One of the best ways students internationalize their education at the University of Tampa is by taking one of the University’s faculty-led programs. In order to participate, students must enroll in an on-campus course with a travel component. After the on-campus portion of the class is completed or during spring break, the students take off, all while earning UTampa academic credit. Each program's travel component may last from seven days to four weeks and options vary slightly each year.
Where to Begin
Visit the UTampa Study Abroad Portal and explore the program offerings. To only see the Faculty-Led program offerings on the portal filter by Program Type = Faculty-Led and Internal/ Authorized = Internal.
Students may also contact the International Programs Office to discuss faculty-led program opportunities. Please direct all inquiries to abroad@ut.edu.
How to Apply
The application deadline for Faculty-Led Programs in January is Oct. 1 and for spring semester and summer sessions is Nov. 1. Please note that once programs reach full enrollment they will be closed. Students must first apply online through the UTampa Study Abroad Portal. Please note: Instructor permission is required for some faculty-led programs.
Participants are required to register with the Office of International Programs by submitting an application and completing pre-departure instructions. Costs and applications will be available this summer.
UTampa Faculty-Led Program Offerings
JANUARY 2026 – Course and travel take place during January Term (except where noted)
BUS 101: Introduction to Global Business – DUBAI/ABU DHABI
(S. Dieringer/K. Weaver)
Want to ride a camel, visit a traditional spice market, and see the view from the tallest building in the world, while gaining new perspectives on the ethics, norms, entrepreneurship, culture, and communication styles in a very unique and exciting part of the world? This travel course provides the opportunity to experience real world, international business functions and applications all while earning BUS 101 course credits. Dubai is a major hub for international trade with a diverse economy including shipping, finance and tourism. The Dubai of today has risen from the desert to become a cultural and tourism hotspot. Dubai is a melting pot of different cultures welcoming all nationalities and religions, making it the perfect destination for a student visit. Join us for a travel course to Dubai in January 2026 and get credit for a core business course!
NUR Experiential - Community Health, experiential hours – PERU
(R. White/T. Pedroff)
This course is open to undergraduate nursing students to visit health care facilities and work with the Indigenous people of Peru. Students will apply community health promotion/ disease prevention concepts in a transcultural environment. Visit both city and rural areas of Peru; take part in guided tours covering history, culture, and health care trends; spend days in the community of rural Cusco, as well as the rural community of Sacred Valley and learn the daily rhythms of Peruvian village life while implementing student and community designed health care-focused projects. As a community health practicum, the service-learning component includes opportunities to practice concepts of health promotion/disease prevention through community education and outreach activities. Students will also learn about traditional Peruvian healing practices.
SPRING BREAK 2026 – (spring semester course, travel over spring break)
ATT 301: Global Perspectives in Athletic Therapy and Sport Performance – IRELAND (JC Andersen/J. Weiner)
This is a faculty-led travel course that requires travel to selected destinations to study the delivery of athletic therapy and sport science services to teams and individuals. Students travel to these destinations to learn about the role of athletic therapy and sport science in the broader sports performance and healthcare systems. The travel component of the course will include interactive tours covering the history, culture, and athletic therapy and sport science trends of the country visited. Students will participate in class(es), scholarly lectures, and practical experiences with students and faculty of host institutions or organizations.
SPM 399: Global Sport Management – IRELAND (J. Weiner/ JC Andersen)
SPM 399 fulfills the required international elective.
Sport is a 500 billion dollar industry, and while much of the sport industry is housed here in the United States, international sport plays a large role that is often overlooked. It is important to experience the differences in sport facilities, consumer behavior, culture, operations, and organizational behavior. By experiencing these differences firsthand, students will broaden their understanding of the global sport landscape. Additionally, even American sport is becoming more and more international with multiple games and outreach programs from each of the major professional sports leagues taking root overseas.
The course can be used for IG credit towards the baccalaureate experience OR for SPM major requirement – it can also be substituted for SPM 375 History of The Modern Olympics or SPM 374 International Sport Management.
