The University of Tampa World View Magazine

Learn more by contacting: OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMSEducation Abroad (813) 258-7433 | [email protected]/international

The Certificate of International Studies prepares University of Tampa graduates to be global citizens.Today’s employers seek graduates who are able to communicate in at least one foreign language, havemulticultural knowledge, possess skills and training in negotiating with people of different cultures and have the basic skills to travel, live and work outside the United States.

Students in all majors have the opportunity to build their credentials through the CIS program.

Upon completion of program requirements, undergraduate students will earn the “Certificate of International Studies” notation on their official UT transcript and will receive an official certificate to complement the UT diploma.

Program Highlights: Foreign Language | Global Knowledge Courses | Education Abroad ExperienceInternational Leadership and Engagement (clubs, organizations, activities and events)Global Senior Capstone

How to Get Started:Pick up an application in the Office of International Programs in Plant Hall 308 or download it from www.ut.edu/international.

Certificate ofInternational Studies

The University of Tampa and the Office of International Programs promote

international experiences and intercultural awareness throughout UT’s

campus and beyond for students, faculty, and staff. From enhancing

faculty development through academic seminars across the globe to

encouraging students to study abroad through one of the many flexible

and innovative opportunities available, UT strives to educate a global citizenry and

build international competence within the community.

At the close of each academic year, the Office of International Programs gathers the

many exciting stories behind our faculty and students’ international adventures.

World View Magazine chronicles these tales through the essays, interviews and articles

of the recently returned with the hope that it will inspire new adventures in the

upcoming year.

China is the focus of this issue, with perspectives from faculty who traveled to the Far

East, students who studied and interned in Beijing, and an interview with a Chinese

international student earning her degree here in the United States.

In addition, UT’s first travel course to Cuba embarked in January of 2012, with student

discoveries shared and documented by International Programs staff. Likewise, UT’s

travel course to Costa Rica returned and shared how nursing students gained a first-

hand look at transcultural healthcare. Finally, UT faculty reflect on their educational

experiences abroad with tales from Morocco, Poland, Tanzania, Ghana, and Thailand.

Journey On,

Marca Marie Bear, Ph.D.

What’s Inside:Healthcare Across Cultures 2

Story and photos by Kim Curry

Chasing Elephants in Mole 4Story and photos by A. Onipede Hollist

I Dream of a Land Across the Sea 10Story and photos by Santiago Echeverry

INSIDE CHINA

Our Road Through China 13Story by Joshua Hall, John Stinespring and Alex Tan; photos by Alex Tan

Shanghai: A City Built on Speed 16Story by Liv Coleman; photo by Alex Tan

World View Profile: Xiao Liu 17By Rosa Mercado

A Visit to the Warrior Mountain:A Hike Around Kawa Karpo 18Story and photos by Scott Alan Husband

My Internship in Bejing 20By Dan Mixa

First Impressions 20By Ronald Kuntze

Social Entrepreneurshipin China 21Story and photos by Michael Weeks

Ruin and Revival: History, Modern Memory, andIdentity. Poland and Germany. 22

Story by Lisa Birnbaum

Internships: Opportunities AbroadJenna Tinney in London 25

By Katie DeGuzman

Is It Thailand or Siam? 26Story by Susan F. Brinkley

A Long Journey Into the Soul of East Africa 28

Story and photos by Bella L. Galperin

Not Forbidden…Not Forgotten 31Story by Rosa Mercado

Internships: Opportunities AbroadCarlos Salinas in Madrid 32

By Carlos Salinas

Cover photograph: “Distracted” by Michael Weeks,in Yunnan, China

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13WORLD VIEW MagazineEditor-In-Chief: Marca Marie Bear, Ph.D.Associate Editor-In-Chief: Elizabeth MillsAssistant Editors: Katie DeGuzman, Danielle Houston, Rosa MercadoThe opinions expressed in World View Magazine are not necessarily the views of The University of Tampa. Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

“Pura Vida” is a common sayingin Costa Rica. It reflects a philosophyof living life to the fullest, enjoying whatyou have, and living close to nature. Ticos,or native Costa Ricans, often use it as afarewell in casual conversations. When youhear it, you’re being reminded to appreci-ate the easygoing Costa Rican lifestyle.

Before traveling, I ask students to reflecton how it feels to be an outsider in some-one else’s culture. Even those born in theU.S. feel like outsiders in our healthcare“culture,” with its many traditions, strangelanguage, and strict rules. It is a very diffi-cult system to navigate, even for thosewho are most familiar with it. Imaginehow it feels for someone from a differentcountry to be thrust into our healthcaresystem. These are some of the lessons thatstudents bring home from this trip.

