ROMMEL M. Dascil, instructor of the College of Arts and Sciences’ department of social sciences, has been selected to participate in the 2007 Study of the United States Institute on “American Civilization” to be conducted July 9-July 22 by the Multinational Institute for American Studies at New York University.

According to a letter from Dr. Bruce Armstrong, cultural affairs officer of the United States Embassy in Manila, the institute is a six-week academic program designed to provide university faculty and other professionals from countries around the world with a deeper understanding of past and present American society and culture and institutions.  Its central theme will be America’s reconciliation of cultural and social diversity with national unity, explored through a rigorous academic program structured around four sub-themes:  “Local Autonomy and Pluralism in America”, “Individual Liberty and the American Creed”, “Cultural and Social Heterogeneity”, and National Unity:  Social and Cultural Integration”.

Dascil and other participants will meet and learn from more than 30 noted speakers representing a wide range of academic disciplines and take part in panel discussions with over 40 representatives drawn from politics, media, labor, business, and the arts.

Tours to New England, the American Southwest, and Washington, DC as well as a vast array of scheduled and voluntary cultural events, will complement the academic program.

The US State Department will cover all institute costs, including international airfares and allowances; domestic travel and ground transportation; book, cultural, mailing, and incidental expenses; admissions; and housing and subsistence.  All participants will receive insurance coverage in the amount of $50,000, with $25 deductible.

Dascil entered the university in July 2005.  He graduated, magna cum laude, in 1993 from the Divine Word Mission Seminary with a degree in philosophy.