UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 28, Page 2
April 21, 1994
Graduate student receives Chevening award

     Leandra Casson is learning about international relations firsthand
through study abroad, calling it the best way to understand other cultures
and countries.
     A graduate student in political science and international relations,
Casson is the first African-American woman to receive a Chevening
scholarship to study in the United Kingdom next year, funded by the British
Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
     A graduate of Dover High School and valedictorian of her class at
Lincoln University, Casson first ventured overseas as an undergraduate, to
the Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University to learn
Chinese. It was a challenge, she recalls, when she and two fellow students
landed at the airport.
     "The person who was supposed to meet us did not arrive," she said. "I
finally saw someone I thought was American, but he turned out to be
European and did not speak English. However, his Asian companion knew a few
English words, and we were able to communicate with sign language, and she
got us on a bus to Taipei. Then we saw the most wonderful sight-the golden
arches of McDonald's. We headed there and someone spoke English and helped
us get where we were trying to go by taxi."
     The program, which attracted students from all over the world, was
designed for total immersion into the Taiwanese country and culture.
Mornings were spent in classes, and the rest of the time was devoted to
homework and living among the Chinese. Casson and her companions first
stayed with missionary couple to get oriented but then were required to go
out and find a place to live and become part of the mainstream population
of the city.
     Casson recalls riding buses for hours, trying to find out how to get
from one place to another. The language was difficult as different tones
gave different meanings to words. But, as Casson said, her back was against
the wall, and she not only survived, but Asia became her "first love."
     Casson returned to Taiwan after graduation from Lincoln and worked
there for a language center and as a sales rep for an engineering firm. She
has maintained friendships with many Taiwanese. During her time in Asia,
she had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Pacific Rim countries,
visiting South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand, among others.
     While at Lincoln, Casson also spent one summer at the Russian School
at Norwich State University in Vermont and then later at Kalinin
Polytechnical Institute in the Soviet Union. This was a totally different
experience, as the country was experiencing economic and social changes.
     "I went as an individual student, not as a part of a group or program,
so that I learned about Russian life firsthand," she said.
     Casson's  research for her master's degree at Delaware involves the
neo-isolationism of divergent groups in the United States. Her adviser is
James K. Oliver, professor of political science and international
relations.  During her year in Great Britain, she said she plans to look at
the impact of neo-isolationism in the United States on other parts of the
world.
     Casson said she hopes to have a academic career and one of her main
goals will be to encourage students to learn foreign languages and to study
abroad.
     "International experience teaches respect for other cultures, combats
negative attitudes and ethnocentricity and opens up avenues for
conversation among different individuals and groups," she said.
                                                  -Sue Swyers Moncure