Global Experiential Learning (GEL)

Nutrition, Culture and Exercise in Belize

This program is suitable for Nursing and Public Health students.

Participants of this GEL will design and deliver nutrition and exercise lessons for Mayan schoolchildren. You will also participate in cultural immersion through presentations, workshops and discussions related to healthcare, disease prevention, sustainable agriculture, Belizean culture and traditional healing. Further, you will actively engage in a hand-on service project of particular need for a low-resource community in Belize.

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International Health Care: Primary Health Care along the Amazon River

This program is suitable for nursing majors.

Kathleen Eid-Heberle | keidhebe@su.edu & Keith Jones-Pomeroy | kjonespo@su.edu

Offered by the department of nursing and the office of spiritual life, this course is available to nursing majors who will be spending a week on the Amazon River providing basic medical care to under resourced communities. Our group will travel via boat down the Amazon river providing basic medical care to under-resourced communities. This trip is not only about providing care but also about building bridges between cultures and communities. You will have the opportunity to engage individuals, practice their profession, and experience diversity in a service-oriented experience.

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London Theatre and History

This program is suitable for senior theatre majors.

Carolyn Coulson | ccoulson2@su.edu

Students will be immersed in the rich culture of London and all its theatrical heritage. On this two-week GEL trip, activities include 8-10 theatrical performances; visits to historical landmarks such as Hampton Court, St. Paul’s, Westminster, and many more; and side-trips to Oxford, Windsor, and Stratford-Upon-Avon. This trip to England is designed primarily for theatre students interested in being immersed in London’s culture. We will have a backstage tour of at least one major theatre, and probably a workshop at another. In addition, we will take day trips to Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon.

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Contact Improvisation, Culture, Dance, in the Mediterranean

This program is suitable for those interested in exploring dance in an international setting.

Maurice Fraga | mfraga@su.edu

We will be traveling to Athens, Greece, where we will explore some of the major sites in Athens, as well as take dance classes by artists/teachers Ana Sanchez-Colbert and Marielys Burgos. In addition, there will be site-specific performances to participate in that will take place around the city of Athens. You will then travel to the island of Ikaria (in there Greek Isles) to take part in week-long contact improvisation workshop led by SU faculty member, Maurice Fraga. Depending on the festival schedule in Athens, we might also attend a dance performance by one of Europe’s up and coming modern dance companies. There is no need to be an expert at dance: just the willingness to travel, explore, meet new people, and try something new. All levels and ages are welcomed to apply.

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Summer Arts Leadership Institute

This program is suitable for those interested in exploring arts management in an international setting.

The Summer Arts Leadership Institute will bring together American and European students for a 10-day intensive program in international and intercultural issues facing future arts leaders.  The Institute will be hosted at the American University of Greece in Athens and will feature discussions with European cultural leaders, four half-day study tours of Athens, a guided day-long tour of Epidaurus and Mycenae, attendance at four evening performances in Athens, and even a leadership day at the beach.

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International Interdisciplinary Healthcare in Haiti

This program is suitable for senior nursing majors and graduate students in the health professions.

Naomi Pitcock | npitcock@su.edu

Exposes students in the health professions to the unique healthcare needs of the Haitian population being served by the Community Coalition for Haiti Clinic in Jacmel, Haiti. This unique course is designed to expose students in the health professions to the unique healthcare needs of the Haitian population being served by the Community Coalition for Haiti Clinic in Jacmel, Haiti. The interdisciplinary team of students and faculty, including Nursing, OT, PA, and Pharmacy as well as Nurse Midwifery. Both graduate and undergraduate levels will travel and work in the clinic in interdisciplinary teams that will participate in running three surgical suits, a recovery room, a primary care clinic, pharmacy and rehabilitative care as well as public health outreach.

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Experiential Learning In Haiti

This program is suitable for graduate Physical Therapy students.

