November 26, 2019 | UHCL Staff
University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Education and Scholar Services, under the Office of Global Learning and Strategy, sponsored International Education Week in November. The office hosted the week of events to collaborate with the university’s four colleges to develop education-abroad programs that support the institution’s mission and to provide access to education-abroad opportunities for students from across academic disciplines.
International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to promote programs that prepare American students for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange experiences.
“Through information sessions and other activities, professors were able to receive the information they needed to create a successful proposal for a new education-abroad program, as well as gain access to resources and global infrastructure to help develop an outstanding faculty-led study abroad program that brings their curricula to life,” said Executive Director of Education Abroad and Scholar Services Bianca Schonberg.
“After attending the informational lunch session, I’m interested in putting together a study abroad trip,” said Associate Professor of Art History Sarah Costello. “We have a wonderful staff in that office that is really on board and very enthusiastic about helping faculty plan these trips, so I went to find out about it.”
Costello said she had two study abroad trips in mind for her students. “I’ve done one before to Rome to study Roman art with students,” she said. “I wanted to replicate that trip with students, but it’s a matter of finding the right cost, because these trips can get very expensive. I’m trying to keep it affordable so more students have the opportunity.”
She said that at the information session, she heard from a third-party trip planner who was able to manage the logistics of a trip abroad. “They manage the risks, the visas, and handle the health and safety issues so that the professor can focus on the teaching,” she said. “Another possible trip I’m considering is a study trip to London, where I could spend two to three weeks teaching a museum studies course. I had that planned a few years ago, but it didn’t take place because there were too many potential problems, but now that I have help with logistics, getting costs right, making sure students’ financial aid applies, and I have the support I need from the university, I’m going to try it again.”
Costello added that she thought the Office of Global Learning and Strategy seemed very mobilized and ready to work with faculty. “They seem terrific,” she said. “I really like to see that the staff is ready to work with this third-party provider to make everything seamless for the professor.”
Associate Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies Amy Lucas said that she attended the information sessions because she believed that study abroad opportunities were invaluable for students and it was critical for them to be exposed to other cultures and observe life outside their norm. “Sociologists study how people and institutions behave, and it’s easier for students to see those connections when everything is new and they have no preconceived notions,” she said. “I teach courses in social stratification. In contemporary American society, we focus on stratification by class, race and gender. Throughout history, some kind of stratification is exhibited in almost all societies.”
This is why, she explained, she’d like to take students on a study trip to Machu Picchu in Peru. “It’s an important site to see to conceptualize stratification,” she said. “That society had a firm hierarchy and system in place and it’s a wonderful way for students to see some of the terms and ideas we would be talking about in lectures.”
Lucas said she was considering a two- to three-week study trip to Lima, spend time learning and discussing the material, and then go to Machu Picchu. “That’s something I liked about the organization that presented to us in the information session,” she said. “They have classroom space in Lima, which would give us exposure to contemporary Peruvian culture. We can do the excursions to Machu Picchu. This organization knows logistically how to make all this work.”
She added that she’d been on study-abroad trips as a student but never as a professor. “I’m comfortable with the teaching side, but not on the logistics side,” she said. “It’s so important for professors to be able to concentrate on what we know, and this way, we can take advantage of others’ expertise and skills, and it will lead to the best possible experience when the students go abroad.”
The Office of Global Learning and Strategy oversees international student services, education abroad, scholar services and international agreements. Other activities for International Education Week, which took place from Nov. 18-21, included information sessions about F1 immigration status, the Global Expo, sponsored by the Office of Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and a presentation on a study partnership with United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya, presented by Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dawit Woldu and Professor of Sociology Mike McMullen.
Find out more about UHCL's study abroad opportunities online.