Having traveled with students to variouslocations in Latin America for five years, Iwas looking forward to seeing more ofCosta Rica myself as well as seeing itthrough the eyes of my students. One of mygreatest pleasures in traveling with studentsis being able to experience their reactionsto a wealth of new experiences and towatch them develop as they learn to copewith the role of the outsider trying to fit in.It is always surprising how far away a short

We then visited the University of CostaRica, where Professor Luis Villalobos Sotogave a presentation on La Caja Costarricensede Seguro Social, known as La Caja, or thebox of healthcare benefits to which citizensof Costa Rica are entitled. Costa Rica has ahybrid healthcare system, with many moretaxpayer funded benefits than is found inthe United States, but also a thriving privatesystem. In Costa Rica, both systems are con-sidered desirable, and citizens are quick topoint out that healthcare is the individual’sresponsibility, but that the more affluentshould help the less affluent. Two examplesthat we witnessed included expectationsfor prenatal care and pharmacy benefits.

plane ride can take you. Our travels in Costa Rica took us first to

San Jose, where we met with a local com-munity leader. She helped us interviewwomen working out at a community pool,then took us to a river running through anarea of “desamparados.” This is an area fordestitute and abandoned families whowere making a living off a local landfill.Raw sewage was running into the Rio Azulin the neighborhood. We visited a lime-stone plant where stones were burned andpulverized and the river was used forpower and cooling. Her message was reallyabout the important role of water in thelife and health of the city.

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HealthcareAcross Cultures

Story and photos by Kim Curry, Ph.D.Associate Professor/Associate Director Department of Nursing

Costa Rica is a beautiful country

with a healthcare system that

stands in stark contrast to the

system we are accustomed to

in the United States. A primary

purpose of the UT Travel Course,

Transcultural Healthcare in

Latin America, is to provide

an experience in which students

in the health sciences can get

out of their envelope of comfort

in the U.S. healthcare system.

Pregnant women who do not keep theirrequired appointments for prenatal careare sanctioned by their local provider. It isexpected that you will receive all of thebenefits of prenatal care supported and en-dorsed by the national healthcare board.However, citizens are sensitive to the plightof those less fortunate. More affluent CostaRicans sometimes decline their subsidizedmedication benefit and pay out of pocketso that more money is available for thosewho are truly needy.

The majority of our time in the countrywas spent in the communities of Monte -verde and Santa Elena, two small villagesabout a 3 1/2 hour bus ride north of SanJose, at high altitude in the cloud forest. Agreat deal of the development in theMonte verde area occurred in the 1950’s,when members of the Religious Society ofFriends, commonly known as Quakers,moved to the area. Costa Rica abolished itsmilitary in 1948, and the Quakers, whopractice a pacifist lifestyle, chose Costa Ricato relocate from the United States. Men inthe group had been conscripted by theUnited States military, and some had beensent to prison for refusing to participate.After their release, the group chose to leavethe country to avoid further risk of prose-cution due to their religious practices. TheQuakers were dairy farmers who estab-lished a large business in the Monteverdearea that continues to this day.

The curriculum plan in Costa Rica isdeveloped in conjunction with a privateschool, the Monteverde Institute. The In-stitute works with faculty to ensure thatcommunity health experiences are providedto meet the needs of the group. They serveas guides and chaperones, and help studentsnavigate the experience both mentally andphysically. One of the most stressful thingsto students is the immersion component ofthe trip. Students take several hours of intro-ductory Spanish lessons, realizing how muchit will help them when back in Tampa.They also live with local families in the hostcountry. The homestays not only reinforcetheir language classes, but provide a livedexperience in the Costa Rican lifestyle.

Private homes in Costa Rica tend to besmall and very simple. Local bathroom prac-tices and equipment were unfamiliar to moststudents. In many locations, the plumbingsystem is not set up for toilet tissue.

There are many years that there wouldhave been no trip without our benefactors,Dr. Axel (UT ’62) and Ann Claesges. Iknow very few students who are gettingthrough school by using the bank of Momand Dad. Virtually all of our students havea combination of scholarships, loans, andjobs that they must maintain just to meettheir basic obligations and stay in school.For several years now, the Claesges havegenerously offered partial scholarships tothe majority of students who enroll in thiscourse. The trip is one of the least expen-sive of the numerous international pro-grams offered, yet it is very difficult formany students to afford.

