Glenn Altschuler encounters it a lot these days: the fear among undergraduate students, particularly in the liberal arts, that they won't be sufficiently "marketable" upon graduation.

In response, the dean of Cornell's School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions and other administrators and faculty have created the Summer Program in International Business, an eight-week curriculum that will give students in fields ranging from anthropology to electrical engineering a hands-on introduction to the business world. The program will run from June 2 to July 27 under the direction of Jonas Pontusson, associate professor of government and a well-known political economist.

"I can think of very few jobs for college graduates that would not benefit from a basic understanding of international business," said Pontusson, an expert on European political economy. "Even corporations that do not themselves operate abroad are indirectly affected by the business environments of other countries and directly affected by the business practices of American and foreign multinationals.

"We think there are a number of liberal arts majors out there -- maybe they're French majors, maybe they're government majors -- who enjoy the intellectual content of their courses, but are somewhat at a loss as to what they're going to do when they leave college," he said. "This program will expose them to international business issues and give them a set of skills that may be marketable for the jobs they end up applying for. These students will be, in some sense, building into their liberal arts education a more career- oriented component than was there before.

"The spirit of this program is not to deny that a liberal arts education is valuable," Pontusson said, "but to show that a liberal arts education -- which often involves exposure to foreign cultures -- can be useful in a business- oriented career."

Charles W. Jermy Jr., associate dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions, predicted graduates will have heightened levels of insight and confidence that are sure to make an impression in job interviews.

"A French major may think, 'I love French culture and have an appreciation of all things French; how can I use what I love in a way that makes money?' " Jermy said. "After completing this program, that student will be able to demonstrate an understanding of how cultural differences affect corporate organizational structures. Interviewing at a U.S. computer company with a division in France, for example, the student could draw on her knowledge of differences between accounting practices in Europe and the United States. "She is going to have much more confidence," Jermy said, "because she will be able to say, 'I'm not just a French major, but a French major who has very good skills that your corporation needs.' "

While most students who enroll in the summer program are expected to come from the arts and sciences, the program is not only for them. "It is designed for any student who doesn't have time within the fall and spring semesters to devote to a coherent study of business -- including students in engineering," Altschuler said.

Nor does it presume prior business training; all courses are introductory and have no prerequisites.

The program was built upon four courses already offered at Cornell: "The Political Environment of International Business" (taught by Pontusson); "Organization and Human Resources Management Simulation" (William Wasmuth, professor emeritus in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations); "Economics in International Perspective" (Jennifer Wissink, senior economics lecturer); and "Introduction to Financial and Management Accounting" (Ithaca College Associate Professor Don E. Collins).

For the first four weeks, students will take the political science and management courses, devoting the latter half of the program to those in economics and accounting -- each block offering a mix of academic and hands-on training, Pontusson said. Students also will attend guest lectures, many presented by Cornell alumni working in international business, and visit upstate New York corporations with international divisions, which might include Eastman Kodak and Corning.

At program's end, the students will have earned 12 credits, a certificate and a list of successful alumni to contact. "Students will leave the summer program with a sense that they have acquired the skills that could be useful to them in a business environment," Pontusson said. "We also are hoping to give them a better sense, at a fairly early stage, of what [a career in] international business would be like and how they might think of what they're doing as useful and applicable to the world of business.

"This is not meant to be a substitute for an MBA," he added. "It's meant more as a bridge that will help liberal arts and other students compete for, and ultimately succeed in, desirable jobs."