New Brunswick Strategic Planning Proposal
Proposal Title: AMESALL Translation Major and Program at the American University in Cairo
Proposal Initiator: Charles G. Haberl
Primary Contact Name and Phone Number: Charles Haberl, (917) 301-6531
Primary Contact Email Address: haberl@rutgers.edu
Primary Strategic Priority/Foundational Element/Integrating Theme Addressed:
Cultures, Diversity, and Inequality—Local and Global
Proposal Abstract
Establish an exchange program between the American University of Cairo and Rutgers, the State
University of New Jersey, including a faculty-directed academic year (semester-long) field school at
the American University in Cairo dedicated to Translation Studies, and particularly Arabic literary,
business, medical, and legal translation and interpretation.
Full Proposal Description
A memorandum of academic exchange has been signed between Rutgers and the American
University in Cairo (Rutgers’ first protocol with any university in the Arab world). AUC is primarily
interested in close cooperation between programs and departments with high student and faculty
interest, including AMESALL, Journalism and Media Studies, and Middle East Studies. AMESALL in
particular would greatly benefit from cooperation with the new AUC Translation Center, which is in
the process of establishing an MA program in Translation Studies. AUC already offers a range of
courses in legal, diplomatic, business and media/literary translation, and simultaneous interpreting
across a range of programs and departments (including the Arabic Language Institute, the School
for Continuing Education, Business and Computer Science and the Arabic Studies and Theater
Studies departments). There is much room for it to grow, and AMESALL has the opportunity to be
part of that process.
The initiative would involve expanding the existing AMESALL Translation Certificate into a
major track, with an additional 16-18 credits as study abroad credits that would include advanced
translation courses, language courses and internship credits, with Arabic as the first AMESALL
language of specialization and hopefully more to follow depending on our faculty interest, academic
contacts abroad and existing MOUs with regional universities. There are four major advantages to
developing this proposed major:
It would build on the expertise of our faculty (many of whom work in Translation Studies
and are experienced and recognized translators themselves);
2. It would establish Rutgers’ presence in a dynamic and growing international field, with both
important theoretical and practical applications;
3. It would contribute to our mission in the field of regional and comparative literature,
grounded upon language skills and practical competencies.
4. It would provide a strategic boost to our presence and mission at Rutgers at a time when
language and literature departments are facing grave challenges to their future.
1.
2
In order to secure study abroad opportunities for our students and provide instruction in legal,
diplomatic, business and media/literary translation to students not only in AMESALL from different
units and schools at Rutgers, we additionally propose the establishment of a semester-long
Translation Program at AUC. This school would be unique within the Arab world (if not the world)
and would additionally draw students from other schools within the CIC. Traditionally, the costs for
these programs are covered through student tuition and fees, but such programs typically require
several years before they generate sufficient revenue to cover costs. In particular, this program will
require a faculty director, who will reside on the AUC campus and provide instructional and
logistical support to these students. Rather than pass the cost for this director along to the students
(who will, initially, be few in number), AMESALL requests that Rutgers provide the director with a
course release and a research budget sufficient to cover travel and short-term accommodations (at
least for the initial three years of the program, at which point the revenue from student tuition and
fees should be sufficient to cover the director’s expenses).
Proposed Measures to Mark Progress or Determine Success
The primary metric for the success of the proposed program will be the number of students
exchanged between the American University of Cairo and Rutgers, and particularly those students
who enroll in and successfully complete the semester-long field school. It is anticipated that the
primary audience for this program will be Rutgers undergraduates, but as it is unique within the
region and among American institutions of higher education it will also likely draw students from
the Graduate School and the professional schools, as well as students from institutions both within
the CIC and outside of it.