Experiences like this cannot be simu-lated. You must travel to have an authenticexperience in another culture. It is invalu-able to be placed in the role of an outsiderliving and functioning in another person’sworld, and the students appreciate this.Many have commented that it has perma-nently changed their view of working withpatients. Several students told me thatthey plan to return to Costa Rica. Thesefuture nurses and public health workershave seen another approach to managingthe health of a population, and will bringthis lesson with them every day when theywork with patients.

Shower equipment is comparatively prim-itive, with a box attached to the showerpipe that heats water only on demand, andonly if you flip the switch just right, andonly if the electrical wire isn’t too rusty.Seemingly simple things like this can bevery stressful, as the student tries to com-municate problems to the host family intheir language, only to learn that CostaRican families do not place much impor-tance on whether the shower works justright every day. Cooking and sharing mealsis a valued experience by both studentsand families.

In the Monteverde area, we were ableto work with a group known as APAPNEM,a local volunteer organization that coordi-nates services for residents with physicaland mental disabilities. This, too, is an eyeopening experience for those of us wholive in a country that enacted the Ameri-cans with Disabilities Act over twentyyears ago. In Costa Rica, just as in mostother countries around the world, thereare no ramps, elevators, or other accom-modations to make life more accessible inthis rocky area on a mountainside. This isa fact that is very surprising to manyhealthcare students in the United States.

Every year, I work with students to helpthem figure out how to finance the trip.


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Chasing Elephantsin Mole

The short-term education abroad experience has a lot in common with one of literature’s

most important motifs: the quest.

© javarm

an - Fotolia.com

Both require questers to undertake a

long journey filled with challenges to

an unknown destination. Sometimes the

questers achieve their goals; at other times

they do not, but often the experiences of

the quest mark them in unexpected and

not necessarily conscious ways. Such may

have been the outcome for two groups of

students from The University of Tampa

during their visits to Mole (pronounced

Moe-lay) National Park, a 4,840 square

mile Guinea savannah woodland area

in northwest Gonja region of Ghana,

about 420 miles (670km) northwest

of capital city, Accra.

styled accommodations of Mole’s workers.Every so often, they paused to graze onshrubs, grass, and leaves. Then, as sud-denly as they had appeared, the elephantsdisappeared, as if the forest had absorbedthem or opened up the equivalent of awormhole and whisked them deeper intoanother dimension of the Savannahwoodland. Naturally, we gave chase —grabbing and steadying ourselves on boul-ders and branches, slipping and sliding aswe followed the elephants into a valley,wondering how such large animals couldso deftly descend the somewhat sheerslope without tumbling.

From one of the viewing towers on thenature trail, we perched ourselves andwatched the elephants in a muddy-brownwatering hole flap their ears, spray wateron their backs, and, in what looked to bethe height of elephant excitement, spraymuddy water on each other. After feastingour eyes for thirty-plus minutes on thisgrand non-activity, we were returning tothe visitor center when we ran into a mas-sive bull elephant, probably from the samegroup that had “welcomed” us earlier. It

It is the second fastest animal on land,our rifle-toting ranger announced asMaggie, a self-described army brat fromPatch Barracks near Stuttgart, Germany,

clicked her Minolta Maxxum 7000 cameraand edged nearer to the massive Africanbull elephant. Thirteen thousand pounds offorce capable of being propelled at up to 22miles per hour were, apparently, only acouple of seconds away from us, a groupof six students and two faculty members(with a combined weight estimated at agenerous 2000 pounds). We had been gazingat this male elephant in an open field inMole. It was a May 2009 mid-morning. Thesun had just enthroned itself on the day.

Earlier that morning, around 7 a.m., aswe waited on the grounds of the visitorcenter to be taken on Mole’s guided naturewalk (a more or less scripted tour of asmall sliver of the park), four elephantshad materialized out of nowhere andtramped right up to us. We oohed, aahed,clicked our cameras — giddy that our pres-ence had summoned the elephants — and,of course, we followed them as they saun-tered through the adjacent bungalow-

by A. Onipede Hollist, Ph.D.

was either the alpha male of the group,keeping tabs on us humans as we chasedafter its family, or it was the outcast, per-forming sentry duties by default.

