During a recent ceremony at the College of the Holy Cross, Santander Bank, N.A. through its Santander Universities Global Division, signed its second collaborative agreement with the Holy Cross, which will enhance existing faculty-led study tours and immersion programs that take students to Central and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe.
The new agreement was signed by Brian Azar, Santander region president for Southern New England, and Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president of Holy Cross during the ceremony. The agreement with Santander and Holy Cross will provide financial aid to students who would not otherwise be able to participate and reimburse faculty members who volunteer to lead experiences around the world. Since 2011, Santander has given generous financial support to enhance these established programs.
“The faculty-led study tours and Maymester immersion experiences are a wonderful complement to the first-rate education students at the College of the Holy Cross receive,” said Azar. “We are proud to support undergraduates as they gain real-world experience, bridging the gap between theory and practice in our global world.”
“Thanks to Santander’s generosity and partnership, more Holy Cross students will now be able to experience immediate, hands-on access to places and peoples they would otherwise learn about only intellectually. And we will be able to support our faculty leaders as they develop and lead these opportunities,” said Fr. Boroughs at the ceremony.
The funding will support the College’s “Maymester” and “Study Tour” programs as well as a new Choir Tour program. Several Holy Cross students spoke at the ceremony about the impact these programs have had on them. Bartholomew LaFaso ’16 spoke about his life-changing Maymester titled “Intensive Russian Language and Culture in Moscow,” which was led by Olga Partan, lecturer in the modern languages and literatures department; Piotr Broda ’17, who went on an in-depth study of Holocaust sites in Central Europe, spoke about the eye-opening, six week trip led by Daniel Bitran, professor of psychology, and Thomas Doughton, senior lecturer in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies; and Osvaldo Reza ’15 raved about his study tour on “Latin American Film,” led by Bridget Franco, assistant professor of Spanish.
Faculty-led study tours allow students to directly experience material that they have studied in the classroom. The initial coursework provides the intellectual foundation for each student to build with their experiences abroad, helping to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Immersion programs, led by the College’s faculty members, also take students abroad and ask them to negotiate unfamiliar cultures and engage deeply with people whose backgrounds differ markedly from their own. While in the host country, students are fully engaged with the people they are visiting; listening to their stories and sharing in their lives.
Santander Bank, N.A. is one of the largest retail banks in the United States by deposits. Its main corporate offices are in Boston and it operates principally in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Santander’s 9,703 employees serve its 1.8 million customers through the Bank’s 703 branches, 2,092 ATMs, call centers, website and mobile app. Supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Santander in the United States is a wholly-owned, financially autonomous subsidiary of Banco Santander (NYSE: SAN), a global commercial and retail bank.
Santander Universities was founded in 1996 to advance the Santander Group’s commitment to its communities by supporting higher education. The Santander University Global Division provides funding for teaching and research, international cooperation, knowledge and technology transfer, entrepreneurial initiatives, student exchange and innovation. It maintains more than 1,100 agreements with universities and research centers worldwide, including 34 in the United States through Santander Bank. In 2013, Santander Universities provided funding for 4,105 new projects, including over 100 projects and over 1,000 scholarships in the United States. For more information about Santander Universities Global Division, visit www.santander.com/universities.
Related Information
- Holy Cross Professors Take Students on In-Depth Study of Holocaust Sites in Central Europe
- Sovereign Bank Through Santander Universities to Support International Study Programs at Holy Cross