COM 212: Co-Creative Documentary Abroad - CARRILLO, MEXICO
(C. Boulton/A. DeMil)
This faculty-led travel course takes you abroad to co-create short documentary films with local changemakers: non-profits, social justice entrepreneurs, and innovative non-governmental organizations solving problems in their own communities. The course begins on campus, where you will learn filmmaking techniques for the first seven weeks, then travels to Mexico over Spring Break, where you will shoot your films, stay with local host families, and engage with local history and ecology through the Na'atik Language and Culture Institute. The travel component culminates in an overnight excursion in Tulum. You’ll spend the second seven weeks of the semester back on campus editing, incorporating changemaker feedback, and sending your films out to festivals. Documentaries from previous versions of the course have won awards and screened all over the world. Since you will have translators on site, there are no language prerequisites for this course
This course can be counted towards fulfilling the Non-Western and International/ Global Awareness (NW/IG) requirements of the Baccalaureate Experience.
MAY 2026 – spring semester course, travel in May after semester ends
(group flights are from Tampa to Tampa so you must plan accordingly)
BIO 407: Fermentation Microbiology – FRANCE/BELGIUM (E. Freundt / L. Logsdon)
Fermented Foods: From Art to Science, we will explore both the history and present-day industries of fermented foods. Students will discover the applications of fermentation microbiology in this important industry through required international travel and visits to food producers in France and Belgium. We will also visit the European Commission in Brussels, where students will learn about the European Union and ways the commission works to protect the production of traditional fermented foods. Students will learn about the microbial species used in different food fermentations, metabolic activities of microorganisms and their influence on product characteristics, microbial interactions, processing of fermented foods, industrial applications of microbiology, and problems that may arise during fermentation.
Pre-Requisites: Biology lower-core curriculum, Bio307 (Microbiology) and permission of instructor. Counts as a biology category II elective.
ENS 210: Global Sustainability – Iceland (D. Huber/Asst. TBD)
Nordic countries such as Iceland are the global leaders of energy efficiency and renewable energy, which are two major dimensions of sustainability and are achieved through technological innovation, public policy, and capital markets. Iceland is also a remote island nation with significant resource constraints that require more sustainable practices than are customary in the United States, and its high latitude and glaciated terrain make it an incredible location in which to study the science and impacts of climate change. Travel and study in Iceland combines breathtaking landscapes and natural resources with innovative technology and public policy in a location where our changing climate can be viewed first hand.
Prerequisite Courses: Completion of ENS 198, ENS 199, and either MAT 170 or MAT 260 all with a C or better; instructor approval.
HSC 401T: Interprofessional Global Health– THAILAND/VIETNAM (R. Olsen/G. Firth)
Travel to the beautiful city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Visit the city’s most important temples and markets, while learning about and applying community health promotion and disease prevention concepts. The travel component of the course will include two weeks in Thailand & Vietnam with guided interactive tours covering the history, culture, healthcare, and public health trends of both countries. In addition, students will visit the local humane Elephant Sanctuary to learn about Thailand’s elephant population, experience Thai cooking classes to learn about the cuisine and nutrition of the region, go hiking to visit hill-top villages and have time for exploration. As a community health practicum, the service-learning component will be held in the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park in a small hill-tribe village in the mountains of Thailand and the National Institute of Hematology & Blood Transfusion and the National Hospital of Traditional Medicine in Hanoi, Vietnam. These experiences will provide students with opportunities to practice concepts of health promotion/disease prevention and giving through community education activities.
HSC 499: Special Topics in Health Sciences – Health Through the Ages– ITALY/LONDON (A. Miller/H. Borgeas)
This course introduces students to the history of medical science with travel to Italy and England to see medical sites and artifacts. The course begins with a survey of ancient Egyptian and Greek therapeutics, then progresses through the advancements made during the Renaissance and modern day. The class will travel to Italy to see life-like models created out of wax by famous artists like DaVinci. The models expanded our knowledge of the body beyond the work with cadavers. Students will also visit the oldest cadaver dissection theatre in the world, dating back to 1595. Then the class will travel to London to visit the Hunterian Museum and explore the vast collection of preserved anatomical and pathological specimens, antique surgical instruments, and models from the 17th Century to present day.
MAR 344: Coral Reefs Lab – CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA (M. Middlebrooks/J. Ambrosio)
Coral reefs are the most diverse marine habitats on the planet. In this course students will examine coral reef ecosystems, including their biology, ecology, chemical and physical characteristics, and the impact of global climate change on this ecosystem. The course requires scuba diving and international travel to visit a coral reef ecosystem. The travel component of this course is designed to take the information that students learned in the classroom and apply it in the field. Students will travel to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to study coral reefs first-hand via scuba diving. This immersive course will allow students to explore the largest coral reef system on the planet. While abroad students will learn to identify and catalog the diversity of organisms living on the coral reef. Students will also learn about local threats to coral reefs, coral reef management and restoration, and the interactions between the rainforest and the coral reef.
