Spring 2003 Study Abroad at UC

Here are study abroad programs for spring 2003 at a glance:

New Zealand Exchange
Feb. 9-July 9, 2003
Two students from UC’s College of Law are studying at the University of Canterbury.

Service Learning in Costa Rica
March 20-30
Ten undergraduates will travel to the small town of Cartago to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity. Trip leader Lee Armstrong, the assistant director of International programs at the College of Business Administration, lived in Costa Rica for five years. Participating students were required to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity twice in Cincinnati prior to departure for Latin America. “We’re hoping that we are developing students with ethical responsibilities and who are aware of universal social issues. I would hope that future employers would find that valuable as well. This will give students exposure to a part of the country that most tourists don’t see. They will live in the community and work along side Costa Ricans,” says Armstrong. Students are also required to do an extensive analysis of the Habitat for Humanity organization and its efficiencies and effectiveness, both in the United States and internationally.

Learning Community & Spring Arts Tour in Italy
March 21-30
A learning community is a tool used to bring students together for academics and a spirit of friendship. The 15 students who are taking this trip joined a learning community at UC and took two courses together during winter quarter: one on Italy taught by adjunct assistant professor Nettina Eckert of Romance languages and an intercultural communication course taught by communication professor emeritus Michael Porte. In Cincinnati, the learning community has visited museums, galleries, restaurants and other arts venues to learn about Italian heritage and culture. When the students get to Italy, they will cap their winter quarter of academic studies by becoming tourists and joining a trip  with 15 members of the Cincinnati community. They will visit Rome and the historic site of the Colosseum, Vatican City and St. Peter’s Basilica, the Doric temples of Agrigento and more.

MBA Students in South Africa
March 21-29
So many MBA students were interested in the program that trip organizer Steve Salter sought an increase in funds granted for the program from the U.S. Department of Education’s Business in International Education Program. Now 12 students, including one Cincinnati area worker who works at Miller Brewing, will travel to this country that offers an unusual mix of the first and third worlds. Activities will range from lectures on South African business, social and environmental issues to visits to high-tech factories and housing settlements. “Outside of Europe, South Africa is one of Cincinnati’s largest trading partners,” says Salter. According to the Institute of International Education, the number of U.S. students going to less traditional destinations has increased dramatically in last 15 years. Study in Europe is declining, while destinations such as Africa are becoming more popular. Two other faculty members and two MBA administrators interested in building future programs in Africa will accompany Salter and the group.

International Business Capstone in Mexico
March 23-30
Twenty-three undergrads in the College of Business Administration will travel with adjunct assistant professor of management Ratee Apana and CBA Associate Dean Marianne Lewis to Queretaro, Mexico. Students will study at a local campus and visit several Mexican and American plants, including GE and P&G, in addition to learning about the investment climate in Mexico for global companies and the buying habits of Mexican consumers.

International Co-op Program
March 22-Sept. 13
Seventeen undergraduate students will work and live overseas – eight in Germany, five in Japan and four in Chile. Their co-op jobs will last for six months. These students have prepared for these foreign-language assignments in UC’s International Co-op Program by taking intensive language and cultural studies courses.

International Seminars Program, College of Business Administration
March  20-28
About 80 MBA students will participate in business seminars: 10 students in Toulouse/Barcelona (France, Spain), 17 students in Linz (Austria), 11 students in Aachen (Germany), and seven students in Santiago (Chile).

Geoarchaeology Field Study in Belize
Up to 12 seniors and graduate students will accompany geography professor Nicholas Dunning of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences to a pristine rainforest in northwest Belize. They will assist Dunning in conducting National Science Foundation-funded research on the ancient Maya culture and its impact on the environment. Living in a camp owned by the University of Texas, the group will spend most of its time in the protected area of the Programme for Belize, with the nearest town about a 30-minute drive away. The team will study trenches dug with backhoes and take soil samples to bring home for further analysis. Temperatures will be in the high 90s with high humidity.
Contact: Nicholas Dunning, (513) 556-3436

Honors Scholars Program in Belize
March 20-30
The three R’s take a Latin American twist for 16 honors students heading to Belize on this study trip led by David Meredith, director of enrollment management for UC’s Honors Scholars Program. In this case, the R’s are reefs, ruins and rainforests. Participants spent winter quarter learning about these subjects from UC faculty members Nicholas Dunning, Vern Scarborough, David Meyer and Johanna Looye. Over spring break, the students will visit sites in person to learn more about the ancient Maya, rainforests, the structure of the barrier reef and its role in the environment. Among the highlights are a jungle hike that crisscrosses a river three times and a swim to a cave that holds skeletons, pottery and a sacrificial altar. Depending on each student’s preference, snorkeling or scuba diving will be used to see the reefs firsthand.

Chaucer’s Pilgrimage/United Kingdom
March 21-28
Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” tell the stories of pilgrims who are on their way to Canterbury Cathedral. Over spring break, 16 undergraduate honors students will experience a bit of the pilgrim’s life themselves by joining assistant professor of English Holly Crocker on a tour that will take them to Canterbury Cathedral and the surrounding  town, which survives as a sort of modern pilgrimage town  devoted to Chaucer. The Pilgrim’s Museum in Oxford and tours of several colleges that existed in Chaucer’s time, as well as a walk along the wall around medieval London will complete a course that has been studying the texts of Chaucer during winter quarter.

Honduras International Health Care
April 12-24
Faculty and students from UC’s medical and nursing schools will provide health and dental care to Hondurans in a program begun 12 years ago. The UC health team now travels to a clinic in Honduras three times a year through a program called Shoulder to Shoulder, a nonprofit organization that teams with the College of Medicine. The clinic was constructed with the help of this partnership. It provides health care, dental and nutrition services to an area with 20,000 people living in one of the poorest and most remote areas of Honduras in the State of Intibuca, which is close to El Salvador. The trip leader is Jeff Heck, professor of clinical family medicine.

Medical Outreach in Brazil
April 13-27
Since 1995, UC medical faculty and students have been traveling to Brazil to provide health care to areas not often served by health care workers. This April, a team of 17 medical students, residents, attending physicians and other health-care and non-health care volunteers will work in the Amazon state of Brazil, primarily in the municipality of Beruri, an area with about 80 rural villages. The travelers take a 15-hour boat trip to reach the municipality. An estimated 3000 patients will be served.  The program is a partnership of the UC College of Medicine and Clinton Memorial Hospital Foundation in Wilmington, Ohio. Coordinators are Keith Holden Holten, associate clinical professor with the UC Department of Family Medicine and residency director for Clinton Memorial Hospital/University of Cincinnati Family Practice Residency Program, and Sandra Riegler, assistant professor of clinical medicine in UC's Department of Internal Medicine. This April, a new collaboration will begin with the Federal University of Roraima in family practice medical education, Holten said.