The following courses are still accepting additional applications: 

Courses traveling to Africa:
MUS 197 FS:  "Arts and Apes in Rwanda: A Service Learning Project"
--Virginia Croskery & Bruce Brown

This is the ultimate service learning course! The first half of the course will be spent working in the Gishwati Forest on a forest preserve for chimpanzees recently established by the Great Ape Trust. The latter half of the course will involve working in Rwandan schools under the auspices of The Art of Conservation, which educates students about the importance of health, conservation and the environment through artistic means. Highlights will include a trek to see mountain gorillas in the wild, and a visit to the genocide memorial and the Mille Colline (Hotel Rwanda) in Kigali. Students will be evaluated on their participation, their reflective journal, and a final presentation.

Courses traveling to Asia:
ECON 197 A:  "China: The New Dynamo"
--Tom Schmidt & Frank Colella

We will travel to Shanghai, Xian and Beijing to experience the ancient and the modern in the world's most populous country (1.3+ billion). China represents the world's largest market and students from all majors will learn how their lives will be impacted by this new economic dynamo poised to try to catch and overtake the U.S. as the world's economic leader. We will meet with students from China's universities, with both American and Chinese business executives, with representatives of government, and with everyday people. We will tour the great centers and sites of Chinese history, culture, civilization and business. We will see the Great Wall, hear China's great music ensembles, tour magnificent museums and archeological sites and walk in Tiananmen Square. Students will maintain journals recording their experiences and reflections. There will be required readings and a prep course for one credit hour during spring semester 2009.

Courses traveling to Central or South America:
SOC 297 A:  "The Ancients Knew Us: What the Inca of Peru Can Teach Modern Civilizations"
--Mark Freyberg & Nancy St. Clair

A peculiar modern conceit encourages us to believe that contemporary America is the greatest culture in history. But what do people from other times and places have to teach our great culture? This course takes a holistic view of ancient Inca and modern Peruvian cultures, emphasizing how they have met the material and spiritual needs of their citizens. We will compare these societies to our own, asking how we might alter our way of living to gain fulfillment as individuals and as a people. We will travel to the Andes region of Peru to see both the cosmopolitan city of Cuzco and several ancient Inca sites, including the "Lost City" of Machu Picchu. Assignments include three papers, a pre-travel exam and a post-travel oral report.

MAGT 197 A: "Contemporary Argentina: Culture, Trade & the Economy"
--Marilyn Mueller

Argentina - home of the passionate tango and the gauchos riding in the vast cattle ranches of the pampas - is where we will examine the cultural, political and economic realities of Argentina in today's global economy. Our course will be based in the first and second largest cities in Argentina - Buenos Aires and Rosario. On-site tours to global companies will be part of our course, as well as visits to historical, political and cultural sights in both cities. Students will be expected to maintain a travel journal, complete assigned readings, take exams, view videos, research a topic, and write and present a paper to the class. There will be a one-credit preparatory class offered to orient students.

Courses traveling to Europe:
ESS 197 A: "America and France in the 21st Century"
--Brian Steffen & Sal Meyers

American and French cultural values, behaviors attitudes differ - sometimes considerably, and sometimes in ways that frustrates travelers from each side of the Atlantic. This travel course will bridge those differences by focusing on three key ways (among many) that French and American cultures differ: With regard to health care; uses of natural resources; and the balances that are struck between professional and private lives. Four of France's major cities - Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon and Nice - are included in the tour. During the spring travel-preparation course, students will read from book-length and journalistic accounts of French and American cultural differences, along with hearing from American academics, professionals and policy-makers. Students also will complete a research project to help prepare them for their travel to France. While in France, students will meet with French academics, professionals and policy makers to discuss the issues of the course.

MUS 197 A/HUM 197 B: "Bringing the Flemish and French Renaissance to Life with The Madrigal Singers"
--Maria DiPalma, Robert Larsen, & Kimberly Roberts 

Exploring the roots of Franco/Flemish Renaissance music and culture (art, architecture, politics, etc.) through performance of the music, we will begin our journey in Amsterdam and travel through Antwerp and Brugge where the Flemish masters developed their musical styles and then follow their paths south to France. There we will explore and perform in the cities of the royal courts, particularly of Francis I, Amboise, the chateaux on the Loire, Versailles, Chartres and then finally in Paris. Attendance at all Madrigal concerts and trip activities as well as on campus class is required. All students will be assigned a paper topic to be researched during the trip and be presented to the group upon return. Each student will keep a reflective journal while on the trip. All students must register for a preparatory one credit course in the spring of 2009.

