustees, with the intention to begin offering classes in the fall of 2011. The first post-bachelor degree to be offered at Franklin will be a Master in International Management, for which the curriculum is currently under development.

Sunshine and reflections from the nearby lake of Lugano embraced the participants in Franklin College’s 40th Commencement ceremony, creating a festive and light-hearted atmosphere for the 85 students graduating—the largest number in the history of the College. On Sunday, May 16, Franklin President Erik Nielsen welcomed members of the senior class—representing 31 different countries—their parents and friends, faculty and members of the Franklin community to graduation at the Palazzo dei Congressi in downtown Lugano.

Franklin College takes yet another step to amalgamate with its Ticinese community. Fascinated by alluring academic travels and easy access to the European front which Franklin College Switzerland offers its students, it can be easy to neglect the rich and abundant Swiss Italian culture of the canton of Ticino where the college is located. As a means of mitigating this neglect, the Italian Department with the support of Dean Sara Steinert Borella, has initiated an Italian Immersion Program which will commence this upcoming Fall 2010.

On Thursday, October 1, Franklin alumna Esra'a Al Shafei '08 delivered an impassioned message to the Franklin community with a presentation straight from her heart. She spoke to a packed auditorium, filled with members of the Franklin community and guests from the greater Lugano area, about her heroic fight for human rights in the Middle East. Her work has brought her many accolades, including the Berkman Award from Harvard University, a TED Fellowship and an Echoing Green Fellowship, among others. While Esra’a is grateful for the awards, to her they are just one more way she and her colleagues are able to attain recognition for their ongoing fight for basic freedoms in the Middle East.

The Bollettino della Società Ticinese di Scienze Naturali recently published the results of a five-month research project developed by Professor Brack Hale, assistant professor of Biology and Environmental Science, about the status of the water quality of the Laghetto di Muzzano. Two Franklin students, Megan Richardson and Kyle Hartman, along with a former student of Professor Hale’s from Duke University, assisted with the sampling project. The study was performed in collaboration with Pro Natura Ticino, a Swiss ecological protection and conservation organization and owner of the Laghetto di Muzzano area since 1945.

The Franklin Drama Society's recent fall production, under the direction of Sheryl Granville, proved to be another outstanding success.

Sustainability efforts on the rise at Franklin College Switzerland.

Sunshine enhanced Franklin College's 39th Commencement, which was held at the Palazzo dei Congressi in downtown Lugano on May 17. President Erik Nielsen's welcome to the 65 graduating seniors from 25 different countries with their friends and families, members of the faculty, honored guests and the many other members of the audience was followed by Chairman of the Board Paul Lowerre's opening remarks.

From April 2-4, 2009, Franklin College Switzerland basked in the light of the Caribbean as it hosted the fourth biennial Conference of Caribbean Literature and Culture. The 2009 edition of the Conference, entitled The Caribbean Unbound IV—Reconceiving Hispaniola, was held in Sorengo (Lugano) on the Kaletsch campus of the College and open to students and the general public.

Friday evening, November 21, 2008, witnessed the debut performance of the Franklin College Drama Society’s production of The Complete History of America (Abridged).

The National Art Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria, recently hosted a one-person exhibition of the sculpture of Penelope Margaret Mackworth-Praed, better known to the Franklin community as Margaret Glass, professor of sculpture in the department of visual and communication arts.

Esra’a Al Shafei, Franklin 2008 graduate, receives prestigious award for human rights and global advocacy.

Franklin College student volunteers continue their collaboration with Pro Natura Ticino to restore the natural habitat of the Laghetto di Muzzano.

Franklin College Switzerland announces the appointment of Dr. Kris Bulcroft to the newly created position of Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

A full day of campus events celebrates the past accomplishments and future possibilities of college life.

Franklin College recently entered into an agreement with the Graduate School of International Policy Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) of California.

Franklin Honors students volunteer to teach English to children of the elementary school in Sorengo.

Group sits in on Dalai Lama’s public speech on inner peace for world harmony.

The Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (CLCS) First Year Seminar donates a water buffalo to a Filipino family.

Students reunite with Pro Natura Ticino for the cleanup of the Laghetto di Muzzano.

The Baobab initiative organizes another successful event to support the Zambian village.

In November of 2006, the Board of Trustees voted unamiously to create the Ursula Gentile Lowerre Outstanding Service Award.

Professor Ajit Singh from Queens' College, Cambridge discusses globalization and industrial revolutions in India and China.

The world premiere concert of “Corale II per Margaret, per quartetto d’archi e orchestra d’archi” composed by Professor Paul Glass will be performed by the Stradivari-Quartette with orchestra and conducted by Christof Escher in Zurich, September 18, 2007.

The collaboration of Franklin College with two Lugano Institutes for the Study of Anthropology announced June 13, 2007.

New Graphic Design Center Dedicated on North Campus

New Library on North Campus

Commemoration Ceremony on May 12, 2007

Franklin students make news while protecting the local environment.

Ten students chosen

Lugano March 29-31,2007

WorldCat is the largest, most accessible library catalog on earth.

Dr. Willem Peppler, Franklin trustee, funds new program.

Comprised of over 137 artifacts, the exhibition represents the largest collection of the site’s materials to be displayed outside of Italy.

Franklin Professors Caroline Weidmer and Sara Steinert Borella of the Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies area became intrigued when a petition brought before Swiss Parliament concluded that child custody regulations discriminated against men.

In 2004, while Dr. Ahron Bregman interviewed a former Israeli Prime Minister for BBC, the Prime Minister got an idea. “The tapes were still rolling, and the Prime Minister stopped, he said, ‘I need you,’” describes Dr. Bregman. “He noticed that I remembered what he did not. I could fill in the blanks. When you do a documentary for BBC, you have to know the story. By the time I spoke with the Prime Minister, I had spoken to all of his aids and watched many hours of relevant footage. He could see I really knew his story,” he explains, “and so he asked me to help him with his book.”

Professor Christopher Matthews is nominated again for the prestigious Pushcart Prize in Poetry.