Summer 2022 Faculty-Directed Education Abroad Programs

Off the Beaten Path: Wildlife Survey and Conservation in Belize (BIO 355)

Conversational Chinese (CHI 395 or CHI 495)

Social & Environmental Justice in Oaxaca, Mexico (*GEO 431, GEO 365, GEO 406)

Italy, Past and Present: Between Ancient Myths and Modern Films (CLA 135 and ITA 335)

Intensive Arabic Language Study in Jordan with Qasid (AIS 395 and/or AIS 495)

Drug Use and Addiction: From Science to Culture (PSY 375)

Outbreak: Factors that influence the emergence of infectious diseases (BIO 355)

Evolutionary Ecology of the Galapagos Archipelago (BIO 580)

 

For additional information on education abroad programs at the University of Kentucky, please refer to the Education Abroad and Exchanges webpage. 

 

 

Off the Beaten Path: Wildlife Survey and Conservation in Belize

Location: Belmopan, Belize

Tentative International Travel Dates: June 14, 2022- June 27, 2022

Course Credit: BIO 355

*Prerequisite: BIO 148 or permission of instructor

Program Director: Professor Emily Croteau

Click here for additional information or to apply to this program.

Belize is a small but biologically diverse country, home to approximately 145 species of mammals, 139 species of reptiles and amphibians, and over 500 species of birds.  Many of these animals are threatened with anthropogenic habitat destruction and fragmentation.  Approximately 38% of the terrestrial area in Belize consists of protected wildlife reserves, sanctuaries, and parks; maintaining connectivity between these areas is of utmost importance in sustaining wildlife.

Three wildlife corridors exist in Belize, with the recently recognized Mayan Forest Corridor (MFC) of primary importance because it connects Belize's two largest protected forests in the north and south.  However, much of this corridor is privately owned and threatened with unsustainable development.  A Conservation Action Plan for the approximately 300-square-mile Maya Forest Corridor is currently in place and learning about its conservation is crucial. In this course, students will learn:

1) basic conservation biology principles and their application to Belize; and
2) how to identify Belizean wildlife using established monitoring techniques such as bird mist-netting, camera-trapping, and scat sampling. 

Wildlife monitoring will take place in the Mayan Forest Corridor and other nature reserves to compare diversity in contrasting terrestrial habitats like the pine savannah, low-land broadleaf forest, and sub-montane broadleaf forest. The data gathered from these monitoring efforts will support Belize's efforts in conservation.  To cap-off the course, students will travel to Tobacco Caye to experience marine diversity in the Caribbean Sea.

 

Program Highlights:

• Camera-trapping of mammals (e.g. jaguar, puma and tapir) in the Central Belize Corridor (CBC) and Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (CBWS)
• Mist-netting (capture and release) of resident birds (e.g. manakins, warblers, flycatchers) in the CBC and CBWS
• Hiking in the pine ridge savannah, low-land broadleaf forest and sub-montane broadleaf forest.
  Visits to the Belize zoo (houses ONLY native Belizean fauna), Community Baboon Sanctuary, and Cox Lagoon Crocodile Sanctuary
• Snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea off Tobacco Caye

Conversational Chinese

Location: Xi'an and Pingyao, China

Tentative International Travel Dates: May 21, 2022- June 22, 2022

Course Credit: CHI 395 or CHI 495

Program Director: Professor Jianjun He

Click here for additional information or to apply to this program.

2022 UK Conversational Chinese Summer Program is a 4-week, 6 credits curriculum that takes place during UK summer session (May 21-June 22). The program will be held on the campus of Northwest University in Xi’an, China. Students will learn Chinese in an immersion environment while living in the international student dormitory at Northwest University. Students will also participate in activities to deepen their understanding of Chinese culture. They will also take excursions to nearby cities such as Pingyao and Beijing to learn Chinese societies and lifestyle. Scholarships are available from both UK Education Abroad Office.

