In today’s information age, more universities are developing and enhancing their study abroad programs to meet students’ needs and expectations. In an April 2015 Chronicle of Higher Education article, author Stacie Nevadomski Berdan reported that more U.S. students are seeing the value of studying abroad. More importantly, many believe they can gain important “international experience necessary to work in the 21st-century global marketplace.”
Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio, offers two distinctive study abroad programs that meet these needs.
Lourdes Ireland Program
Since 2013, Lourdes University has offered students the opportunity to earn college credit while in Tullycross, Ireland. A small village on the Renvyle Peninsula in northwest Connemara in County Galway, Ireland, Tullycross is close to the sea on the Wild Atlantic Way coastal route.
In the past four years, 50+ undergraduate and graduate students have participated in the global program. This year, 11 Lourdes undergraduate and graduate students departed for the Emerald Isle. Joining them were Matthew Molnar, Instructor and Director of Field Education in the Department of Social Work; Dr. Noah Roderick, Associate Professor of English; and Terry Keller, Interim Dean of the College of Education and Human Services and Chair of Social Work. Mr. Keller established the Lourdes Ireland program, one of the institution’s first-ever international courses.
Prior to arriving at the village, students completed three weeks of classroom learning stateside in preparation for the international experience. Once in Tullycross, the Lourdes group continued their studies at a nearby campus on the western coast of Ireland and lived in the village’s traditional thatched-roof cottages.
During the two-week stay, students explored and learned about the community, conducted research projects, participated and presented at the 2017 Interchanges transatlantic conference, gained first-hand experience about the village, completed a service project, traveled to a nearby island, and enjoyed a medieval banquet.
Katharina Boyer, a Master of Social Work graduate who participated in the 2016 program found the experience beneficial. “While in county Galway, I witnessed the true sense of community. The town and surrounding villages pull together using their strengths to help one another to move forward and continue their way of life. The area is also rich in history, regularly documenting personal chronicles of daily living. As a social work major, this international course assisted me in better understanding people’s thoughts and behaviors.”
“Lourdes University is dedicated to our undergraduate and graduate Ireland immersion programs. We want this to be a sustainable experience. One where our students impact the Tullycross community and it in turn impacts our students,” adds Professor Keller.
Lourdes University Summer Program in Italy
During the 2017 summer semester, Lourdes University Associate Professor of Social Work Dr. Joyce Litten taught “What are Social Justice and the Common Good?” at the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy. The course examined individual and collective social responsibility in the creation of just systems of service. Drawing on differing disciplines and perspectives, the course explored the notion of the common good with a principal focus on whether and how commitment to the common good is compatible with respect for cultural and religious differences with justice in social life.
While in Perugia, Lourdes University students joined their peers from U.S. Franciscan institutions. Together, they gained first-hand experience and knowledge about a variety of subjects. During their stay, students enjoyed a mini-pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy to follow in St. Francis’ footsteps. Other non-classroom activities included touring Florence and other notable Italian towns.
This newly-established partnership and study abroad program was forged by Dr. Litten and Professor Jean Kujawa, Associate Professor of Business and Leadership. To learn more about Lourdes University and its study abroad programs, visit www.lourdes.edu, call 419-885-5291 or email luadmits@lourdes.edu.
First Published June 6, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
