FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 25, 2005
Contact: Joshua Hollis
(662) 329-7119

Study Abroad Program allows MUW students to explore the world
 
COLUMBUS, Miss. – Imagine walking through the British Museum in London, or visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Or, picture yourself at Kosenjo Park near Nagoya, Japan, site of a battle during the Warring States period. Now imagine receiving college credit while doing this. With the Mississippi University for Women Study Abroad Program, it’s possible.
   
The Study Abroad Program allows students to experience new parts of the world and receive credits at MUW for the classes they take at the respective universities. According to the program’s website, students are provided with “some of the personal and social skills that an increasingly global community demands.”
   
Dr. Eric Daffron, professor of English and program coordinator, believes the program to be an important part of a student’s development. “Nowadays it is imperative that students study or live abroad. That way they can gain the intercultural experiences that many employers and professional schools seek.”
   
Mary Katherine Kirkpatrick, who studied at London’s Huron University, said she would participate in the program again “in a heartbeat.” She said the biggest lesson she received from the program was learning about a different culture. “I think it is so important as students to realize that there is a whole world out there and that not everyone lives as we do here. Being able to experience that culture taught me a great deal.”
   
Sarah Sheffield, who studied at the Abbey in France, said, “The Abbey was an excellent program that did a wonderful job of integrating the study of the culture we were immersed in with the classes we were there to take,” adding that her class would read about something historical, then take a field trip to actually see the monument, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre.
   
She also praised the interactive learning process, in which she was able to study paintings by going to see the original work, not looking at it in a textbook.
   
Kirkpatrick and Sheffield are not the only ones attracted to the program. Student interest in the Study Abroad Program has spiked recently.
   
Daffron said “We’ve had more students study abroad in the last 12 months than we have since I started coordinating the program in the fall of 1998.”
   
Both Kirkpatrick and Sheffield said the Study Abroad Program was an integral part of the education process.
   
Sheffield added, “It is my personal belief that an education is not complete without integrating an understanding of other cultures, and I will jump at the next chance I have to study abroad.”