ECON 297 A: "Expanding the European Union: Germany and Poland"
--Patricia Calkins & Jim Palmieri

In order to understand the functioning of the European Union, one must investigate how countries of the original European Union and their new Eastern European partners are learning to view each other as partners. This is nowhere more difficult than along the former EU-Non-EU border, which has had many incarnations as the border for the Third Reich with Eastern European countries, the border between capitalist and communist Europe, and the border between the haves and the have-nots after the fall of communism. We will investigate this complex history and the hopes for the future by visiting Germany, Poland and Austria, where we will meet with government officials, business leaders, students, and members of non-governmental institutions. Students will be expected to write a journal of their reflections on the readings, the site visits and meetings. In addition, students will produce an annotated visual journal of the trip, in which they will use digital photos and commentary to illustrate the themes of the course.

HUM 197 C: "Irish Arts: Mirror or Mover?"
--Steve Griffith

Does art mirror history or actively shape it? This course will use the visual and performing arts to connect issues of conflict, social justice and ethnic relations in contemporary Ireland with the ideas of Irish identity and nationhood. The course asks the question, "Does the artist mirror culture or seek to change it?"

COMM 197 A: "Media in Ireland"
--Chad Roberts

How does politics and culture shape the world of media in Ireland? This course will use the print and broadcast media to connect issues of conflict, social justice and ethnic relations in contemporary Ireland with the ideas of Irish identity and nationhood.

The following courses are full and are no longer accepting additional applications:  

BIOL 197 A: "Natural History of Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands"
--Ryan Rehmeier & Jeff Parmelee

Ecuador has an incredible diversity of habitats, animal and plant species, and vibrant indigenous cultures. We will begin studying deep in the Amazon rainforest, one of the most biologically-diverse habitats on Earth. Then we will travel to the Galápagos Islands, one of the world's greatest natural-history treasures and a living textbook for ecologists. The islands' renowned wildlife includes penguins, boobies, giant tortoises, iguanas, sea lions, whales and dolphins. Finally we will return to the mainland and explore a high-elevation cloud forest. There will be unlimited opportunities to practice Spanish, and students will gain insight into contemporary Latin culture and environmental problems besetting tropical habitats. Grades will be assigned based on participation in discussions during the spring preparatory course and off-campus activities including a research project in the rainforest, journal writings, and a final reflective essay. This course has no prerequisites and is designed for both biology and non-biology majors.

EDUC/SOC 197 A: "Thailand: the Culture and People of a Developing Nation"
--Jack Gittinger & Lora Friedrich

Thailand is the home of an ancient culture; it is also vibrant 21st century society that is in the throes of massive change. This trip will introduce students to the broad spectrum of the Thai culture through a variety of activities. In Thailand we will visit numerous Buddhist temples and historic/cultural sites, visit the rural and less-traveled northeast region of Thailand, ride elephants and bamboo rafts, attend Thai cooking school, walk along the railway immortalized in Bridge on the River Kwai, visit an aquatic national park and related animal conversation projects, and complete a short service project working with students at a Thai English-language school.

The following course is not accepting additional applications, but if you are interested in being placed on a wait list for it, please contact either Professor Epperson or International Education Coordinator Jay Wilkinson:

HUM 197 A: "Discover Britain and Ireland 2009: Historic Locations in British and Irish History"
--John Epperson & Rebecca Livingstone

This course will include visits to prehistoric and Roman sites, medieval castles and cathedrals, early modern palaces and battle sites, the homes of famous Britons and Irishmen, and the places where crucial decisions were made that shaped Irish, British and world history, in locations in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England. Among places to be visited will be Edinburgh Castle, Stonehenge, Roman Baths, Oxford University, Shakespeare's Stratford, James Joyce's Dublin, William Wordsworth's Lake District, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, and the British Museum in London.