Summer travel abroad lures many students, faculty
When students pack their luggage at the end of the semester, many will not head home for summer vacation.
Instead, they will study abroad along with faculty members in China, England, France, Argentina, Easter Island and Australia, among other places.
Terry Price, associate professor of leadership studies, will take eight undergraduates to Cambridge University for five weeks. In a joint program with the law school, they will study such topics as “Moral Limits of the Criminal Law,” and “Legal History.” On a previous trip, students met Margaret Thatcher, analyzed the leadership style of a worldwide corporation and attended Shakespearean plays and concerts.
“The program proved to be an inspiring intellectual and cultural experience for students and faculty alike,” said Price of the 2005 trip, the first time that the leadership studies and law schools jointly offered a study program. The School of Law has held a summer program in England for more than 30 years.
The School of Continuing Studies has 17 study abroad trips scheduled this summer, five of them being internships. Through David Kitchen, director of summer programs, SCS manages all summer abroad programs that earn undergraduate credit. One hundred seventy-three students have registered for the trips.
Fourteen students will earn eight credits in Argentina, learning about Latin American culture while studying Spanish. In Beijing, 21 students will take language classes, learn Chinese martial arts, attend Beijing Opera performances and a Chinese acrobatics show, and visit cultural sites, such as the Temple of Heaven, Great Wall and Palace Museum.
Students traveling to Easter Island with Mike Harrison, assistant professor of geography and environmental studies, will earn up to six credit hours in a course that examines the history, culture, geography and ecology of one of the most isolated places on Earth.
In May, Thomas Cossé will take 26 M.B.A. students to Rouen, France, as part of the course “Global Environment of Business/International Residency,” a project-based international experience for students enrolled in the Richmond M.B.A. While such courses are common in full-time and executive MBA programs, the international residency is a unique feature that sets Richmond’s part-time program apart. Before departing for France, students will participate in a two-week series of briefings about French culture and language, European Union institutions and legal aspects of international trade.
“In France there will be a series of lectures as well as company visits,” said Cossé. “In addition, the class will be divided into teams, and each team will work with a French company. Upon their return to Richmond, the teams will continue to work on the projects for the French companies.”
Mike Davison and seven students will spend 10 days in May in Australia, attending music workshops and performing jazz in the afternoons and evenings at a variety of venues. Students will live with Australian students while in residence at Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music. After a boat ride to Hamilton Island, students will perform guitar, piano, saxophone, drums, bass and vocals at such locales as yacht clubs, hotel lobbies and outdoors.
“I can honestly say that in the 20 years that I’ve been teaching at Richmond, this has been the best learning environment that my students have ever been involved with—and have improved immensely because of it,” said Davison.
Davison and the group performed more than 40 times on campus and in the Richmond area to raise money for the trip.
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