Every year, academic departments across campus sponsor “global field courses” (GFC), culturally and academically immersive study abroad experiences led by Eastern faculty. All corners of the globe have been visited — and studied — since the first GFC program in biology went to the Caribbean in the late 1960s. See below for destinations during the 2015-16 academic year.
Costa Rica: Biology students took a 12-day GFC to Costa Rica, where they conducted field experiments in rainforests and explored the country’s tropical landscape.
Eastern Europe: Communication students spent two weeks touring Poland, Austria and Hungary as part of their GFC “The Nazi Aftermath in Central Europe: History, the Media and the Holocaust.”
Ghana: Health sciences students went to Ghana, West Africa, for three weeks, where they visited health clinics, hospitals and related organizations in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
Iceland: The Environmental Earth Science Department took a 10-day GFC to Iceland, where they studied the country’s stunning geology and embarked on excursions such as volcano hikes and swimming in “Blue Lagoon.”
Ireland: Psychology students embarked on a month-long GFC to Ireland, where they studied the “History of Psychology” at University College Dublin and partook in Irish cultural events such as the centennial of the 1916 Easter Rising.
Italy: English students traveled to Italy for a month-long GFC titled “Creative Writing Abroad,” where they immersed themselves in the local culture and participated in intensive fiction writing workshops.