Students visited CHILDREN at the Mbarara MIxed School in Uganda last summer. photo courtesy of KELSEY ANDERSON
The summer of 2010 offers many opportunities for students looking to broaden their educa¬tion through international learn¬ing. Three study seminars will give Drake students the chance to learn another country’s culture and earn credits toward their degree.
The Uganda program for sus¬tainable development in Africa will be offered for the fourth-con¬secutive year. Professors Jimmy Senteza, Tom Root, Deb Bishop and Glenn McKnight will guide a group of 17 or more students through their project in Kampala. Students will have the opportunity to interact with locals and Ugan¬dan businesses.
Jess Hoffert (J3) studied in Uganda last summer. He de¬scribed the experience as “unfor¬gettable.” Drake students had the opportunity to travel with students from a Ugandan university.
“We traveled around the coun¬try with eight students from Mak¬erere University Business School,” Hoffert said. “I became genuine friends with these students, and we are still in contact with each other through e-mail and Facebook. It was pretty cool to hear perspec¬tives on life from an African col¬lege student.”
Senteza, an associate professor of finance, said the program high¬lights how the country’s industrial capacity has been destroyed by colonialism. Senteza was born and raised in Uganda. He ar¬ranged for journalism students to meet with the government and local newspapers and learn about Ugandan media.
Hoffert said that one of his fa¬vorite parts of the trip was when the group toured a local farm.
“I was blown away by the re¬sourcefulness of these farmers, who are somehow able to make a profit from limited space and even more limited resources,” Hoffert said.
An informational meeting will be held tonight in Aliber Hall, room 108, at 4:30 p.m.
However, the trip to Uganda is not the only way Drake students can venture to Africa this sum¬mer.
Professors Melissa Klimasze¬wski and Jennifer Perrine will take 15 or more students to South Afri¬ca for the first time. The program will focus on studying the history and modern culture of the country.
Students will visit some of South Africa’s popular historical sites, including the Hector Pieterson Memorial, the Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill, the Cradle of Humankind, Robben Island and the District Six Museum. Students will also volunteer and study at the Center for African Literary Studies at the Uni¬versity of KwaZulu-Natal.
Drake is beginning a second new program this summer. Professors Mahmoud Hamad and Marc Cadd will take 10 to 15 students to Egypt for three weeks, visiting Alexandria and Cairo.
Hamad said this is the first time Drake is of¬fering a seminar for Middle Eastern studies.
“In the past, there has always been the op¬portunity to travel abroad to places in Europe,” Hamad said. “Now, students are getting the op¬tion to go to a Middle Eastern country, attend lectures, meet students, visit museums and learn about the different culture.”
The program is targeted toward interna¬tional relations majors. Students will have op¬portunities to meet with policy makers and government officials and visit political parties, non-governmental organizations and Egyptian universities.
Students may also opt to stay in Egypt be¬yond the three weeks to study the Arabic lan¬guage at Alexandria University.
Each of the programs earns students six credit hours and has no prerequisites. Many of the corresponding courses fulfill AOI require¬ments and students can also get Honors credit for their studies
There will be an informational meeting on Nov. 5 in Meredith 238 at 5 p.m. for interested students.
