UT Travel Courses

This course is intended for students interested in the natural history, biology and ecology of the tropics, the most biologically diverse regions of the world. Students will study evolutionary, biological and ecological principles of tropical ecosystems and the natural history of the organisms that live there. Students will examine conservation programs, sustainable development practices and the widespread impact of this region of the globe. The course culminates in a two-week long experience in Costa Rica where students will visit lowland tropical rain forests, high elevation tropical cloud forests, coastal ecosystems, primary and secondary forests, and more. In the field, students will conduct brief research programs designed to illustrate the possibilities of careers working in the tropics over a broad range of possible biological specialties ranging from tropical biodiversity, to evolution and sustainability.

Prerequisites include the Biology Lower Core and/or permission of the instructor. Open to non-Honors students with instructor permission.

INSTRUCTOR:          Mason Meers, associate professor

WHERE:                     Costa Rica

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester and travels May 12-26, 2013

COST:                         $3,657 not including the cost of tuition 

This is an introductory-level, non-lab chemistry course. Participants are not required to have previous college coursework in math, physics, biology, or chemistry. Students will study materials used in creation of objects of art (paintings, glass, pottery), art preservation, art restoraion, forgery detection and nondestructive testing. The course will also explore the effect of environmental pollution on the stability and longevity of objects of art. At the conclusion of the on-campus portion of the course, students travel to Italy and visit sites throughout the country, including Rome, Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius, Florence, Pisa, Siena, the Tuscan countryside and Venice.

Students may take this course as part of their general course requirements for graduation as the course counts towards the physical science requirement and also counts as an art/aesthetic elective.

INSTRUCTOR:          Eric Werner, assistant professor

WHERE:                     Italy

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester (second seven weeks) and travels May 12-26, 2013

COST:                         $4,971 not including the cost of tuition 

This course will focus on comparative criminal justice systems and human rights. Students will examine the three subcomponents (law enforcement, courts and corrections) of the criminal justice systems of each country and the role of human rights and crimes against humanity via readings, lectures provided by various faculty and visits to agencies.

INSTRUCTOR:          Susan Brinkley, associate professor

WHERE:                     Poland and Czech Republic

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester (second seven weeks) and travels May 12-25, 2013

COST:                         $ 3,515 not including the cost of tuition 

*Please note that a $1,000 scholarship is available for a criminology major who enrolls in this course. Deadline to apply for the scholarship is Oct. 15, 2012. Please contact an education abroad advisor or the course instructor for more details. 

This course explores African fictional (re) presentations of human-made and deliberately perpetrated traumas and social conflict. It also examines how African trauma narratives assert themselves as postcolonial narratives, writing back to and re-writing received concepts and definitions of trauma. The course includes a travel component to a post-conflict community for first-hand experience of problems related to reconciliation, rebuilding and justice. Students will visit Bawku, a post-conflict community in northern Ghana, either to participate in on-going efforts for sustainable reconciliation and rebuilding or undertake a discipline- or major-based experiential learning project.

This course and trip are particularly suitable for criminal justice, English, writing, psychology, art, film and public health majors, but all majors are welcomed. The course counts for writing intensive and IG/NW credit.

INSTRUCTOR:          Arthur Hollist, associate professor

WHERE:                     Ghana

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester and travels May 12-29, 2013

COST:                         $3,895 not including the cost of tuition   

The first half of the course explores the development situation in Ghana and students will consider community-based development projects with an eye for their strengths and weaknesses. During the second half of the semester, students create development projects in collaboration with residents of Nabdam constituency in Ghana. These projects will be informed by class discussions but will also take into account the particular conditions and interests of the people who will benefit from the project. In May, the course travels to Ghana to experience firsthand what the “third world” looks like and how people handle their modest material situations. For one week students are based in a small village near the Ghana/Burkina Faso border conducting the student-designed development projects.

Open to non-Honors students with instructor permission.

INSTRUCTOR:          Kevin Fridy, assistant professor

WHERE:                     Ghana

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester and travels May 12-29, 2013

COST:                         $3,895 not including the cost of tuition  

This course provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Japanese political economy, society and culture. The course looks at how Japan is redefining its place in the world amidst post-Cold War challenges, including political gridlock, low economic growth and rapid social change. Upon completion of the on-campus component, students will travel to Japan for a two-week academic experience in Tokyo and Kyoto. Students will participate in guided visits of innovative Japanese factories, world-famous temples and shrines, the Ghibli Museum at the heart of Japan’s animation industry, Tokyo’s fashion districts in Shibuya and Harajuku and Matsue Castle. Students will travel to the historic capitals of Kamakura and Nara, famous for their great Buddha statues. Students will also have the opportunity to experience a short home stay in the countryside with a Japanese family. 

This course is open to non-Honors students with instructor permission.

INSTRUCTOR:          Liv Coleman, assistant professor

WHERE:                     Japan

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester and travels May 13-28, 2013

COST:                         $5,163 not including the cost of tuition  

Students will study the history of France and its people by examining the development of Paris throughout the centuries. The city will be presented in a chronological fashion, through the study of its monuments and lesser-known landmarks, including archeological remains that Parisians walk by every day without noticing. These monuments and landmarks will be discussed in class and then visited in Paris. Emphasis will be placed on how Parisians interact with their history every day, framing their mindset in the process. Students will be able to experience these interactions in Paris and therefore better comprehend the French way of life.

