Sophomore Study Away

This course is an introduction to global health for undergraduate public health students as well as other students interested in understanding health on a global scale. Students in this course will be introduced to public health concepts related to global health, the role of globalization in the spread of illness, the link between socioeconomic factors and health, the role of politics and governments in health, key diseases and conditions in global health, the role of culture and social factors in health, and key organizations and their role in global health.

• Study Away site: Fall Break 2026 in Quito and the Amazon Basin, Ecuador
• Location overview: Students will arrive and depart from Quito, while spending most of the week in the Amazon region visiting a small indigenous community.
• Highlights: Explore the health impacts of the oil industry, the realities and limitations of Ecuador’s public health system, and community-led responses to long-term environmental harm. Conversations with community leaders will navigate the intersections of environment, health, and justice.
• Language bootcamp: Spanish
• Housing: Small hotels or hostels, homestays
• Meals/dietary restrictions: Vegetarians and most special diets can be accommodated.
• Faculty leader: Han Kim, Public Health

Community Justice is a class that explores the idea that justice happens in community with others, rather than in the courts. In Peru, we will meet Quechua potato farmers, weavers, and community members from villages off the tourist path to think about community-based and collective justice in cultural context. We will explore the wisdom of the Incans at spectacular sites such as Machu Picchu, Qoricancha, and Sacsayhuamán. Our goal will be to think critically and reflectively about how to stand with one another, across differences, to navigate contemporary challenges related to development, tourism, climate change, and global migration.

• Study Away site: Fall Break 2026 in Cusco, Peru
• Location overview: Located in the Andes Mountains at more than 11,000 feet above sea level, Cusco is the ancient capital of the Incan Empire. This busy city has a mix of modern buildings, Spanish colonial influences and ancient architectural sites. Visitors enjoy visiting the historic center and meandering cobblestone streets where you will find markets and small stalls selling plentiful hand-crafted textiles, pottery, jewelry, and chocolate.
• Highlights: Learn about traditional villages and community-based economic empowerment, traditional medicine, women’s rights, and the impacts of colonialism on indigenous populations. The itinerary includes planned visits to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley.
• Language bootcamp: Spanish
• Housing: Shared room in student hostel or small hotels
• Meals/dietary restrictions: Most meals provided by families. Some dietary requests can be accommodated.
• Faculty leader: Connie Etter, Justice Studies

This course is an introduction to the art of living theatre. Students will study the impetus and creation of theatre, from its ancient origins to modern day performance, through lectures, play readings, play performance, and class activities. It is the goal of this class to understand why humans create theatre and how it is created.

• Study Away site: Fall Break 2026 in Thessaloniki, Greece
• Location overview: This seaside city has a vibrant youthful culture thanks to a nearby university. Enjoy bustling markets, laid-back cafes, and small-town charm. Thessaloniki is considered a cultural center of Greece with beautiful artistic venues as well as an incredible foodie scene.
• Highlights: Walking tour of Thessaloniki and visit to local farmer’s market, meet with local Greek actors, directors, set designers, attend performances, tour outdoor theatres, excursion to Mt. Olympus, swim in the Aegean sea (weather permitting).
• Language bootcamp: Greek
• Housing: Shared room in student hostel or small hotels.
• Meals/dietary restrictions: Meal stipend will be provided. A variety of diets can be accommodated.
• Faculty leader: Stephanie Stroud, Theatre

Why do people do the things they do as individuals, groups, or as a society? How does our culture and society shape human behavior? How does our behavior shape society? Are the answers to be found in genetics, socioeconomic status, gender, culture, and/or elsewhere? This seminar explores the intersection of human culture and behavior and will focus on the impact of neuroscience and socialization on taste.

• Study Away Site: Fall Break 2026 in Valencia, Spain 
• Location overview: Valencia is Spain’s third-largest city located on the Mediterranean coast. Famous as the birthplace of paella, Valencia blends historic charm and futuristic architecture. A large park created in a former riverbed provides for vibrant gathering spaces.   
• Highlights: Spain is for foodies. Visit a farmer’s market, learn about farm-to-table by visiting an orange grove, participate in a paella cooking class, try tapas, join a bike tour, and soak in the Spanish culture. 
• Language Bootcamp: Spanish 
• Housing: Apartment style housing 
• Meals/Dietary restrictions: A variety of diets can be accommodated. 
• Faculty leaders: Alicia Cunningham-Bryant (Archaeology), Russ Costa (Neuroscience) 

This course helps students develop a more precise appreciation of the complexity of human communication. Students will develop awareness of basic communication processes and skills and explore how these basic skills and processes work in different types of communication and in different contexts. Students will increase their ability to communicate with competence in various situations and will also build skills in small group communication, cross-cultural communication, and public speaking.

