The Institute for International and Intercultural Studies plans to introduce students to Union’s enriching aspect of learning Monday, Feb. 16 by hosting the Spring Study Abroad Fair in the SUB hallway. From 10 a.m.-2 p.m. booths will be set up to display the many study abroad opportunities Union has to offer.
For those considering study abroad, mandatory interest meetings will be held at the Executive Dining Room in Brewer Dining Hall, at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively.
Since 2009, the fair has served each semester to inform students interested in studying abroad. Organized by Victoria Malone, assistant professor of language and coordinator of study abroad, and Susan Bolyard, Institute for International & Intercultural Studies program coordinator, the fair will introduce the various programs offered pertaining to the upcoming summer or fall terms.
Students can expect to connect with third party providers and student financial planning, Malone said. She also said that students will be introduced to the departments that offer external study opportunities. “We have a variety of programs. Some of them are with a third-party provider and some of them are Union faculty-led opportunities.”
A third party serves to facilitate a home and communicates with the academic institution for the student, but in the case of faculty-led programs students can receive school credit abroad in one of two ways, Malone said. Students can perform research abroad at a Union-approved sight under the direction of a professor after going through Union’s approval process. Students can also fulfill student teaching or practicum abroad with the oversight of a professor, although the professor may not join the student. External study at Union also includes study programs even in the United States such as in Los Angeles, California where Digital Media Studies majors learn about their field in a semester-long experience.
Many Union students have benefitted through the various opportunities offered by IIIS. Clare Williams, junior intercultural studies major and English minor, studied for six weeks in summer 2014 in Oxford, England through the Institute for Study Abroad, Butler University. There she took six hours of college credit in English classes at St. Peter’s College in Oxford.
“It was very much like a truly immersive, academic experience,” Williams said. “We didn’t go in groups a ton of places. It was more like you fly to London, you hop on a cab, you go to Oxford and do your life there for six weeks.”
Williams advised students interested in study abroad to figure out specifically what they want to get out of their external study and then pursue their goal accordingly. Taking advantage of the chance to study abroad without reservations about missing opportunities back at home with friends is worth the experience, Williams said.
Rebecca Leon, senior social work major, is currently fulfilling her senior practicum of 12 credit hours in Nicaragua, a program managed and approved by the school of social work and IIIS.
“I take one online class, and the rest of the credit is through a well-documented internship,” Leon said.
Leon has benefitted by the external study in her specialty field in many ways.
“I got to teach my very first English class ever [in Nicaragua],” Leon said. “I’m not a TESL major, but being in social work, I’ve learned that flexibility and using your talents is often more important than specific concentrations in college. It was really fun to watch the kids start to understand, and, in general, it has been empowering to realize that I am not really playing at social work anymore but am actually stepping into the professional world.”
If interested in external study, click here for more information or contact Victoria Malone at vmalone@uu.edu.