I recall this encounter as intense becauseour proximity to the bull had promptedthe ranger to divulge this little known factabout the speed of elephants, though, if hisgoal had been to deter us from getting tooclose to the animal, disclosing this piece ofinformation when he was giving us his listof dos and don’ts at the start of our naturewalk would have been more effective. Atthat precise moment, and after spendingmost of the morning in close proximity tothem, the revelation did little to curb ourexcitement. Like paparazzi after spotting areclusive celebrity, we waylaid the grazinganimal, each of us determined to take thepicture that would serve as indisputableevidence of our bravery, our encounterwith earth’s largest animal on this Hem-ingway-esque African safari. Everyoneclicked away, especially 5'8', ninety-fivepound Maggie, her telescopic lens zoomingback and forth like a wartime periscope ina World War II naval battle movie. “Getback,” the ranger growled. We moved

section of Accra; shopped at the worldrenowned craft villages in and aroundKumasi, the capital of the central Ashantiregion; and traveled seven hundred plusmiles (1127km) on less than ideal roads.A few have experienced two- to three-dayspells of upset stomachs and/or diarrhea;some feel saturated by the rice-basedmeals, and all have been slam-dunked bythe sun during the day or torrential rain atnight. The return trip south from Nangodito Accra, out of which we will fly back tothe U.S., is about five hundred and thirtymiles (852km) or a whole day’s drive, ademanding trip for our already weary co-hort and a stressful one for our bus driverswho, since we arrived, had been at ourbeck and call. So, like all quests initiatedby someone in pursuit of a goal, Kevin andI make Mole a pit stop out of considerationfor our drivers, to provide an opportunityto rest and relax, but mostly to give stu-dents an opportunity to encounter Mole’selephants up close and personal. Suchwere our goals in May 2010 when ourtwenty-two person group (eighteen UTstudents, Kevin and I, and two Ghanaians,David the driver and Afum, his assistant)left Nangodi for Mole.

In addition to goals, quests involve longjourneys with challenges. Ours was no dif-ferent. The distance from Nangodi to Moleis about one hundred and ninety miles(305km), one hundred and thirty-five (or217km) of which are on the paved Bol-gatanga-Tamale-Kumasi national highway.We cover them in about two and halfhours — a paltry distance and travel timeby U.S. standards. But before you scoff,travelers to Mole must exit the pavedhighway at Fulfuso junction and under-take the remaining fifty-five miles (88km)westward on the unpaved, interregionalFulfuso-Salwa road. This is what we do.

It’s inconceivable that this unpaved,corrugated, red laterite (disintegrated rocks)road was constructed with the one- totwo-inch high, wave-like rumble strips (orinfant speed bumps) that run across itswidth, perpendicular to the direction theroad is traveling. Yet these strips make upmuch of its surface, which, on both sides,falls off into uneven, water-created gullies,like the gutters on the side of a bowlinglane. The stretches of the road without therumble strips are covered with a loose

back. But our excitement then and formonths after was palpable. Mole hadturned out to be more than we expected.

This May 2009 close encounter of theelephant kind established Mole as afeature stop on UT’s Ghana educationabroad experience led by me, a native

of Sierra Leone, and co-trip director, col-league, and Twi-speaking American KevinFridy. The stop occurs about halfwaythrough the twenty-one day experience,after students have completed their weeklong service-learning projects in Nangodi,a small materially poor village twentymiles northeast of Bolgatanga, Ghana’snorthernmost city. Since 2009, UT stu-dents have worked side by side with Nan-godians to start a community library, setup a microfinance scheme for marketwomen, build a basketball court, constructan art mural and install solar power lightsfor classrooms in a secondary (junior high)school, make reusable sanitary pads for pu-bescent girls, hold a law clinic, and studythe bonding styles of kids at an orphanage.

By this halfway point, many studentsare tired, physically and psychologically.Prior to the week in Nangodi, they hadtoured the historical, political, and culturalsites of Accra on the Gulf Of Guinea coast;visited with salt-of-the-earth Ghanaianfamilies in Ododiodio (pronounced O-do-dee-o-dee-o), an economically depressed


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layer of the red laterite. As the driver picksup speed on these stretches, the bus, atwenty-two seat Toyota Coaster, hydroplanesand could easily skid into the gullies.

The features of the road turn whatshould be a short, relaxing Sunday after-noon drive in the countryside into a leg ofthe treacherous Paris-to-Dakar car race.The ride feels like being dragged by thebuttocks over fifty-five miles of speedbumps — and those are the best parts! Onthe stretches where the rumble strips aretaller than two inches, the shuddering andshaking become so insistent that the busfeels as if it will fall apart from sheer ex-haustion, and we would be left standingamid its parts like Fred and Wilma in TheFlintstones.

