Giving Students a World’s Eye View: Miami’s Luxembourg Campus

By Linda Robertson

Classes are in the Château de Differdange.

When the first students arrived in Luxembourg that rainy fall of 1968, they knew they were in Europe, they just weren’t sure exactly where in Europe. They were the pioneers for what would become the Miami University Dolibois European Campus, or MUDEC, named after John Dolibois ’42, Miami’s vice president for development and alumni affairs at the time.

“When former Ambassador Dolibois first proposed Luxembourg as a possible site for Miami’s European center, many had no clear idea where it was,” recalls Warren Mason, professor emeritus of political science and the Luxembourg campus’s first director. “In fact, it was some time before the Oxford post office could be convinced that mail for Luxembourg should not be sent to Germany.”

The Luxembourg campus is certainly not a mystery these days. This year marks a series of celebrations — kicked off with the 40th reunion of the Luxembourg class of 1968-69 in Oxford this June — of the four decades that have helped create a global vision for Miami.

Thousands of students from every academic discipline have studied there since that first group. Most, if not all of them, have brought back to the Oxford campus a different view of the world and their place in it.

Melissa Swartz ’05 is one of those students. In fact, she credits MUDEC with influencing her decision to choose a career that included a trans-Atlantic component. Now living in a Chicago suburb, she manages three nonprofits and travels throughout Europe for her job with the ease of a native.

“Learning to be independent and flexible are necessary skills for the ‘real’ world. By the end of the semester, transportation strikes, getting lost, hostels, and unusual foods were seen as adventures, not obstacles,” Swartz said.

During one of her adventures, she attended Pope John Paul II’s final Easter Mass in Vatican City. The chaotic scene left Swartz feeling like she was at a circus. But the next morning, she experienced the very peace she’d hoped to find the night before.

“We got to St. Paul’s Cathedral early in the morning before the rest of the tourists to tour the church respectfully in peace. We even met a priest who was studying abroad as well. He gave us a private service at one of the small altars and it was amazing. I know my grandpa was smiling down from heaven — his only granddaughter being fulfilled spiritually through traveling. It was his ultimate quest.”

Tom Orlando ’88 also counts MUDEC as a life-changing experience. He grew up in a suburb of Cleveland and felt trepidation just moving across the state to attend college. He wanted to be a lawyer but didn’t think he had what it took when he first arrived at Miami. Today he’s with a law firm in Chicago and attributes his Luxembourg experience with giving him the confidence to expand his horizons.

During the spring of 1986, while Orlando was in Luxembourg, President Reagan ordered the bombing of Libya in response to a number of terrorist incidents. Soon after, Orlando was on a train seated near an Italian man who sided with Libyan leader Mohammar Qaddafi.

“There was a moment of nervousness on my part, but then we settled into playing a game of cards. I did not speak Italian, and he did not speak English. But we both spoke a little German. So we carried on as much of a conversation as we could,” Orlando said.

“The value of the experience for me is to be able to empathize with others … not that you must agree with their view, but simply to see the world as they do so as to better understand them. I would have thought, had I been sitting in Oxford, that as western Europeans, Italians would have automatically sided with us. But being in Europe and understanding the geographic proximity of Italy and Libya, and meeting this man on a train, allowed me to see a different perspective.”

Bonding with people from other countries and cultures is just one of the draws of MUDEC.

When the program began, 40 students lived in a small townhouse-type structure. Today, 130 students each semester live in the city of Differdange and its suburbs, Luxembourg City, or in small towns along the train line between the two larger cities. They all attend classes in the Château de Differdange, an ornate estate built in the 1500s.

The feeling of community is one reason Ekkehard Stiller, the current dean of MUDEC, has been a part of the campus for 25 years, first as an economics professor from 1977-81 and again in 1988-89. He’s directed the program for the past 19 years.

“My predecessors and I have given students an opportunity to see a wider world outside of Ohio and the U.S.,” he said. “For us to be able to play a role and share our reflections, thoughts, and ideas is an important contribution to student learning, but also to share important information to make sure they are aware of (their) potential and possibilities. It’s a program small enough that you feel you can make a difference, that you are accessible. My door is always open. We’re like a big family.”

Stiller grew up in Germany and taught at the University of Hawaii, along with his twin brother who also is a professor, before Miami asked him to return to Europe to teach on the Luxembourg campus.

He had never been to Oxford but heard much about the home campus from his students. During his second year in Luxembourg, students in the previous year’s class flew him to Ohio for a visit.

“There were about 70-80 students who got together to collect money for the trip,” Stiller recalls. “I met President Shriver and saw the beautiful Miami campus for the first time. That would have been wonderful enough, but the students surprised me by also inviting my twin brother from Hawaii! It just shows the type of students who attend Miami.”

Students share the same affection for their professors at MUDEC. Orlando has such fond memories of Emile Haag, he helped establish a 40th anniversary scholarship in the history professor’s honor. Except for the first semester, Haag has taught on the Luxembourg campus all 40 years and always has been a favorite.

“To this day, Dr. Haag’s classes are still memorable,” Orlando said. “I don’t believe I have ever in my life given a speaker as much attention as I gave him. I hung on every word. I still have my notes from his classes!”

The professors find the experience equally enjoyable. Geology professor Jonathan Levy, who spent two years at MUDEC, calls it “simply the most rewarding teaching experience I have had at Miami University.”

“The nature of the close contact and shared European adventure allowed me to develop close ties with so many students in a more intensive way than I have found possible on the Oxford campus. Part of this rewarding experience is due to the ability to have study tours — opportunities to travel, lodge, eat, and explore Europe together.”

And the opportunities for MUDEC students will only get better. In 2012, the campus will move into the University of Luxembourg, or UniLux, allowing more people to attend the program and interact with other students from 90 different countries.

New academic offerings are in the works for engineering and fine arts. The plan is to partner with engineering programs and studio workshops at UniLux to allow students to fulfill key requirements for their majors while at MUDEC. Similarly, the Farmer School of Business would like to offer MBA courses in the near future.

“We hope to set up a program of internships for them,” said Cordelia Stroinigg, MUDEC’s coordinator on the Oxford campus. “Graduate faculty and graduate students from other divisions, as well as honors students, will be intrigued by the opportunities afforded by our new location in the same building with a premier international social science research institute, CEPS/INSTEAD, which is the home of the Gallup Poll European and U.S. databases.”

Today’s college students are acutely aware of how many doors an international experience can open. Maisy Dumont, a native Luxembourger who worked as assistant director for administration for 31 years, recalls when MUDEC’s future was in jeopardy.

“I remember back in the late ’70s, there was a lot of discussion on campus to close the center (as it was) a costly affair,” she said. “I am happy that those responsible realized that international education would be the future, proven now 30 years later.”

Affectionately known as the “director of directors” because she was the one constant during the program’s growing years, Dumont hopes MUDEC will continue to offer students one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives.

Luxembourg alumni agree.

“I hope the students continue to bond with each other and to experience the various cultures throughout Europe,” Swartz said. “I learned so much in and out of the classroom. That is one opportunity where I could really see my education applying to my daily life while I was learning it.”

Linda Robertson is a public information officer at Miami and a new MUDEC devotee after writing this article.

During her final semester, Quthesa Whitaker ’08 boarded a plane and began a whirlwind spring studying in Luxembourg. To read more about the sociology major who returned to finish her undergraduate degree 17 years, four children, and four grandchildren after she started, click on “A Grand Adventure.”