Program Location Description of the host university and the region. The Kalamazoo Thailand program is at the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute, an independent institute located at the Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University, in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.

Overlooking one of the program's field visit sites, the Bakanyaw village of Kun Te.

Mainland Southeast Asia, and especially Northern Thailand, is a place of tremendous contrasts--remote tribal villages, a small but international city, lowland rice farming villages, and a mosaic of the languages and cultures of the Mekong region.

Many of the most intense challenges and contradictions of globalization are evident in Thailand, where the recent "Asian economic crisis" first got started. As globalization continues to weave the world closer together, students from the United States (and elsewhere in the "global North") will be facing many of the same problems that people in Southeast Asia are confronting now. The best way to study these issues is to examine them through rigorous academic study coupled with experiential "on the ground" learning--talking with and learning from the people who are affected by globalization--from women factory workers in an export processing zone, to community organizers working in an urban slum, to rural villagers trying to find an alternative to unsustainable farming practices.

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Northern Thailand is an excellent place to see the contrasts and challenges of globalization and development. An active and varied community of NGOs working out local responses to globalization and development provide a tremendous resource for students interested studying sustainable development in both urban and rural areas.

Once an independent kingdom, over the last century Chiang Mai has been increasingly dominated by the Bangkok-centric process of development. Students will look at how the process is played out--and resisted--within Chiang Mai and the surrounding areas. A key to this will be visiting and working with local development organizations--NGOs--which are engaged in a variety of issues--from urban pollution and AIDS to eco-textiles, cultural preservation and others.

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Chiang Mai University

Founded in 1964, Chiang Mai University was the first regional university in Thailand. Chiang Mai University has over 15,000 students studying in 16 faculties providing 85 undergraduate programs as well as a number of graduate level programs. The University is located at the foot of Doi Suthep mountain, about 4 kilometers to the west of downtown Chiang Mai.

Since its founding, Chiang Mai University has emerged as an academic center for a number of government agencies and nongovernmental development organizations, and many development projects launched in the northern region are often conducted with the faculty staff of Chiang Mai University.

The University academic year is divided into two semesters. Each semester covers about 18 weeks. The first semester runs June to mid-October, and the second semester from October through March. There is also a Summer Session which is normally about 8 weeks, from March through May (Thai "summer" or hot season is March/April).

The Faculty of Economics

The Faculty of Economics is a new faculty of Chiang Mai University, establised on September 28, 1993. Previously, Economics was a department in the Faculty of Social Sciences. The Faculty of Economics has a long history of research and associated academic activities extending over a period of over 30 years. Presently, the Faculty of Economics is the only higher educational institution in northern Thailand which offers study programs in Economics at both the Bachelor and Master degree levels.

Faculty members have wide ranging research interests, including economic development, political economy, urban and rural economy, international economy, agricultural economy, business economy, and others. A number of faculty members are active in both governmental advisory positions and nongovermental foundations, research centers, and development organizations. Many faculty members are recognized internationally in their fields of specialization.

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