At such times, the driver, in sympathywith his vehicle, descends into the smoothergullies. This eases our physical discomfortbut only to usher in a new anxiety be-cause, as we ride in the gullies, sometimeson the same side as oncoming traffic, thebus either banks precariously or its under-carriage grates against the road. Initially,foreboding fills the bus as it shakes andbanks its way deeper into the overweening,incessant greenery, but, at some point, per-haps because students realize that there isno turning back from our westward push,the mood changes: A pioneer-quester spiritemerges.

“Yencoh, Yencoh,” faster, faster, one suchspirit, but perhaps also slightly dementedstudent, encourages the driver to speed up.

“Wow, exciting!” another student agrees.The pioneer-quester, slightly dementedspirit had caught on!

“Please don’t encourage the driver tospeed,” I warn in full-throated professorialauthority and wonder if Joseph Conrad ofHeart of Darkness fame (or, for some, in-famy) had had a point — that the forest

Millipedes, centipedes, spiders, geckos,crickets, and lizards sometimes slinkthrough cracks and other fissures into theguest rooms and bond with the adaptablequesters while they keep those afraid of in-sects awake. But mosquitoes are Mole’sequal opportunity hosts.

“I got bit by mosquitoes last night,” Samreports. Sam is a Government and WorldAffairs major from De Kalb Jct., northernNew York, who plans to one day live inAfrica. She shows me the raised bumps onher arms at breakfast.

“Yeah, saw a couple of them leavingyour room, high-fiving each other, deliri-ous at the nutritious blood of Americans,”I crack back.

Like an appropriate verse of scripturethat buoys a backsliding born-again Chris-tian, Sam musters a wry smile, swats at afly about to land on her jam-laden toast,and then crunches into it. By our arrival inMole, everyone has come to realize that theheat and the demands on our unschooled,sheltered bodies affect our dispositions —the first sign of which is impatience with,if not indifference to, complainers.

makes the uninitiated mind irrational. Idecide not to pursue this train of thought.The bus, however, rattles westward on thewashboard until, three and a half hours(or 15 miles per hour) later we arrive,shaken and stirred into full-fledged questers,at Mole Park, a verdant expanse of ante-diluvian silence, misleadingly labeled wild,and home to 93 mammals, 344 species ofbirds, and 740 different plant species. Shesits there like an octogenarian, aloof andenigmatic — qualities we soon find outimbue every aspect of the park. Questersencounter and must overcome obstacles.

Built on West Africa’s ubiquitous red la-terite, Mole Hotel sits atop a hill overlook-ing a muddy-brown watering hole, and foralmost 180 degrees from anywhere on itsverandahs, one sees in the distance thehaze-covered, haughty savannah wood-land. Questers therefore find themselves inthe domain of animals and insects, a situ-ation akin to visiting a rival team’s ballparkwearing your team’s colors. They feel ex-posed and vulnerable. Warthogs, baby-totingbaboons, and antelopes roam around thehotel with entitlement; they forage on the

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hotel grounds, in the trash cans near thereception and dining areas, and casuallywalk along the paved walkways as if they,too, had rooms in the hotel. Beetles,wasps, and moths settle on tables, clothes,and exposed parts of the body, causing buffTampa native Kyle to freak out and smearhimself with DEET, the Kevlar vest for in-sects. Flies, seemingly suffering from ADD,buzz around and then dive into uncoveredfood, bottles, and glasses, causing thegerm-o-phobic Tian and Sal, two questersfrom Jamaica, to wave and swat inapoplectic fits, douse their hands with san-itizer and abandon their food in disgust.

But without a doubt, adjusting toMole’s rhythm and pace poses the severestchallenge to questers. Accustomed to ap-prehending time as deadlines of days,hours, and minutes — points in a contin-uum by which activities should be startedand completed — students initially findMole’s pace and cultural milieu deadening.Especially if one arrives mid or late after-noon, Mole feels like walking into a ceme-tery on a midweek afternoon. Moleexplodes arbitrary markers of time and op-erates, instead, in events and cycles — ofclimatic states (dry and wet; cool and hot;dawn and dusk; day and night); of activi-

ties (playing, hunting, feeding, resting,sleeping, planting, harvesting, procreatingand dying); and of encounters (betweeninsider and outsider; predator and prey;human and animal; and human and cli-mate). And no part of the Mole environ-ment teaches this lesson as quickly,completely, and experientially as Mole’sdining … er … feeding services: what I callthe trough.

