By Jamila Cupid

         Both faculty and students from various disciplines at Howard University were in attendance at the recent Race, Ethnicity and Migration Studies (REMS) Information Session and Lecture Session sponsored by the Howard University Graduate School.  Dr. Ayse Caglar, Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Central European University, was the guest lecturer. Dr. Caglar’s lecture focused on the historical evolvement of migration throughout history from the European perspective.  She also discussed opportunities for students and faculty to participate in the REMS exchange program to research and study migration issues in Europe.  These opportunities are being offered through a collaborative program between Howard University, University of Texas at El Paso, Vanderbilt University, Central European University, Universidade de Coimbra, Universiteit Utrecht, and the University of Edinburgh. 

Dr. Orlando L. Taylor, Vice Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, opened the program by raising the issue of immigration as the predominant discussion in a recent debate between the Republican presidential candidates. Continuing on the relevance of the immigration issue in the U.S. and abroad, Dr. Wayne Patterson, Senior Fellow and Professor of Computer Science, and currently the Program Manager for International Science and Engineering in Developing Countries at the National Science Foundation, explained that the initial funding to explore this opportunity was provided by the Tokyo Foundation.  The program is now jointly funded by the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission (EU), and the Fund for the improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Department of Education.  Dr. Patterson stated that the program is “an excellent opportunity for our students and faculty to form ties with the European community through the partnering universities.”   Drs. Taylor and Patterson are co-principal investigators on the REMS project. Lisa Rawlings, Graduate Assistant for the REMS project, described the program’s Summer Institute: two weeks in the Netherlands at Universiteit Utrecht in a specialized Migration Studies forum with European students, to be followed by four to six weeks at any of the partnering European universities during the summer with individualized programs of study. 

Dr. Caglar presented her research on migration scholarship and the effects of migration, specifically pertaining to identity politics and urban development as a result of migration patterns.  She is currently writing a book that attempts to develop a theoretical framework that addresses the localities or smaller cities that are not necessarily considered major immigration gateways yet still experience significant migration. She will focus on the position of these localities in the global community, while working to expand her research in these areas.  During the lecture, she also explained the importance of transnational migration literature that focuses on various aspects of migration, which she stated “have been ignored by traditional migration literature,” but are “now growing.”  Dean Taylor and Dr. Caglar drew on different examples to demonstrate the many similarities that exist between the development of migration in Europe and the U.S., including in such localities as Mardin in Turkey and Prince William County, Virginia and other areas in the U.S. 

Dr. Caglar concluded by encouraging students and faculty to consider studying at Central European University or any of the partnering schools, while Dr. Patterson informed the attendants of the various international exchange programs provided by Howard University.