Page 16 - UD Magazine Vol. 31 No. 1

100 YEARS OF STUDY ABROAD
schools were pursuing semester-long programming, we found a way to serve a broader swath of the student population.”
Blue Hen leaders accomplished this through Winterim break (now the five-week Winter Session between semesters). They recognized that scheduling shorter-term trips in this window would open study abroad to more students—namely, those with commitments that precluded a full semester away. Faculty and staff became imbued with renewed passion for the cause. Campus legend has
it that late Prof. Bill McNabb, known by colleagues as “Mr. Study Abroad,” once jumped off a bus when he spotted in
a shop window a garish jacket checkered with the flags of various nations. He wore it with pride while evangelizing the transformative power of travel.
“We were an outlier for a very long time,” says Matt Drexler, UD’s director of study abroad. “Peers thought short-term programs were glorified field trips—can you really facilitate cross-cultural learning in a matter of weeks? The answer is: Yes. We see so much growth.” (Since the relaunch of study abroad at UD, nearly 24,000 Blue Hens have experienced this growth.)
Part of the magic, Drexler adds, is that students aren’t left to fend for themselves. They are accompanied overseas by globally networked professors who enable access to extraordinary experiences. Just ask the design students who’ve worked behind-the-scenes at Paris Fashion Week, or the budding physicists who’ve peered into Switzerland’s Large Hadron Collider (the world’s most powerful atom smasher). Due partly to these efforts, institutions around the country have since taken up UD’s model.
“We’ve got this exceptional history,” says Ammigan. “But it’s not enough to bask in the glory of what we started. We are using this legacy to innovate a path forward and develop accessible, inclusive programs for every member of the campus community.”
Today, the University offers short- and long-term programming from Barbados to Budapest, Malta to Martinique. The trips are both traditional (touring European architecture) and unconventional (learning hospitality aboard a working cruise ship). Most importantly, the lineup is dynamic, forever evolving to meet the needs of a changing world.
Consider the University’s successful navigation of COVID-19. During the worst of the pandemic, study abroad coordinators engineered remote internship opportunities with overseas partners. When programming relaunched during the 2021- 2022 academic year, schools nationwide experienced a 91% decline in participation, but thanks to robust contingency planning and transparent communication, UD saw only a 50% drop. And the University has since wished bon voyage to some of its largest cohorts.
Of course, the mission of internationalization goes well beyond study abroad. At UD, a place that boasts 300 global
partnerships, research collaborations lead faculty from deep below the icy surface of the South Pole to the far reaches
of the universe (the International Space Station has hosted several Blue Hen experiments).
Meanwhile, UD’s international population represents more than 3,000 people and more than 100 countries. But the University isn’t merely doling out course schedules and wishing these scholars the best. To nurture their acculturation—which boosts the cultural competency of all students on campus—UD offers more than 100 engagement opportunities each year. It also conducts extensive research on how best to support this community, redefining the professional discourse worldwide. As a result, the office dedicated to this demographic regularly ranks top 20 globally in international student satisfaction, per data from the International Student Barometer benchmarking tool.
Beyond tangible outcomes—bridges engineered in Bolivia, schools built in Burkina Faso, oral histories collected in Peru— campus leaders infuse global perspectives into every classroom, every office, every laboratory on campus. “It’s embedded into the very muscle of the University,” Ammigan says.
Success in this arena is attributable to the full support of many—including UD’s president and provost, Blue Hen students willing to step outside their comfort (and time) zones and, of course, eight adventurous young scholars who launched it all, 100 years ago.
“It’s easy to lose sight of, because we’re so busy planning year-round,” Drexler says. “But all these years of international education at UD have absolutely contributed to a better,
more understanding world—and we have thousands of alumni who agree.”
14 University of Delaware Magazine
Share your study abroad memories with #UDAbroad100 and visit udel.edu/studyabroad100 for more
PHOTO SUBMITTED BY LANEY FREDERICK | ROME