• Study Away site: Spring Break 2027 in Seville, Spain
• Location overview: Seville is a vibrant, walkable city in southern Spain known for flamenco dance, Moorish architecture, and historic charm.
• Highlights: Meet with Spanish and other international students for cross-cultural communication exchange, visit the Alcazar Palace, enjoy a cooking class and a Flamenco lesson, and explore the winding streets and sunny plazas of Seville.
• Language bootcamp: Spanish
• Housing: Double or triple rooms in a student residence in the city center.
• Meals/dietary restrictions: A variety of diets can be accommodated.
• Faculty leader: Matt Baker, Communication

This course is a selective survey of the music of the indigenous and migrant populations of Africa, India, Europe, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and North America. We will examine the ways that music functions within these cultures, including the music itself, the people who make it, the instruments they use, and the complex ideas, behaviors, and processes that are involved in the production of this music. Music communicates information about culture with an emotional directness that transcends language. We will raise the question of what cultural symbols mean and how they might shape our identity or understanding of others, explore different ways that music is used and experienced by different cultures, and examine our own motivations and activities as consumers of music. Through learning to listen respectfully and critically to music from around the world, we will gain a new tool of empathy for exploring how music can promote solutions to global challenges.

• Study Away site: Spring Break 2027 in Lisbon, Portugal
• Location overview: Lisbon is a centuries-old European city with winding cobblestone streets paired with a modern vibe. Enjoy moody fado music, eat a famous custard tart, and enjoy the iconic blue and white tilework prominent across Portugal. Lisbon is hilly, but walkable, with a streetcar for when you get tired.
• Highlights: Enjoy a variety of musical and cultural performances, including Portuguese Fado and other music inspired by Portugal maritime and colonial roots in West African and South America.   
• Language bootcamp: Portuguese
• Housing: Dormitory style with 1-2 per room, communal lounge, and kitchen
• Meals/dietary restrictions: A variety of diets can be accommodated.
• Faculty leader: Emily Nelson, Music

This course will introduce indigenous knowledge systems, worldviews, and lifeways from various regions of the world with a special emphasis on the Hopi and Diné Nations. The course will be structured so students experience indigenous ways of learning and social-environmental organization. Students will explore epistemological questions, relationships (economic, social, governance, with nonhuman life forms), and historical and contemporary practices. Students will apply their learning to addressing global crises through their specific discipline(s) and reflect on their own cultural identity, values, and practices.

• Study Away site: Spring Break 2027 in Hopi and Diné nations in southern Utah and Arizona
• Location overview: Travel in University-owned vans to rural Native American communities in southern Utah and northern Arizona.
• Highlights: Visit ancestral dwellings such as Wupatki National Monument and White House, drive through the iconic Monument Valley, meet with indigenous cultural advisors to learn about their life experiences, traditional stories as well explore social, economic, environmental, political, and educational perspectives of the Hopi and Diné cultures.
• Language bootcamp: Students will learn about the preservation efforts and celebration of Hopi and Diné languages, but there is no language instruction in this program.
• Housing: 2-3 students in shared hotel rooms
• Meals/dietary restrictions: A variety of diets can be accommodated.
• Faculty leader: Marilee Coles-Ritchie, Education

This course is an experiential and philosophical exploration of the present and past local interrelationships among subordination, power, culture, society, education, and transformation. Through service-learning experiences, readings, discussions, guest lectures, and sustained guided reflections throughout the semester, students will learn to critically analyze how history, power, privilege, economics, and discrimination shape and limit cultural, personal, and societal perspectives and schooling practices. Our classroom work will focus on sumak kawsay, or buen vivir, as a way to think about collective well-being that is not built on Western models of development and community that emphasize property and the individual. 

• Study Away Site: Spring Break 2027 in Cusco, Peru 
• Location overview: Located in the Andes Mountains at more than 11,000 feet above sea level, Cusco is the ancient capital of the Incan Empire. This busy city has a mix of modern buildings, Spanish colonial influences and ancient architectural sites. Visitors enjoy visiting the historic center and meandering cobblestone streets where you will find markets and small stalls selling plentiful hand-crafted textiles, pottery, jewelry, and chocolate. 
• Highlights: Learn about traditional villages and community-based economic empowerment, traditional medicine, women’s rights, and cosmic rather than global justice. The itinerary includes planned visits to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. 
• Language Bootcamp: Spanish 
• Housing: Shared room in student hostel or small hotels
• Meals/Dietary restrictions: Most meals provided by families. Some dietary requests can be accommodated. 
• Faculty leaders: Connie Etter (Justice Studies) and Marissa Neuman (Justice Studies/Philosophy)