Study Abroad

Photo Essay Contest

“Looking back on my trip, I am proud of the strength and confidence that I gained during that time. I navigated 5 airports, 4 cities, 3 train stations, and countless bus stops by myself… I now feel I have the confidence to accomplish anything in my life and I’m so proud to say that I was a Bod Abroad.”

Senior, Business Marketing and Management, Summer Abroad at Rennes School of Business, Cross Cultural Management Program

Rennes, France

Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen!!

Linda Elrod ba ’69, jd ’72, Distinguished Professor Law School of Law, reflecting on her life-changing semester

Washburn started transformational experiences in 1963 when Dean Engelbert teamed with Knud HelmErichsen to create Washburn’s semester in Copenhagen with twelve Washburn students. I went in 1967 with 24 Washburn students and 80 from other schools. We lived with a Danish family, walked or commuted to the university in the heart of Copenhagen, and traveled on trains around Europe on weekends. We learned about Denmark’s educational system, took courses in Scandinavian literature, contemporary history, saw landmark sites and felt history everywhere. We created new friendships. We experienced new ways of living including tea and pastries at 4pm!

In October, the International House and Alumni Association sponsored a Copenhagen alumni reunion in connection with the premiere of A Fairy Tale Life written by June McCarty Clair who was on the first program. With relatively short notice, about thirty-five Copenhagen alumni came to some of the events. Five from 1967 came - Chris Armstrong, Steve Johnson, Ken and Joyce Roberts and me. Our class had met once when Helm-Erickson was in town visiting and once for a 20-year reunion in Kansas City with about 32 people. The one comment everyone at the October reunion made was “That semester in Copenhagen changed my life.”

The International Media Seminar in Paris Offers Students a Glimpse of How Global Media Operate

To some Spring Break 2023 might be a time to relax, but for some Washburn students it will be a time to learn about international media from renowned media professionals and explore the cultural side of Paris. The International Media Seminar is one of the flagship experiences at the Mass Media department and this year it will expose a group of 10 Washburn students to the world of international media.

Dr. Maria Stover is the faculty who has been in charge of the International Media Seminar for the past 12 years, but Dr. Kathy Menzie, now a retired Emerita, was the faculty who led the first group of Washburn students

The flagship experience has taken various formats throughout the years – from a small group of two students when Dr. Menzie first started it in 2000, to a group of 19 students in 2011, and then to the development of Dr. Stover’s MM485 International Media Systems class that embeds the trip as part of the course.

Yet, the biggest constant is the premier experience that students receive each time. The speakers and site visits vary from year to year, but students immerse in a full week of meetings with renowned media professionals from the National Geographic or CNN as well as tours of such landmark media organizations as The International Herald Tribune, France 24 (French CNN) and UNESCO.

The International Media Seminar was created in 1996 by Lee Huebner who is the former publisher of The International Herald Tribune. In the past, the seminar included groups from different universities. This year, Washburn students will again share experiences with a group from Georgetown University.

“I am a big champion of international travel,” said Stover. “When I talk to students who have traveled abroad, I see how different they feel about the world around them.”

WU Alumni Paul Maricle’s AFS Story

In 1971, Paul Maricle, ba ’76, jd ’79 was a Spanish student in Mary Porterfield’s class in Goodland, Kansas. Paul was Mary’s first student who applied to study abroad with the American Field Service (AFS) when the Goodland, Kansas AFS Chapter was established. Paul had three years of Spanish but was sent to study abroad in Germany! After high school, Paul attended Washburn University where he studied German and spent time abroad during his university years. Today, Paul is a member of Castle Lantz Maricle, LLC (CLM), which specializes in international business transactions with German businesses entering the U.S. Market. Paul is the Honorary Consul for Germany, Colorado, and Wyoming.

20 Years of the Magellan Exchange –A Washburn Transformational Experience

The Magellan Exchange was founded on the belief that exchange is an effective tool for building cultural understanding and is fundamentally important to making ourselves and the world a better place. Magellan provides affordable educational and cultural experiences though a network of 40 partner institutions helping students to explore the world. In the fall of 2022 at the annual Magellan Exchange Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, WU was recognized for 20 years of participation in the Magellan Exchange Consortium. During the past 20 years, WU has had 73 Outgoing WU Students, 70 Incoming International Students, 2-Faculty Exchanges and 2 Staff Exchanges in 16 Countries across 3 Continents. To learn more about the Magellan Exchange visit: https://www. magellanexchange.org/