BROADENING THE IDEA OF STUDYING ABROAD

Globetrotter Audrey Walsworth poses in front of Angkor Wat, a temple in Cambodia. She and her husband, Don, support Trulaske study abroad programs in more developing countries.

Audrey Walsworth is not your typical world traveler. Since graduating from Mizzou, Walsworth, BJ ’56, has visited 327 countries and territories around the world. Although she has hit the touristy landmarks in Paris and London, she believes she’s gotten much more out of straying farther from traditional tourist traps. “I wanted to see a world that was different from mine,” she says. “I wanted to go someplace where the culture was different and where I felt tourism would change things.” That’s why Walsworth and her husband, former University of Missouri Curator Don Walsworth, BS Ed ’57, have endowed programs for Trulaske College of Business students who want to study abroad and are willing to break out of their comfort zones and expose themselves to more developing countries like Ethiopia or Papua New Guinea. “For students, I think it opens up the scope of their thinking,” she says. “You see people who are immensely happy and have next to nothing compared to what we have. And in some places, you see people living under the threat of hunger or the tyranny of a dictator. There are places you have to be more careful — but the whole world is dangerous. In the end, it’s a learning experience that will serve you well.”