CEHS 2018 Education abroad season in full swing

10 May 2018     By Jim Benes

While the official study abroad season in CEHS started over spring break, most of the college programs are departing this week and next.  Here’s a summary of where CEHS faculty and staff are taking our students this year!

Spring Break: Belize; Oman, United Arab Emirates

John Raible, associate professor, and Lorraine Males, assistant professor, from the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education (TLTE) took students to Belize for spring break. This program is a returning program, but it was Dr. Males’ first time leading students abroad in CEHS. Associate Professor of Practice Dipra Jha and Professor Linda Young from Nutrition and Health Sciences teamed up with Professor Octavio Kano-Galvan from the College of Journalism and Mass Communication to take students to Oman and the United Arab Emirates. This program is a returning program, with veteran leaders.

Summer: United Kingdom, China, Japan, Costa Rica, Zambia

The first two summer programs departed May 10; the TLTE United Kingdom program and the Child, Youth and Family Studies (CYAF) China program. The returning TLTE U.K. program is led by associate professors Stephanie Wessels and Jenelle Reeves. I’ll be joining them on my first CEHS program! 

The CYAF program to China is being led by veteran leaders Professor Yan Xia, Department Chair and Newkirk Professor of Leadership Richard Bischoff, and Associate Professor and Acting Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Paul Springer. Catia Guerrero, CYAF administrative associate, is also helping co-lead this returning program on her first time abroad with CEHS. You can follow the group's progress on their China trip blog.

Next in line are the two Costa Rica Programs, one of them for undergraduates and one for graduates.  The undergraduate program is being led by Sue Kemp, associate professor of practice, and John Maag, professor, from the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders (SECD).  Joining them this year in hopes of expanding the program will be Sarah Thomas, assistant professor of practice from TLTE. This program doesn’t have a home in a department per se but has a cross-departmental focus of education. The Costa Rica graduate program is for SECD graduate students only and it will be led by veteran leaders and lecturers Alicia Davis and Diane Farrand. Both returning programs depart on May 12.

We have a first-time program going to Japan in the Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences (NHS), led by first-timer Shinya Takahashi, associate professor of practice, and veteran student abroad leader Professor Linda Young. This new program leaves the USA May 14.

The Zambia program is being led by veteran study abroad leader, Professor Mary Willis from NHS.  This program is unique because of its duration. Clocking in at one month, it is our college’s lengthiest program. This program runs every year, and because it is over three weeks long, it is the only CEHS program eligible for the prestigious Gilman scholarship. This year, two of Dr. Willis’ students going to Zambia are receiving this award; Christina Joseph, and Rachel Lux, both NHS students.      

The returning graduate student program going to Nicaragua, led by veteran leaders Stacie Ray, associate professor of practice, and Hannah Ditmars, assistant professor of practice, may be rescheduled for fall break 2018, but it usually runs at the end of July and early August.

Finally, this year marks the first time CEHS is offering International Student Teaching. We’re sending two students to the Cloud Forest School in Monteverde, Costa Rica this fall semester. The connection was made possible by the relations developed by Drs. Kemp and Maag during their Costa Rica study abroad program.

Summaries of all of our programs can be found at https://www.unl.edu/globalx/.

Please join me in wishing out students, staff, and faculty, “Bon Voyage!” as they take to the skies and head for the horizon! We wish our new programs great success, and our returning programs continued excellence.