Additionally Supported Initiatives
Numerous short-term international travel courses were also developed thanks to this grant.
2024 Travel Courses
INST 270 - What is Modern? (Special Topic): This was an interdisciplinary course with variable content depending on the particular aspects of the international experience selected for the study. Emphasis was directed towards Barcelona, Spain.
2025 Travel Courses
SPAN 201/305 - Discover Eduador: A Journey of Language and Culture (Intermediate Spanish Travel Seminar): This course was part of the Shared Curriculum's Encountering Diversity Program with the Second Language Flag. It continued the proficiency-oriented approach of the Beginning Spanish sequence and was designed to strengthen the basic language skills introduced in 101 and 102 with an emphasis on interpersonal and presentational oral skills. Students attended weekly conversation sessions, and well as completed independent projects, a daily journal, and field trips to cultural monuments, museums, and other sites of interest. An experience in linguistic and cultural immersion.
LC 204 - Introduction to Traditional Japaense Craft Arts: This course was part of the Shared Curriculum's Encountering Diversity Program with the Encountering Global Diversity Flag and a General Education credit for the Arts). This three-week travel course explored the foundations of Japanese craft arts focusing on craftspersonship, historical background, geographical uniqueness, and current practices. The course featured two to three local crafts that gained international fame such as iron-casting, metal/swordsmithing, pottery art, lacquerware, woodblock printing, or glass-working.
MUS 372 - Music, Arts and Culture in Imperial Capitals of Central Europe: This course included a General Education credit for Intellectual Traditions). It examined nationalism and cultural identity through the music, culture, religion, and politics of Central Europe. As European capitals and seats of the former Habsburg Dynasty, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague were excellent locations to explore intellectual traditions that developed in these cities, from imperialism to the modern world.
May-Term in South Africa:
PSCI 217 - Politics and Society in Contemporary South Africa: This course was part of the Shared Curriculum's Encountering Diversity Program with the Encountering Global Diversity Flag. This course examined South Africa's transition from authoritarian apartheid rule to a democratic dispensation. It focused on the legacies of apartheid and the characteristics of the liberation struggle; emerging political cultures; the design of new political institutions; the political economy of uneven development; and the challenges of poverty and social reconstruction.
2026 Travel Courses
May-Term in London & Paris:
HUM 272 - Maps, Bones, and Windows: London and Paris in the Medieval and Renaissance Periods: This course was part of the Shared Curriculum's Encountering Diversity Program with the Encountering Global Diversity Flag and included a General Education credit for Intellectual Traditions. In this project-based travel course to London and Paris, the class will explore major shifts in the religious beliefs, technological innovations, political ideas, philosophical inquiry, and artistic expression of the Medieval and Renaissance period.
May-Term in the Dominican Republic:
INST/PSCI 370 - Public Health in the Caribbean: This course will take students to spend three weeks in the Dominican Republic to experience the culture, daily life, and public health practices of one of our closest Caribbean neighbors. Our program, delivered mainly by the study-abroad provider CIEE, will include many site visits, opportunities to spend time in a healthcare clinic multiple times, and presentations by local experts. We will use homestays to get a much better exposure to daily life than hotels would provide. Over our time in the country, we will see the neighborhoods of Santiago, the country’s second-largest city, as well as passing a few days in the capital, Santo Domingo. We will also visit outstanding beaches on the north coast. One of our projects will take us to a rural village for a couple of days. The course will be delivered in English, though you will have many opportunities to brush up on your Spanish as we go, providing you a richer experience.