NUR 422L Community Health, experiential hours – COSTA RICA (T. Pedroff/ J.Royal)
This course is open to undergraduate nursing students who wish to learn about the Latin American culture as well as the health care system and major health issues of the population. Students travel to Costa Rica to apply community health promotion and disease prevention concepts in a transcultural environment. This 10-day faculty-led experiential travel experience includes guided tours covering the culture and history of the country. Three days are spent in the urban center of San Jose exploring the differences between public and private healthcare. The next week is spent in the rural/rainforest areas of Monteverde as an immersion homestay experience. Here, students can interact closely with the local people in the region.
This is a community health practicum including patient care, health promotion, disease prevention, and community education activities (Clinical hours awarded for Community Health Course).
ART 295 Design and New Media Travel Course – SPAIN (S. Modder/J. Haddad)
In this course we will explore how design has helped shape the cultural landscape of major design capitals around the world, and in turn how these cities have influenced the trajectory of design history and contemporary practice. This year we will travel to Barcelona, a vibrant city that merges the best of both the past and present of design. Home to the rise of influential Modernist movements such as Art Nouveau, Barcelona is also the site of award-winning architectural and urban planning case studies, numerous international design studios, local artisans, and luxury brands, providing an opportunity to connect students with the social and professional realities of working in design today. The travel component of this course will take place in May when Barcelona hosts their Design and Architectural week, providing a unique opportunity for our students to engage in the programming around this event as well.
BIO 205: Tropical Biology and Conservation – COSTA RICA (L. McRae/M. Meers)
This course can count as a Biology upper-level or Category III elective.
This course is intended for students interested in the natural history, biology, and ecology of the tropics, the most biologically diverse region of the world. Students will study evolutionary, ecological, and other biological principles of tropical ecosystems and the natural history of the organisms that live there. We will examine conservation programs, sustainable development practices, and the widespread impact of this region of the globe. The course culminates in a two-week travel experience where students will visit places like 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 biological specialties, ranging from tropical biodiversity, evolution, and sustainability to agriculture and medicine.
Pre-Reqs: BIO 198 and BIO 199
BIO 401: On the Origin of Species – ENGLAND (M. Meers/ M. McRae)
The nature and biodiversity of the United Kingdom were on display throughout Charles Darwin’s youth, stimulating the obsession that would eventually give rise to the single most important discovery in biology. “On the Origin of Species: Darwin’s London” is a Spring semester course following with a study abroad program to London. It places you in many of the same surroundings that inspired Darwin to pursue his passion for biology that led to the discovery of evolution by natural selection, changing the world forever! In London, we will visit iconic and eminent institutions that helped set Darwin on the path to discovery and continue their discoveries to this day! With visits to the Zoological Society of London, London’s Museum of Natural History, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, Charles Darwin’s home and more, we will learn about topics ranging from natural selection and evolution to paleontology, the history of biology, and the vertebrate diversity of the U.K. Students will become immersed in British culture and learn how Victorian society promoted scientific discovery, and how some of those values continue to do so today.
CHE 165: Chemistry and Art - ITALY (C. Theodore/L. Henchey)
A science course designed to teach concepts of chemistry using works of art as the context. The course may include the study of materials used in creation of objects or art, art preservation, art restoration, forgery detections and nondestructive testing. The course will also explore the effect of environmental pollution, primarily air, on the stability and longevity of objects of art. The influence of materials on aesthetics will also be included. As we travel through the country of Italy, students will be able to experience works of art while making important connections to chemistry concepts discussed in lecture. These topics include: glass and tile mosaics, paintings on canvas and wood, frescos, marble and metal sculptures, protection, restoration and preservation of art; and the chemistry of color and pigments.
