The School of Interdisciplinary Studies in Dumfries played host recently to a group of visiting faculty and students from the College of Idaho in the USA.  The twenty-strong group, led by Professor Scott Knickerbocker, were on a two-week tour of Scotland and the Lake District, investigating the literature, music and art of notable locations from Sir Walter Scott’s Edinburgh to Wordsworth’s Grasmere and Robert Burns’ Dumfries.

On Friday 25th May the group visited the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, where they attended a talk by Dr David Borthwick, lecturer in literature, who discussed the essential relationship between landscape and Scottish literature.  He introduced students to classic Scottish texts, but also contemporary writers who explore the relationship between ecology and place.

David Borthwick said: ‘it was wonderful to welcome the Idahoans to Dumfries.  The College of Idaho specialises in topics that dovetail very well with those of staff in our School, particularly interdisciplinary work using art and literature to explore place and landscape, so we were able to compare approaches and share ideas.’

After the lecture, students from Idaho and Dumfries alike enjoyed coffee and cake on the lawn, where Professor David Clark, Head of School, presented the visitors with an anthology of Scottish verse, and celebrated the visit as the beginning of potentially enriching collaborations between the College of Idaho and the University of Glasgow.

First published: 8 June 2012

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