Mount Holyoke Professors Visit New College for Women in Saudi Arabia

(Left to right) Mrs. Amahl, a biology professor at Effat College; Elizabeth McCormack from Bryn Mawr; Diana Stein, MHC Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences; Sheila Ewing Browne, MHC professor of chemistry; and Donald Cotter, MHC associate professor of chemistry. The group was given a private tour of the Jeddah Regional Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography in a former palace of King Abdul-Aziz.

In February, while a fresh mantle of snow cloaked Mount Holyoke, a team of MHC science professors found themselves baking in Saudi Arabian sunshine thousands of miles away. Summoned to help plan a science curriculum for a new women's college in Jeddah, they returned with exotic tales of a centuries-old port city, where women are separated from men; all women, even visitors, are draped in black abayas; Muslim prayer chants are broadcast in the streets; and shisha - or "hubbly bubbly" - is smoked after cardamom-spiced meals.

Two years ago, recognizing the need to educate more Saudi women for the professional world, and wishing to honor her mother, Queen Effat, Princess Lolwah Al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia founded Effat College, the first private undergraduate institution for women in Saudi Arabia. She equipped Effat with facilities for computer science, information systems, early childhood education, educational psychology, linguistics, and translation. Seeking exemplary institutions on which to model the Saudi college's science program, she came to Mount Holyoke. After July and November visits to the South Hadley campus with her consultant Marcia Grant, the princess invited three members of MHC's faculty to visit Effat.

For Sheila Ewing Browne, chemistry professor; Diana Stein, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences; and Donald Cotter, newly promoted to associate professor of chemistry, the trip to a country where women are not permitted to drive or ride bicycles on public roads, and even needed permission from their fathers to converse with Cotter, was nothing short of revelatory. Only in recent years have Saudi women been considered eligible for selected professional worlds. While state-run universities and medical schools for women exist, Effat plans to provide state-of-the-art equipment, technology, and resources for scientific research not yet available at other undergraduate institutions. "What is so exciting is their plan to use modern methods of pedagogy, such as problem-based learning," says Stein. "In labs, they will have student-designed research projects rather than the traditional rote learning which has been so pervasive."

Beyond the Walls of Effat

Cotter, Browne, and Stein negotiated the bustle of Jeddah as VIPs. Escorted on private tours of the city, they were fed sumptuous meals and grew accustomed to perfumes wafting from men draped in thobes, and to daily staples such as flat breads, dates, and cardamom-spiced, unroasted Arab coffee. They shopped for rugs in the souk and even managed some snorkeling at a Red Sea resort. And from their hotel situated near a Red Sea lagoon, they gazed out on what is commonly known as "execution square" and were reminded of the distance between this Muslim hub and home.

Mount Holyoke president Joanne Creighton, who met with the princess, applauds her vision for Effat and her selection of Mount Holyoke as "an ideal toward which to aspire." Mount Holyoke "has a long tradition as a progenitor," she says, noting that some of the College's first alumnae trekked as missionaries to the far reaches of the world teaching women to read and write. "Associated schools" set up by alumnae overseas at the turn of the century further extended founder Mary Lyon's vision of excellence in higher education for women.

Effat will be looking for science faculty within a year, and Browne, for one, is interested in returning. A national expert on mentoring for women, for which she received a presidential award for excellence in 1998, she was impressed with the ambition, fortitude, and professionalism of Effat's faculty and administration. "The women we met there are very strong and organized," she says. "The college itself is a highly international place, with faculty from all over the world. As a woman and a professional, I am happy to contribute to this new beginning. I hope other women in science will be interested in the adventure of living in Saudi Arabia and helping Saudi women realize their dreams in the way Mount Holyoke has contributed to the education of women from all over the world."