 

Program Highlights:

• immersion language and cultural learning
• firsthand experiences of Chinese society and culture
• located in the most famous historical city in China
• explore the diverse local culture, lifestyle, food and folk arts
• local host family visitations; city tours and cultural trip to Pingyao

 

Social & Environmental Justice in Oaxaca, Mexico

Location: Oaxaca, Mexico

Tentative International Travel Dates: TBD

Course Credit: *GEO 431, GEO 365, GEO 406

*Students who have already taken GEO 431 may take GEO 316

Anthropology majors may take ANT 352 and ANT 399

Program Director: Adjunct Professor Oliver Froehling

 

Click here for additional information or to apply to this program.

This research-based, eight-week program offers students the opportunity to design and conduct their own social or environmental science research project under the supervision of knowledgeable and experienced local advisors. This preparation entails in-depth learning about the diverse environments of Southern Mexico and the rich and heterogeneous cultures of Oaxaca’s distinct regions. Through field visits, guest lectures and classroom activities, students will learn about the historical and contemporary dimensions of the relationship between the peoples of Oaxaca, the land and resources, and a global political economy. The program introduces and engages students in the use of different research methods and design, as well as offers opportunities for collaboration in local projects.

 

Program Highlights:

• Explore one of the most ecologically diverse regions on earth through field visits around the state
• Learn from local movements in southern Mexico and their struggles for social justice.
• Create a research project in collaboration with local advisors.
• Improve Spanish language skills through optional classes.

For more information about Oaxaca or this program, see below:

Student testimony from the summer 2015 program

Student testimony from the summer 2016 program

Student testimony from the summer 2017 program

Story map created by a participant

 

Italy, Past and Present: Between Ancient Myths and Modern Films

Location: Rome and Naples, Italy

Tentative International Travel Dates: May 16, 2022- June 19, 2022

Course Credit: CLA 135 and ITA 335

Program Director: Professor Valerio Caldesi-Valeri

 

Click here for additional information or to apply to this program.

 

Italy, Past and Present: Between Ancient Myths and Modern Films is a five-week program based in Rome and Naples. The program offers two courses that investigate how classical myths and modern cinema have contributed to reflecting and shaping Italian culture, thus engaging students in a 360° exploration of Italian culture.

You will be drawn into the world of Greek and Roman mythology as we visit archaeological remains and explore works of art from antiquity to modernity that draw inspiration and motifs from classical myths (i.e., Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne in Rome and the paintings in the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii).

Not only will you be exposed to the historical, cultural and cinematic significance of some of the most important Italian films (i.e., Fellini’s La dolce vita and Sorrentino’s La grande bellezza), you will also be fully immersed in their aesthetics by examining locations and sets where scenes were shot (i.e. Colosseum, Trevi Fountain).

CLA 135 fulfills the UK Core requirement: Inquiry into the Humanities. ITA 335 satisfies the UK Core requirement: Global Dynamics.

Program Highlights:

• Develop an appreciation of the cultural phenomena that shaped, and were in turn shaped by, Italian artistic productions spanning nearly three millennia!
• Fulfill two different UK Core requirements by taking both course offerings.
• Feel like a Roman emperor as you explore his villa and estate in the Roman countryside.
• Walk the streets of Pompeii reliving the tragedy of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
• Live a fully authentic Italian lifestyle, just steps away from the bay of Naples.

 

Intensive Arabic Language Study in Jordan with Qasid

Location: Jordan

Tentative International Travel Dates: TBD

Course Credit: AIS 395 and/or AIS 495 for a total of 6ch

Program Director: Professor Ghadir Zannoun

Click here for additional information or to apply to this program.

This program allows students to complete two back-to-back sections of Arabic language and Arab culture from the Qasid Institute. The program offers students the opportunity to engage with a peer language assistant program consisting of recent graduates in Arabic language studies, as well as cultural presentations regarding Jordanian/Arab culture.

