For Immediate Release

Contact: 	
		Director, Public Information
		(909) 621-8219
		ninae@pitzer.edu

Pitzer College Opens External Studies Site in Botswana

Claremont, Calif. – July 12, 2000 – With increasing political tensions and violence in 
Zimbabwe surrounding last month's parliamentary elections, Pitzer College has moved 
its international study site in southern Africa from Zimbabwe to Botswana, one of the 
region's most politically and economically stable countries.
The Pitzer in Botswana program will offer students a semester-long in-depth, 
cross-cultural learning experience beginning this fall.
"Although we hope to return to Zimbabwe in the near future, we also hope to 
continue Pitzer in Botswana as a second site in southern Africa," said Carol Brandt, vice 
president for internatonal programs at Pitzer, a member of the esteemed Claremont 
Colleges consortium. 
The Pitzer in Botswana program requires a demanding schedule of language 
training in Setswana, Botswana's primary native language; seminars taught by faculty of 
the University of Botswana and specialists from government and non-government 
organizations; field projects, independent research or directed internships; and homestays 
with rural, township and urban Botswanan families. 
"As with all of the College's programs, Pitzer in Botswana strives to go beyond a 
superficial acquaintance with Botswanan culture," Brandt said. 
She added: "By becoming deeply involved in Botswanan culture and society, 
students will begin to understand something of what it means to be Batswanan as well as 
the cultural and social forces that have shaped their own identity."
Affiliated with the University of Botswana, which enrolls more than 10,000 
undergraduate and graduate students, the Pitzer in Botswana program is centered in 
Gaborone, the country's capital city.  
A landlocked country bordered by Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia, the 
Republic of Botswana is located in the heart of Southern Africa.  Most of the population 
lives in the eastern corridor between Gaborone and Francistown.  More than 17 percent 
of Botswanan land is protected wildlife area, including Chobe National Park, Moremi 
Wildlife Reserve, Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the Okavango Delta and the Gemsbok 
National Park.  Botswana also is home to the world's largest and most productive 
diamond mine in Juwenge, located about an hour outside of Gaborone.
In addition to the Botswana program, Pitzer College sponsors external study 
programs in China, Ecuador, Italy, Nepal, Ontario (Calif.), Turkey, Venezuela and 
Wales.  
More than half of the College's students take advantage of external study 
opportunities, many of them choosing programs in non-traditional locations outside of 
Western Europe and English-speaking countries. Pitzer has sent students worldwide to 
six continents and more than 60 countries.
Pitzer College – a private, undergraduate, coeducational liberal arts institution – is 
consistently ranked among the best such colleges in the country. Located in Claremont, 
Calif., a city about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, Pitzer is an intimate college backed by 
the resources of The Claremont Colleges. Blending classroom instruction with fieldwork, 
Pitzer engages a student's mind, heart and spirit by integrating educational resources on-
campus, abroad and in the local community. Pitzer offers a curriculum that spans 40 
major fields and focuses on interdisciplinary, intercultural education with an emphasis on 
social responsibility and community service. 

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