This course is conducted entirely in French; students must have completed FRE 102 or 105 or demonstrate equivalent skills. 

INSTRUCTOR:          James Aubry, assistant professor

WHERE:                     Paris, France

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester (second seven weeks) and travels June 14-July 5, 2013

COST:                         $5,100 not including the cost of tuition  

This course explores the growing influence of international journalism, the history and current state of foreign correspondence and war reporting, and the challenges and opportunities of practicing journalism in various parts of the world. The travel portion at semester’s end includes on-the-ground reporting and interaction with foreign correspondents and local journalism professionals, students and scholars in Singapore and Malaysia.

This course is open to non-Honors as well as non-Journalism students with instructor permission.

INSTRUCTOR:          Daniel Reimold, assistant professor

WHERE:                     Singapore and Malaysia

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester (second seven weeks) and travels May 12-25, 2013

COST:                         $5,144 not including the cost of tuition  

This three credit course allows students to study and travel to the Monteverde Institute in Monteverde, Costa Rica, to apply community health promotion and disease prevention concepts in a transcultural environment. In addition, the travel component of the course includes guided visits exploring the culture and history of the country. As a community health practicum, the service learning component includes patient care, health promotion, disease prevention and community education activities.

INSTRUCTOR:          Kim Curry, associate professor

WHERE:                     Costa Rica

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester (second seven weeks) and travels May 12-21, 2013

COST:                         $2,196 not including the cost of tuition  

SPRING BREAK TRAVEL

This course is designed for students to fully grasp the transactional nature and model of human communication through experiential learning and travel. Students will study and fully understand the transactional model of communication through a survey of human communication and then use Rome’s art, history, culture, controversy and humanism as a means for discovery and application of new knowledge. The travel course will include seminars, site visits and history to bring human communication to life, and students will complete a project to conclude the course. Highlights include visits to Rome, Florence, Michelangelo’s David, the Coliseum, the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Angels and Demons experience, and the Pantheon. 

This special topics course counts as humanities credit in the general distribution/Baccalaureate Experience, a speech minor elective or general elective credits.

INSTRUCTOR:          Chris Gurrie, assistant professor

WHERE:                     Italy

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester (first seven weeks) and travels Spring Break, March 8-17, 2013

COST:                         $3,577 not including the cost of tuition  

Sport serves as a global language bridging many cultural and political barriers. As an industry, sport accounts for two percent of the worldwide economy. This course examines strategic, operational, cultural and technological factors to prepare future business leaders for success in the competitive sports marketplace. 

This course will be available to sport management and international business students.

INSTRUCTOR:          Ross Bartow, Coordinator/Lecturer in Sport Management

WHERE:                     Ireland, England and France

WHEN:                       Course meets spring semester (second seven weeks) and travels May 16-27, 2013

COST:                         $4,480 not including the cost of tuition  

MAY TERM COURSE

This course will explore international accounting and economics through a series of readings and discussions along with a required travel component to Italy, the birthplace of modern accounting. Students will study the recent transition, and the challenges posed, to the International Financial Reports Standards. Students will also focus on the advantages and disadvantages of adopting the Euro with an emphasis on the causes of the recent financial crisis. Students will explore the crisis using real time data to better understand the recent developments in Italy and how it extends to the rest of Europe. The course will consist of presentations and discussions led by top accountants, economists and government officials as students travel from Rome to Florence/Sansepolcro and ultimately to Milan.

INSTRUCTORS:        Joshua Hall, assistant professor, and Lisa Bostick, associate professor

WHERE:                     Italy: Rome, Florence and Milan

WHEN:                       Course meets during May Term and travels May 11-23, 2013

COST:                         $4,927 not including the cost of May Term tuition   

MAY TERM COURSE

This course explores Turkey through a series of readings and discussions, and a required travel component that visits Istanbul and Ankara. Although this is an international business course, students will also study the history and culture of Turkey, because they have shaped the country today and will continue to influence it in the future. Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia have provided it with many advantages, such as access to trading routes and resources, but it also presents many challenges to the country, its people and its businesses. This course will also examine important contemporary issues, such as Turkey's candidacy for membership in the European Union, the potential for increasing influence of religion in the government and Turkey's projected economic growth. 

INSTRUCTOR:           Britt Shirley, professor

WHERE:                     Turkey

WHEN:                       Course meets during May Term and travels May 12-26, 2013

COST:                         $ 4,750 not including the cost of May Term tuition  

MAY TERM COURSE

This travel course is a part of UT-UIBE (University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China) Summer School program. It is designed to promote UT students’ pursuit of knowledge about and understanding of key management issues in a context of an emerging economy. It will provide opportunities for students to compare two very different business environments, explore how the social, cultural, political and economic dimensions might affect business management, and reflect on what they have learned and their understanding of business in the US. It will help students learn how to gain competitive advantage and promote business growth in a global environment. The course will use resources from both universities. Its format will include lectures offered by the UT faculty director and UIBE professors, company visits in two cities (Beijing and Shanghai), and social activities and interactions between UT and UIBE students.

INSTRUCTOR:     Chuanyin Xie, assistant professor

WHERE:                China

WHEN:                  Course meets during May Term and travels May 12-22, 2013 

COST:                    $5,179 not including the cost of tuition*