Economics professor visits Colombia as Fulbright-Hays participant
Jenny Minier spent four weeks across Colombia learning lessons she could bring back to Oxford.
Economics professor visits Colombia as Fulbright-Hays participant
An economics professor at the Farmer School of Business spent four weeks of her summer in Colombia examining climate change, sustainability, and the impacts of both.
Jenny Minier, the chair of the Department of Economics, went to Colombia as part of the , which is designed to provide educators in humanities, social sciences, and languages with professional development experiences to help them integrate international studies into their general curriculum.
“We went to seven universities in five cities, and the idea was that faculty would learn about some of the science side of climate change and sustainability research being done in Colombia,” she said. “Each university arranged a day of presentations and networking sessions, and then also some sort of activity where we could see some of their research -- sometimes in the community, other times out in the field.”
In a group of 16 faculty members from different American universities, Minier travelled from bigger cities like Bogotá and Medellín to a tiny university branch campus along the Amazon River near the border with Brazil and Peru.
“Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, and the five regions we visited highlighted that diversity. Each of the seven universities was so interesting, and so different from the others - it was an incredible opportunity to meet with the faculty and to see the ways each university interacts with local communities,” Minier said.
Among the group’s activities, they spent a day in a boat on the Amazon River, hiked through the jungle to spend time with an indigenous family, visited a seed bank near Cali, and had several coffee tastings in Medellín.
“It was fascinating to learn about the important research being done, and actions being taken, around issues of sustainability in Colombia,” Minier said. “I formed multiple connections and look forward to further collaboration with some of the Colombian and American scholars I met, as well as possible collaboration with a couple of the Colombian universities.”
“The universities and Fulbright Colombia were wonderful hosts, providing a mix of interesting, engaging academic presentations relating to climate change and sustainability and visits to related community organizations and projects,” she said.
Minier is the second FSB economics faculty member to take part in a Fulbright-Hays program in as many years. Janice Kinghorn journeyed to India on a Fulbright-Hays group project last summer.
Minier said she’s looking forward to bringing what she learned into her classroom. “I'm looking forward to incorporating some of what I learned into my economic development course this fall. The curriculum project that I developed focuses on a lawsuit in which young Colombians sued the government over their right to a healthy environment; the case should spark interesting discussions about economics, the law, and ethical issues,” she said.
“I also have new examples to help illustrate some of the tensions between development and sustainability. For example, in Medellín, we visited two neighborhoods that have taken different approaches to economic revitalization and development: one has focused on community involvement and engagement, building for the community, while the other has focused on tourism and attracting outsiders,” Minier said. “While both neighborhoods are considered successful, they feel very different from each other, and plan to use examples like this to highlight the tradeoffs inherent in economic development strategies.”
