During the summer of 1948, Jack Wallace, a newly hired economics instructor, undertook a groundbreaking and significant venture. Professor Wallace and his wife took a class of 17 Beaver College students to Europe to study the economic effects of World War II and the post-war rebuilding efforts by looking at what was then happening in a number of cities in England and on the continent. The group sailed across the Atlantic from New York to Southampton, traveled around England on used bicycles purchased for this purpose, took the boat across the Channel, and continued riding their bikes through Belgium and France – all the way to Paris. They spent a total of eight weeks living and learning abroad before sailing back to New York at the end of the summer.Classes were taught on shipboard en route and in locales like Oxford, London, and Paris during the program.
This was a pioneering and bold effort. In June of 1948, few other American colleges or universities had resurrected the study abroad programs that the World War had interrupted. Just two schools had been able to generate interest overseas study, secure the necessary permissions, and make overseas arrangements capable of supporting the resumption of such undertakings. Only Beaver College was able to launch a new one. Professor Wallace developed his idea into an actual program during an era when international communications relied upon the postal services, when neither the telegraph nor the telephone was used for anything short of a true emergency. It was a time before easy and efficient transatlantic air travel, even before the advent of "student ships" that would encourage and support subsequent summer and semester–long study abroad programs throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.
The Beaver College students in Jack Wallace’s class not only worked hard, they played hard – and they enjoyed themselves immensely. Contemporary campus folklore perpetuates descriptions of Beaver College women slogging through the rain on their heavy bikes, of late-night sessions, of dances and parties with their English student counterparts (and even some local service men). Living conditions were just as "quaint" and primitive as the $2/day budgeted to pay for them would suggest. Remarkably, everyone coped cheerfully and the venture succeeded beyond the College’s expectations.
This undertaking was a such a hit that it was repeated in expanded format during the summers of 1949 and 1950. The itinerary broadened in favor of a passage on the rebuilt European railway system. Under Professor and Mrs. Wallace’s leadership, student participation grew each year.
This summer program became so popular that when, after three years, Jack Wallace left Beaver College to teach at Boston University, other faculty members eagerly came forward to take up the reins and to lead the project forward.
— David Larsen, Vice President of Arcadia University and Executive Director of the Center for Education Abroad
Reprinted from From Female Seminary to Comprehensive University: A 150-Year History of Beaver College and Arcadia University by Samuel M. Cameron, Mark P. Curchak and Michael L. Berger. Published in 2003.
This was a pioneering and bold effort. In June of 1948, few other American colleges or universities had resurrected the study abroad programs that the World War had interrupted. Just two schools had been able to generate interest overseas study, secure the necessary permissions, and make overseas arrangements capable of supporting the resumption of such undertakings. Only Beaver College was able to launch a new one. Professor Wallace developed his idea into an actual program during an era when international communications relied upon the postal services, when neither the telegraph nor the telephone was used for anything short of a true emergency. It was a time before easy and efficient transatlantic air travel, even before the advent of "student ships" that would encourage and support subsequent summer and semester–long study abroad programs throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.
The Beaver College students in Jack Wallace’s class not only worked hard, they played hard – and they enjoyed themselves immensely. Contemporary campus folklore perpetuates descriptions of Beaver College women slogging through the rain on their heavy bikes, of late-night sessions, of dances and parties with their English student counterparts (and even some local service men). Living conditions were just as "quaint" and primitive as the $2/day budgeted to pay for them would suggest. Remarkably, everyone coped cheerfully and the venture succeeded beyond the College’s expectations.
This undertaking was a such a hit that it was repeated in expanded format during the summers of 1949 and 1950. The itinerary broadened in favor of a passage on the rebuilt European railway system. Under Professor and Mrs. Wallace’s leadership, student participation grew each year.
This summer program became so popular that when, after three years, Jack Wallace left Beaver College to teach at Boston University, other faculty members eagerly came forward to take up the reins and to lead the project forward.
— David Larsen, Vice President of Arcadia University and Executive Director of the Center for Education Abroad
Reprinted from From Female Seminary to Comprehensive University: A 150-Year History of Beaver College and Arcadia University by Samuel M. Cameron, Mark P. Curchak and Michael L. Berger. Published in 2003.
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