To be sure, the trough has a menu thatoffers Ghanaian staples — banku (fermentedcorn & cassava dough); rice served withgroundnut (peanut butter) stew or palavasauce (spinach & palm oil); Kenkey (fer-mented corn dough) with fish or Guineafowl and gravy; fufu (fermented yam) withpalm nut soup and goat meat — and a lim-ited selection of dishes that would appealto American and European tastes —chicken and chips (French fries), fried rice,pasta and grilled fish. But the menu is aformality because the cycles of farmingand forest life govern the availability offood. So if Guinea fowl, goat, or cow meatis not available, then the animals havegone foraging far afield and are thereforenot available to be slaughtered; or, per-haps, a disease has decimated the livestockand meat is in short supply; mangoes,avocadoes and other fruits are not avail-able because they are not in season. Evena presumably packaged food like pasta isgoverned by event cycles. If the vehicletransporting such packaged foods breaksdown on the Fulfuso-Salwa washboard,then diners do without. “We don’t haveit,” the staff inform as a matter of fact.Students either eat what’s available or gohungry.

In fact, few foods on the menu arefrozen or prepackaged, so most ingredientsare prepared from scratch on the premises.In these circumstances, cooking becomesan event and is not the time-driven, high-wire act of kitchens in American restau-rants. In Mole, one’s food is ready when itis done. Questers quickly learn this, sobreakfast becomes a gathering at whichthey find out what’s available for that dayand put in their orders for lunch and din-ner. They arrive for both meals only whenthey are hungry, notify the staff, and thenwait … and … wait until the food is pre-pared and cooked, from scratch! If they ar-rive late for dinner, they are told that the

not clear how the driver got his informa-tion, but he wears the glee of a militaryscout delivering urgent news that theenemy’s camp has been discovered and init they are all drunkenly asleep. To see theelephant, all we have to do is rent twovehicles to drive us to its location. The driv-ers drool in anticipation.

“How much?” I ask. “Forty Ghana cedis for one hour.” At twenty-five dollars an hour, Kevin

and I know that the driver is charging toomuch, washing our face from the chin upas they say in West Africa. But he literallyhas the upper hand. We want to see ele-phants, the elephant, an elephant, a calf!Time spent bargaining to save a few cedisis opportunity lost.

“Let’s go.” We offer up our faces to bewashed from the chin up, the questers inall of us now in full throttle. Along withKevin, half of the students file like a packof circus animals into a pickup with a cagebuilt around its bed. The other half, undermy supervision, climb onto the open bed ofa pickup and sit on the benches arrangedaround the perimeter. I sit in the cab withthe driver. Several minutes into the drive,I look through the cab’s back windshield:A class-action lawsuit stares back at me, forthe students are swaying to the rockingmotion of the truck on the narrow, uneven,crunchy-gravel road. A sudden pitch of thevehicle, a sting by a wasp or fly-by of a batdisoriented by daylight could startle andeasily send one or more of the questers over-board. It occurs to me to order the driver toturn around and return to the visitor center.But I do not. The allure of seeing elephantsin their natural habitat, of enabling thesequesters to, perhaps, live out private fan-tasies as reincarnations of explorers and

kitchen is about to close or has closed; ifthe staff is indulgent, they may be served,hours later—after all, in the dark, staff willbe hard pressed to find the goat that is tobecome the meat for the goat curry stew.

Overall, however, questers adjust, nay,rise to Mole’s challenges, perhaps becauseit doesn’t leave them much choice andperhaps because they expect that, for theirforbearance, it will avail them of close en-counters with elephants. This certainlywas the expectation when, the next morn-ing at dawn, our 2010 group set off fromthe visitor center, led by our gun-totingranger.

Three hours later, we walk back into thevisitor center, dirty, sweaty, thirsty,hungry, and tired. Though we had seenbaboons, warthogs, kobs, bushbucks,

waterbucks, crocodiles, fierce sci-fi-lookingtsetse flies, and even the deadly greenmamba (whose antivenin, the park rangerhad allayed our concerns, was in a townfifty miles away on the Fulfuso-Salwawashboard!), we had not so much asglimpsed an elephant. Disappointed, webegin our walk back to the hotel roomswhose taps are turned off daily between 10a.m. and 7 p.m.

Oh, yes, quests sometimes involvejourneys-within-journeys and challenges-within-challenges.

“One dey for north sector,” one of the driv-ers of the parked safari vehicles in the visi-tor center grounds announces; he points toan expanse of forest opposite from wherewe had taken our nature walk. The newsof the elephant sighting enlivens us. We are


out, seeking shade under trees and thethatched eaves of nearby buildings. Someplug into the chirps and tones of theirelectronic devices; others sleep; and stillothers break bread. The tank will be repairedwhen it is repaired, all in good Mole timeand rhythm.