SPE 212: Global Speech, Human Rights and Social Justice - TURKEY (L. Corey Brown/M. Wicks)
This course is designed to explore historical and current human rights violations in Turkey to understand how socially trauma and violence is orchestrated. We will also identify how social justice initiatives are communicatively organized within the Turkish community. However, before diving deep into the details of conflict, students will first be asked to understand their own positionality and standpoint within a geopolitical frame and as tourists. Lastly, in class we will identify how the historical and modern concepts of power and oppression impact Turkey prior to visiting
SUMMER SESSION I (any program operating group flights are Tampa to Tampa so you must plan accordingly)
MGT 330: Principles of Management – MADRID (A. Salaiz/Asst. TBD)
Part of Spain's rich history includes a strong Arabic and Jewish influence in the culture, food, and architecture up to the 1400s, despite the country being predominantly Catholic/Christian today. Historically, Spain was a significant center of global trade and exploration, which cultivated a strong sense of entrepreneurial spirit. Furthermore, the historical emphasis on family-owned businesses and the Catholic church's teachings on ethics and social justice continue to influence business practices, fostering a business environment that values personal relationships, social responsibility and long-term commitment over mere profit maximization. During the course, we will discover the importance of learning and understanding a culture with a rich history and vibrant international business community. Many large, international organizations are in Madrid and students will visit with four to six international companies during the two-week program, along with two day trips outside of Madrid. We will see first-hand how business environments differ from the U.S. and witness international business in a real-world setting. Each company visit aligns with one of the four functions of management (planning, organizing, leading and controlling). For example, there is a stark contrast between the focus on individuals in the U.S. and the focus on groups in Spain, which will bring to life concepts that we discuss related to groups, teams and decision making (i.e. planning function). There are also stark differences in human resources processes that you will see firsthand when visiting with a Spanish company and learning about the organizing function. This course will remain in Madrid with day trips to Toledo and Segovia and serves as a base for travel around Spain and beyond before and after the course.
Prereqs: AWR 101 with a "C" or better, AWR 201, and COB requirements for taking 300-level courses. *Must be a business major/minor
MGT 350: International Management – Amsterdam (L.Faifman/ T.Pittz)
Why study international management in the classroom, when you can experience it in Amsterdam? Imagine spending 2 weeks in one of the most amazing and iconic cities in the world, which is also Europe’s international business hub. Envision yourself learning about different cultures and international management - by being emerged in them. Explore the city, feel the culture, debate values and ethics, and learn from some of the world’s best businesses and organizations. Activities include walking and biking tours of the city, and cruises of the canals; immersions into the local culture in various ways, and exciting cultural activities; visits of the Port of Amsterdam, Heineken Experience, National Maritime Museum and Rijksmuseum, and Ajax Stadium; and meetings with local executives as guest speakers, group meals, and much more!
SUMMER SESSION II –
FIN 310: Principles of Finance – ITALY/AUSTRIA (S. Margetis/S. Miller)
This course focuses on financial analysis and decision-making for corporations including the legal and ethical obligations of financial managers. Students use accounting information to assess a firm's performance. Time value of money and incremental discounted cash flow techniques are used to value stocks, bonds, and potential corporate investments. Students calculate the weighted average cost of capital and learn to apply short-term financial management tools. The risk-return tradeoff is introduced using a statistical framework and the Capital Asset Pricing Model. Students will apply concepts learned in the classroom to the real world. The Best Practices of Experiential Education will be implemented to create significant experiential learning opportunities for the students. The travel component will include visits to several businesses and financial institutions to see how they apply finance in the real world. Students will gain a strong appreciation for the importance of finance in making a business succeed. Prior to each business visit students will be instructed on how the business used finance to help guide their decisions. Following the site visits students will be debriefed on the experience and shown how course material was used in the businesses we visited.
MS Excel and a financial calculator are required.
AUGUST 2026 – (group flight is Tampa to Tampa so you must plan accordingly)
NUR 422L: Community Health – DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (R. White/R. Delacroix)
This course is open to undergraduate and graduate nursing students to visit and work with indigenous people in the Dominican Republic. Students will also apply community health promotion/ disease prevention concepts in a transcultural environment. On our trip, we will visit the bustling capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. We will take part in a self-guided tour covering the history, culture, and health care trends of Old Town. Most of the trip is comprised of five days spent in the community of San Juan de la Maguana, as well as the rural communities surrounding. Here, students attune themselves to the daily rhythms of village life while implementing student and community-designed health and healthcare-focused projects. As a community health practicum, the service-learning component includes opportunities to practice concepts of health promotion/disease prevention through community education and outreach activities. Although students will earn clinical hours, no academic credit is earned during the program.