Naomi Pitcock | npitcock@su.edu

This non-traditional clinical rotation takes place in Jacmel, Haiti. Our group will treat patients in an in-patient setting and also in a school based setting. Visits to rural homes and schools will also take place. Community Coalition for Haiti is the host organization and the group will be exposed to serial casting, equipment fabrication, and Inter professional interactions with nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and teachers.

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World Music Therapy: Japan

This program is suitable for Music Therapy students.

This GEL trip will be in the city of Tsukuba, which is located in the northern Kanto region of Japan. The trip will be centered around the 15th World Congress of Music Therapy conference.  The group will be part of both cultural excursions and an international music therapy conference.  Cultural excursions and experiences will focus on the arts, but will also include historical and geographical points of interest. The group will participate in both the student portion and regular proceedings of the music therapy conference.  Each student will focus on one clinical population to learn about at the conference.

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Exploring Sport and Entertainment in New Zealand

This program is suitable for those interested in exploring sport management in an international setting.

Joey Gawrysiak | jgawrysi@su.edu

This course will explore sports management and marketing in New Zealand. Sport management as a discipline continues to grow in Oceania, including New Zealand, across a broad spectrum of sports. The Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand is a leader in international scholarship around sport and is considered one of the premier sport organizations in the world. New Zealand has a wide array of sports, from rugby to outdoor/adventure sports, that are unparalleled in the rest of the world.

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Nicaragua Medical Mission Trip

This program is suitable for graduate Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, and Physician Assistant Studies students.

This is the 11th annual medical mission trip to Leon, Nicaragua. The inter-professional team consisting of community physicians, physician assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and pharmacy faculty, as well as students, embarks on a trip to provide medical care to those in need. The emphasis of the trip is General Medicine, Women’s Health, and Oral Health.  Applicants to this program must be graduate students in the health professions (PA, PT, OT, Pharmacy).

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Ethics of Culture and Climate in Scotland

This program is suitable for all majors, undergraduate and graduate interested in environmental and cultural studies.

Alice Morgan | amorgan@su.edu & Maggie McCampbell-Lien | mmccampb@su.edu

We will visit a variety of locations in Scotland examining Scottish Culture (particularly the Highlands) and Climate Change in Scotland and uniting the two topics through environmental experiential examples. An example might include researching and viewing peat bogs and discussing its cultural use as a fuel source and how that fuel impacts the modern environment and climate change.

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International Business in Spain

This program is suitable for those in the business school that are interested in exploring business practices in an international setting.

Miles Davis | mdavis@su.edu

The course includes lectures, meetings with distinguished professors, meetings with senior corporate executives, field trips to business organizations and cultural sites, classroom discussions, and assignments. The course has been designed to help you develop skills and perspectives to enable you to get the most out of the international experience. General and specific discussions led by authorities in their fields will enable you to better understand different business and economic views, values, and customs, and these will be integrated into the experience. The course is timely and appropriate as we observe the dynamics of globalization and international diversity.

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Exploring Global Health and Policy Development

This program is suitable for graduating seniors and graduate health professions students.

Lisa Darsch | ldarsch@su.edu & Leocadia Conlon | jconlon@su.edu

Students travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Health Assembly (WHA) to learn more about global health policy and explore the diverse cultural regions of Switzerland. Students write issues briefs in preparation for the trip, and then, when in Switzerland, see how policy is discussed and developed in the global landscape.

“GEL Switzerland represented a course change for me in my life and career, and I found attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) 69 particularly humbling. I learned a great deal about how global health leaders interact and the processes that govern change. I had so many meaningful experiences in this trip that allowed me to not only network with global health leaders, but also those individuals on the forefront who are making the changes discussed at the highest levels on the international stage. At the conclusion of the trip, the strongest take-away for me was that education, preventative health, secure systems, government support, and funding are the keys to success in global health initiatives. It is essential to be proactive rather than reactive. As the message spreads, the hope is that public health will become a natural part of daily governance rather than an afterthought. It felt like a lot of progress was made this year, and it was an unforgettable honor to be invited to attend history in the making.”

Judith Pascarella | Physician Assistant Studies, ’17

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