Few of the 2010 questers returnedhome from that Mole trip gushing with ex-citement to tell of their elephant encoun-ters in an African “jungle.” But all of themreturned home wiser, in the unspoken butknowing way of an ancient mariner amida group of garrulous young ones just re-turned from a theme-park boat ride. Thesedays questers smile and say nothing whena family member, friend, work or room-mate fusses that a food order is taking toolong, moans about road and traffic condi-tions, or goes frantic in efforts to meet adeadline or when they encounter the un-expected. Questers have seen worse, but,more importantly, they know that eventsbegin and cycle out in their own good timeand that, sometimes, riding out the cycleis the best and only response.

Journal snaps courtesy of the author.

was it that a saner elephant decided againstconfronting his puny chasers. Eventually,to avoid a fast approaching second hourand twenty-five more dollars, we jumpback into our vehicles and take the slowride to the visitor center. It was our seconddisappointment of the day.

Despite our forbearance, nature walk,vehicle chase, and wait in front of thebush, we depart from Mole without seeingeven a ghost of an elephant. Then, to addto the disappointment of not achieving ourgoal, the bus’s gas tank springs a leak onthe return trek on the Fulfuso-Salwawashboard. It is late morning, and the sunhas already begun incinerating the world;we do not know where to find a mechanicor repair shop. The situation has all theingredients necessary to evolve into a cri-sis. But it is a sign of how Mole hasmarked questers that they respond to ourpredicament with little agitation, urgency,or fear. Almost as if they recognize thatmachines exist in a cycle of smooth opera-tion, wear and tear, breakdown and repair,questers file out of the bus quietly and fan

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adventurers like David Livingstone, MaryKingsley, Christopher Columbus, AmeliaEarhart or Steve Irwin, builds with everypitch of the vehicle. The 2010 chase, actu-ally a slow ride, is on.

After about ten minutes, the driverstops the pickup, jumps out, signals us tofollow, and heads toward a gallery of trees,shrubs, and other vegetation. Questersscramble behind him through weeds andtall grass, around small trees, over antmounds, and on soggy clumps of soil forone hundred yards until he holds up hishand, like a captain signaling his troops tostop on the outskirts of the sleeping enemy’scamp. “Dere.” He points to a particularlytangled section of the gallery from whichcomes what sounds like the rustling ofleaves and the snapping and breaking oftwigs and branches. Yet, no elephant ap-pears. Suddenly, a three-person party plusits rifle-toting ranger emerges from aroundthe bush. Yes! They had seen an elephantand, as confirmation of sorts, they show usundated pictures of one on their cameras.But we have not traveled 7,000 miles to besatisfied with digital images. We want thereal McCoy, the bulky, in-the-flesh, ante-diluvian pachyderm! So we watch andwait, wait and watch.

“E dey dere,” our driver reassures usafter he and the driver of the other vehiclehave made half-hearted attempts to hackaway some of the vegetation for, suppos-edly, a clearer view. However, neither hisreassurance nor the sound of twigs andbranches carries the conviction of an im-minent elephant appearance. We peer andcrane our necks as if by such manipulationswe could conjure the beast into appearing.We continue to watch and wait, wait andwatch, the sun spitting hot needles intoour skins. No elephant emerges, and wecannot, dare not, venture any closer. If theelephant charged, nothing except twentypaces and twelve-inch tall clumps of cakedmud lay between it and a trampled fate forone or more of us. Of course, as a formersprinter who nostalgically believes he ranthe hundred meters in under ten secondsat the 1979 West African University Gamesin Ile-Ife, Nigeria, I bristle at the thoughtthat I could not outrun and outmaneuverthis ponderous animal. But luckily for allof us, the saner part of me prevails, and wedo not creep closer or enter the bush — or

© raymond whyte, dream

stim

e.com

Funding Your Study Abroad......With Scholarships, Awards and Financial AidStudents often assume it is more expensive to study abroad than to remain on UT’s campus. However, many education abroad destinations offer lower tuition and cost of living. Meet with a financial aid counselor to determine how financial aid will be applied towards your education abroad program. In most cases, students can apply Federal Student Aid and Bright Futures Scholarships to education abroad experiences. Below are some opportunities for you to explore:

EDUCATION ABROAD FUNDING SEARCHESwww.iefa.org • www.studyabroadfunding.org • http://www.gooverseas.com/

THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS EDUCATION ABROAD AWARD www.ut.edu/internationalStudents with a 3.0 GPA and at least 28 credit hours on their UT transcript are eligible to apply for a $1,000 education abroad awardeach semester and a $500 award each summer. Deadlines: Spring programs — Nov. 1; Summer and Fall programs — March 1.