Program Highlights:

• 20 hours per week of Modern Standard Arabic instruction for 8 weeks
• 1 hour per week of Jordanian Arabic instruction for 8 weeks.
• 2 hours per week of one-on-one instruction with a speaking partner.
• Multiple interactive cultural presentations over the course of the program.

 

Drug Use and Addiction: From Science to Culture

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Tentative International Travel Dates: TBD Summer 2022

Course Credit: PSY 375

*Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing and major GPA of 3.5 or higher
Program Director: Professor Lynda Sharrett-Field

Click here for additional information or to apply to this program.

Students will study current neuroscientific theories that explain the motivation for drug use as well as those biopsychosocial mechanisms that mediate the progression from drug use to drug dependence and addiction. These theories will be applied to better understand cultural differences that exist between the US and the Netherlands regarding drug use, dependence, and treatment.

Program Highlights:

• Cannabis College
• Amoc: Innovative drug treatment service provider
• Jellinek Clinic: Provider of public information regarding drug use, dependence, and treatment
• Transnational Institute: World view on drug policies

 

Outbreak: Factors that influence the emergence of infectious diseases

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Tentative International Travel Dates: June 11, 2022- June 25, 2022

Course Credit: BIO 355

*Prerequisites: BIO 148 OR BIO 208
Program Director: Professor Erin Richard

Click here for additional information or to apply to this program.

This education abroad program is designed for students pursuing careers in healthcare and will bring them to the Netherlands, a country where, in comparison to the USA, life expectancy is longer, risk of dying before the age of 65 is lower, and a greater percentage of the GDP is spent on the health of its citizens. Counterintuitively, the people of the Netherlands enjoy personal freedoms that are deemed dangerous and unhealthy in the USA; namely the tolerated use of “soft” drugs like cannabis and sedatives, support services such as needle-exchanges for users of “hard” drugs, and legal but regulated prostitution. Students will learn how environmental factors, antibiotic resistance, and diagnosis can affect the spread of infectious disease in the Netherlands and the USA.

The program will include guest lecturers from the Dutch Public Health and site visits to the Prostitution Information Center, SOA AIDS clinic, Translational Institute Drug and Democracy Program, GGD municipal health Rotterdam-Rijnmond, and CJG clinic Rijnmond. In additional to learning about factors influencing the emergence of infectious disease, students will also gain perspective on global culture and healthcare in practice.

Program Highlights:

• Guided tour of Amsterdam historical epidemic sites and the Red Light District
• Visit Micropia, Amsterdam's museum of microbes
• SOA AIDS Netherlands Visit: SOA AIDS helps the public and professionals to prevent, detect, and treat sexually-transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDS.
• Amoc/De Regenboogroep Visit: De Regenboogroep offers walk-in centers, needle exchanges, and user rooms for people living in social poverty and/or have a drug addiction.

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Evolutionary Ecology of the Galapagos Archipelago

Location: Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Tentative International Travel Dates: TBD

Course Credit: BIO 580

Program Director: Professor Jim Krupa

 

This course will explore key ecological and evolutionary concepts through reading primary literature while on University of Kentucky campus. These will include dispersal, niche theory, competition theory, competitive exclusion principle, species abundance, diversity, kleptoparasitism, and speciation.  Once at the Galapagos Islands, observations and analyses will be performed from observations made directly with aspects of biology that occur on the islands.  The first two weeks in the Galapagos will be on San Cristobal Island where students will carry out group projects on observe island culture, geology, and biology.  The third week will have the students traveling by bout to four additional islands making ecological and evolutionary comparisons of how biodiversity varies from island to island.  Grades will be the product of graded notebooks, group project write ups, reading summaries, and exams.
With respect to evolutionary biology, the Galapagos Islands are "ground zero" for evolutionary biology being where Charles Darwin's observations eventually led to his grand theory of descent with modification.  The best place to learn evolution is on the islands that inspired Darwin.