UPPER BURRELL, Pa. — Loaded with passports for campus students who wish to study abroad, the Passport Caravan, in partnership with Penn State, made a stop Jan. 20 at Penn State New Kensington.
Thirty-five New Kensington students were awarded passports by CIEE, a nonprofit organization that focuses on international education and exchange. For more than 65 years, CIEE has helped thousands of people gain the knowledge and skills necessary to live and work in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world by offering comprehensive exchange programs.
The partnership is part of a shared goal by CIEE and Penn State to make the study abroad experience more accessible. Passport Caravan is a series of events providing 1,000 free passports and scholarships to students at 11 colleges across the United States. It is CIEE’s first step toward reaching its goal to issue passports to 10,000 U.S. college students by 2020. Penn State joins as a partner institution aiming to double the number of Pennsylvania students who study abroad and increase funding opportunities to support international education.
Penn State's overall strategic plan highlights the internationalization of the campus and classrooms as an area of focus. The University is working to increase its study abroad participation to one in three students at University Park and one in four students at its other campuses.
Tia Langnes, records manager for the education abroad staff of Penn State Global Programs, handed out grants to the fortunate students to cover the cost of a passport. More than 70 campus students applied for the free passports and less than half were selected from all majors on a first-come, first-serve basis. The limited number of passports were available to campus undergraduates who are U.S. citizens applying for a passport for the first time.
Students shared their hopes of being able to study abroad and volunteer abroad, and their desires to develop a global mindset and learn from other cultures.
Kate Manni, assistant director for embedded programs and special initiatives at Penn State, accompanied Langnes to the campus. Manni, who was the keynote speaker at New Kensington’s “Dinner and Dialogue” events in the fall, met with the campus Student Government Association to talk about opportunities to study abroad.
Embarking on a Cuba tripNew Kensington students can put their new passports to use right away with a summer excursion to the Republic of Cuba. The 10-day journey during the first week of June is the capstone of four summer classes — Introduction to Human Development and Family Studies; Ibero American Civilization; Discovery of the Real Cuba: Understanding its Economy and Culture Contributing to its Competitiveness; and Information Technology in an International Context — that run May 11 to 29. The courses satisfy one of the program requirements for a certificate in international studies.
The trip will be a mixture of learning opportunities and leisure activities designed to provide an overall educational experience.
“This is a good opportunity for students who are interested in acquiring out-of-classroom experiences through travel abroad,” said Rujirutana “Dr. A” Mandhachitara, associate professor of business administration and one of the event organizers. “The trip also fits well with the campus’ strategic goal to increase international experiences and exposure to cultural diversity among our students.”
Last year, eight students spent two weeks in the Kingdom of Thailand in Southeast Asia. The summer excursion was the capstone of a global marketing and international studies class taught by Mandhachitara. Students attended presentations on how Thai companies attract foreign customers and the differences between Thailand and the United States on cultural norms and values, educational systems, and social structures. For R. J. Hines, it was an experience of a lifetime.
“The idea of traveling to another country gives college students an opportunity to not only gain experiences they won't find in the classroom, but also experiences they won't find within their own country,” said Hines, a senior in the business administration program. “Students get to experience a different culture and learn how they live, how their economy works, how the food tastes, and how the locals live."
For more information on the Cuba trip, contact Mandhachitara at 724-334-6769 or rum20@psu.edu.
A semester (or two) abroadLeaving the New Kensington campus in Upper Burrell for a semester to learn at a university in a foreign country has drawn an eclectic mix of students. In the past five years, three students have experienced the joy of learning abroad as a part of the campus’ Global Programs initiative. The program provides students with a variety of opportunities to study in foreign lands for varying periods of time — a week, summer, semester or year. The objective is to offer students a broader education than can be obtained through classroom experiences.
Tansey Ochs, an administration of justice major, studied at Avans University of Applied Science in the Netherlands during summer 2011. She spent four weeks learning about issues of criminal justice from a Dutch perspective. Classwork explored such issues as the history of this approach, its rationale, and the way it works out in daily practice.
“I learned about the criminal justice system of the Netherlands, and how their system compares to other European countries, and to the United States' system," said Ochs, who graduated from the campus in 2012.
Gabriel Gardiner, an adult learner in the organizational leadership program spent two semesters — fall 2012 and spring 2013 — learning Portuguese at Eduardo Mondlane University, the oldest and largest university in Mozambique in southeastern Africa. His two-semester course load comprised 30 hours of language training and two statistics classes.
“To quote King Charlemagne, ‘to have another language is to possess a second soul,'” said Gardiner, a native of Madera, California. “I have a strong conviction in the importance of learning another language. To speak to others in English, a language they understand, is important, but to speak to people in their own language is how you win them.”
Current campus student Marissa Russo, a senior information sciences and technology major, enrolled in the University of Limerick in Ireland for the fall 2014 semester. She experienced the contrasts in learning environments between the American and Irish higher education systems. Languages are taught at a faster pace in Europe. Her Spanish course provided an example of the divergence in learning styles.
“European professors assume that students already know three languages by the time they get to college,” said Russo, who will earn her bachelor’s degree in May. “By your fourth language, you should know how to learn it, so it’s a very fast pace. I took a Spanish 1 course, which would have counted as Spanish 1 and 2 at American universities.”
Global ProgramsSince 2004, nearly 170 campus students have traveled to Spain, France, Italy, China, Greece, Peru, Galapagos Islands, Ireland and Thailand. In conjunction with the trips, students are required to take a related course that enriches their understanding of the destination and its culture. Upon return, participants present their experiences through narratives and slide shows to the campus community. The presentations enable others to share in the immediate travel experience and help to generate excitement in students, as well as faculty and staff, to become involved in future trips.
For the past nine years, the campus has embarked on the promotion of greater awareness and understanding of world issues, international trends and global policy debates. Each year, the campus adopts a country or region of the world to inspire teaching and scholarship. Cuba is this year’s “Country of Focus.” Students, faculty and staff will explore and reflect on various aspects of Cuba’s history, culture, and economic, social and political reality throughout the semester.
Beginning with China in 2007, the campus’ international presentations have included Ecuador, India, Spain, Kenya and Tanzania, Ireland and the United Kingdom, Canada, and Turkey.
For more about campus' Global Programs, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/Academics/InternationalPrograms/intlprograms.