The Irish Studies -- Famine and Emigration Studies Program is designed with several goals in mind:
  • To provide students with a broad based knowledge of Irish history and culture.
  • To acquaint students with the causes and effects of famine and emigration individually as well as the relationship between the two.
  • To educate students on how these two forces have impacted Irish History and the Irish experience in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  • To provide students the opportunity to partake in an international educational program.
  • To provide students an opportunity to use and apply classroom/library knowledge in a different setting.
  • To acquaint students with the use of a wide array of internet technology and use
In order to achieve these goals the programs is made up of two primary components:
  1. Classroom I.Spring Semester - Tuesday Evenings 7-9 PM. The Irish Studies course is a comprehensive examination of Irish history and culture designed to prepare students for the international study component to be conducted during May Term. While the course focuses on the broad expanse of Irish history, from pre-history to present day, students also study Irish music, poetry, and drama. The primary historical foci of the course are “An Gorta Mor” (The Great Irish Famine), Irish migration, and modern Irish politics. Students must take this course to continue on to the travel element of the program.
  2. Classroom II.Monday May 5 - Monday May 19, 2003. During this time students will complete academic work and be introduced to the basic elements of technology that will be used in the program (graphics, web-page building, word processing, editing, distance learning, etc.)
  3. Field Program. Tuesday, May 20 - Wednesday, June 4, 2004. Students will travel to Ireland to visit several museums, archives, heritage centers and schools to work with leading professors and scholars in the fields of famine and emigration studies. Included are:
  • Famine Museum. Strokestown, Co. Roscommon
  • Ulster-American Folk Park, Ulster History Park and Centre for Migration Studies. Omagh, Co. Tyrone
  • Cobh Heritage Center. Cobh, Co. Cork
  • University College Cork. Cork City.
  • Irish Centre for Migration Studies (UCC). Cork City.
  • Skibereen Famine Cemetery and Memorial
  • Blasket Heritage Center. Dunquin, Co. Kerry

In conjunction with these historic and cultural studies, students will develop and build a web site that will be posted as they travel. Elements of the website will include photos, essays, video and a cross-campus project in which students work with academic questions prepared by fourth graders in conjunction with their study of immigration and family history.

**Successful completion of the Irish Studies Program satisfies the senior May Term requirement.