THE GLOBAL ISSUE
LONDON Tracking brands in local culture
Jean Grow and her students in London.
that also give faculty opportunities to travel, study, and enlarge their own research and scholarship. Four programs are sponsored by the College of Business Administration, including the Belgium program that began 20 years ago. More than 700 students have participated since the first cohort studied in Brussels in 1992. When this program began, Associate Professor Joe Terrian says the focus was on Europe’s economic development pre-Euro.
When 42 students from campus convene this summer’s session in Antwerp, lectures will probe the post-Euro economic issues that have Spain, Greece and other nations reeling. Dr. Darlene Weis, R.N., is returning to Piura, Peru, for her fifth visit with students from the College of Nursing. “It’s like a second home now,” she says. The students complete a three-credit theory course to prepare for the three-credit practicum in Peru. Once in country, they spend a week with a team of doctors and learn to handle the predominant health issues of hypertension, cataracts thought to be caused by exposure to bright sunlight and many of the parasitic symptoms caused by drinking unclean water. In addition to assisting at portable clinics, the students visit homes, schools and the parish hospice. “To me, a global experience in health care is really important,” Weis says. “It adds another dimension to nursing education. You learn to understand yourself and what you have and understand your way to give back to the world.” Every study abroad program proposal is reviewed by the Office of International Education and approved by the college deans and provost. Student security is always a top concern, and OIE consults with the U.S. Department of State and International SOS before approving a program. The university maintains constant communication with faculty and students and moves quickly to evacuate participants in an urgent situation such as after last year’s tsunami in Japan or during the Arab Spring protests in Egypt. In addition to the array of programs offered this summer, faculty are working up some new adventures due to launch in 2013. Dr. Richard Jones, associate professor of social and cultural sciences, will lead a session in Finland for criminology students. The coordinator of women’s studies, Dr. Amelia Zurcher, is working up a class on gender issues in collaboration with the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Grow, too, has further ambitions for her program. She would like to establish scholarships to fund travel for two students whose families can’t afford it. Even with 23 percent of grads already logging study abroad miles, Miller wants to expand student options. “There is still a cohort that needs its curriculum internationalized,” he says. For Miller, the global experience is an expression of the university’s educational mission. “That’s the heart of our Catholic, Jesuit way — walking with the other,” he says. m
Ghana, Africa > Cochabamba, Bolivia > Beijing, China > Rabat, Morocco > Antwerp, Belgium Rabat and Fes, Morocco As a gateway to the Arab world, Morocco is an excellent site to study Islam’s interaction with the West while exploring historic cities and unique sites, including Fes, Marrakech and the desert.
Madrid, Spain Study at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a top university, and participate in guided visits and excursions around Madrid.
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