Celebrating study abroad
Faculty, staff, students gather to reflect and relive global adventures
10:29 a.m., March 25, 2015--University of Delaware study abroad faculty program directors came together with other members of the campus community during an appreciation luncheon held Wednesday, March 11, to celebrate a successful year.
Over a 14-month period during 2014 and 2015, more than 70 faculty members led 60 travel study programs across six continents. Study “abroad” opportunities also included domestic travel study programs in Washington, D.C., Hawaii and the American Southwest, enabling over 1,200 students to engage with communities from every corner of the globe.
Global Stories
Fulbright awards
Peace Corps plans
Preliminary results from the Institute for Global Studies’ (IGS) new Global Engagement Measure Scale (GEMS) indicate that, as a whole, “all students on Winter Session 2015 programs increased significantly in their self-reported tolerance for ambiguity, knowledge of host site and cultural engagement,” said Lisa Chieffo, associate director for study abroad.
Three students who traveled during Winter Session shared their stories of engagement and growth with faculty directors and University administrators in the audience.
Adem Cemerlic, senior and participant in the Morocco foreign languages and literatures program, not only affirmed his own identity as a student born in America to Bosnian parents, but also came away with a whole new understanding of Moroccan life, culture and hospitality.
“I met a family living in a tent half the size of my freshman year dorm room, with no running water or electricity,” Cemerlic remarked about his most profound experience in Morocco. “Despite this, the family was eagerly preparing tea for all 24 of the visitors they had just received.”
He added, “I gained a new perspective. I saw the lives and personalities of Moroccans through my conversations with my host family, taxi drivers and new friends made on the spot in coffee shops or on soccer fields.”
Ayanna Gill and Jaylen Wingfield, recipients of the prestigious Gilman Scholarship, recounted their individual experiences as part of the winter human development and family studies and hotel, restaurant and institutional management Barbados program. They credited the success of their program to the faculty directors, Norma Gaines-Hanks, associate professor of human development and family studies, and Francis Kwansa, associate professor of hotel, restaurant and institutional management.
“Not only were they exceptional professors,” noted Gill, “but it is because of them that … students from different backgrounds and cultural perspectives are sent to a country where our attitudes and pre-conceived beliefs are challenged.”
Among the groups celebrated at this year’s appreciation luncheon were also the Office of the Executive Vice President and University Treasurer, Procurement Services, Office of Disability Support Services, Student Financial Services, Office of the Registrar, Office of Risk Management, Student Health Services and the Office of Student Conduct.
For more information on becoming a faculty study abroad program director, visit the Institute for Global Studies website, and contact Lisa Chieffo with questions.
To participate in one of UD’s many study abroad or domestic travel study programs, browse the study abroad program database and stop by Elliott Hall for open advising hours every Wednesday this spring from 1-4 p.m.
Article by Nikki Laws