Visiting WCMC-Q early October to teach part of the Psychology 101 course to pre-medical students, Dr. James B. Maas was active in forging closer ties between students on the Ithaca and Doha campuses.

Dr. Maas, who is Weiss Presidential Fellow and professor of psychology at Cornell University, encouraged the second year pre-meds to sign up to exchange emails with colleagues at Cornell, as part of the 101 Ithaca-Doha pen pal program.

"One of the things that Cornell is trying to do is to make the world smaller, to increase understanding," he explained. "The Middle East is so different from the Americas, in culture, religion and customs. There's very little understanding on a person-to-person basis.

"I thought one way to bridge this is to take something that is shared by both campuses - which is this course - as a starting point to initiate dialog."

While the WCMC-Q students taking part are pre-meds, those on the Ithaca side are enrolled in all seven schools, from architecture to hotel administration, and across several years.

Administering the scheme is Rebecca Robbins, a junior in the School of Hotel Administration, who is taking the Psych 101 course this year and working as Dr. Maas' research assistant.

Coming from a small town in rural Connecticut, Robbins said that she was amazed by Cornell's emphasis on diversity.

"Being at Cornell has enhanced my understanding of other cultures," she said. "I think it's really cool to be part of a university that has such an international focus."

The pen pal program was first floated in 2005, on a less formal basis. It worked well for a number of WCMC-Q students, among them Faizah Siddique (Class of 2009).

"We talked about our lives, friends, how things were in Ithaca compared to Doha, and what we were planning for ourselves. Sometimes, we asked each other for advice about what to do or how to study," she recalled. “It was really nice to get to know someone different - it's just like making a new friend. My pen pal was excited to know about how things worked here in Doha, down to little facts like what we ate and how we dressed."

To add weight to the scheme this year, one point on the final course grade is offered to those who participate for a minimum of four emails. The exchanges between students are monitored to collect data on longer-term participation.

Initial response in Ithaca was promising: "400 people emailed me immediately after letting them know about the program," said Robbins, "my inbox is overflowing!"

Students on the Doha side were keen to join in, some signing up for more than one pen pal.

Maria Ahmad was all set to help inform her contacts in Ithaca about the Middle East; she expected to find they had much in common.

"My pen pal and I live on opposite sides of the world, but we are both two young women who are trying to get a college education. I think that, no matter where you go in the world, women will usually have the same interests."