PROGRAM PROVIDER SCHOLARSHIPSMost program providers offer both merit and need-based aid. Consult the provider’s website for available scholarships, deadlines andother details. Also contact your education abroad advisor as some program providers make their aid available through the UT Office of International Programs.

PHI KAPPA PHI www.phikappaphi.org/Web/AwardsPhi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Grants are designed to help support undergraduates as they seek knowledge and experience in their academic fields by studying abroad. Forty-five $1,000 grants are awarded each year. Students do not need to be a member of Phi Kappa Phi to apply.

INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AWARDS www.iie.org/StudentsThe Institute for International Education, IIE, offers several scholarship programs. The Benjamin A Gilman International Scholarship is available to students who are U.S. citizens and who receive a Federal Pell Grant. Boren Awards are funded by the National Security Education Program (NSEP) and focus on geographic areas, languages and fields of study critical to U.S. interests and underrepresentedin education abroad. Freeman-ASIA provides scholarships to help fund study programs in East and Southeast Asia.

FUND FOR EDUCATION ABROAD www.fundforeducationabroad.comThe FEA is committed to increasing the opportunities for dedicated American students to participate in high-quality, rigorous educationabroad programs by reducing financial restrictions through the provision of grants and scholarships.

BRIDGING SCHOLARSHIPS www.bridgingfoundation.org/The US-Japan Bridging Foundation awards scholarships of up to $5,000 to U.S. undergraduates to study for one semester or academic year in Japan.

ROTARY FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPSwww.rotary.org/en/StudentsAndYouth/EducationalProgramsThe Ambassadorial Scholarship aims to further international understanding among people of different countries and geographical areas. The program sponsors several types of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students.

Please note that some of the scholarship deadlines couldbe at least a year in advance of your intended semester abroad, so it is important investigate your options early.


AMERICANS DON’T HAVE TO WORRY, that is why they could be the last onesin the queue: they just show their blue passports and enter most of the countries in theworld without having to worry about permits. It is not the case with a Colombian passport:you have to struggle and pay a lot of money to prove you are a decent non-drug trafficking,visa-deserving world-class citizen.

The long wait for the immigration officer gave me the chance to speak with the manstanding behind me, Ayoub, a handsome 28-year-old native of Tangier on his way to visit hisfamily for a week. He spoke a little French but we communicated in Spanish. He had anArabic accent that to me sounded very exotic. He was one of the lucky few legal immi-grants in Spain — with 20% national unemployment — that had a job as a mechanic inSeville, cleaning gigantic fuel tanks and breathing toxic fumes all day. He was single andsmoked two packs of cigarettes per day. He was proud of his Schengen work visa and showedit to me as a precious award. He played soccer on Sundays and went to the woods formushroom hunting with his friends. He came to Tangier every three months on vacation.He planned on making a lot of money in Europe to send back to his family, but he didnot think he would ever return to his country. He told me he had 7 brothers and sistersand that his mother was very old and sick. She was 58 years old.

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I DREAM OF A LANDACROSS THE SEAStory and photos by Santiago Echeverry, MPS

I missed the wonderful view ofGibraltar when we were crossingthe Mediterranean Sea to reachAfrica for the first time in my life.While all my American colleagueswere taking pictures from theferry’s viewing deck, I was thefirst person in the immigrationline, a process that is done in theboat in order to speed the arrivalof the passengers in Morocco.

Near Chefchaouen, Morocco

58!I opened my eyes in total shock and

told him my mother was 78 and still work-ing! He could not believe it. Completelyunaware of his reality, I explained his momwas not old at all and she had an entirefuture ahead of her. He did not believe me.He was convinced she could die soon. Theimmigration officer arrived. My passportwas stamped without any problems and Iwas ready to enter legally the country ofthe Atlas Mountains.

During our lectures, I learned that 95%of Morocco’s population is younger than 65and 70% is younger than 40! No wonderwhy Ayoub was worried about his mother!You are considered old after your mid-lifecrisis. Walking in the streets of the medinas,I understood why so many of these youngmen and women are willing to sacrifice somuch to leave their beautiful country.

Yes: you can have food, and culture andmusic — just like Mexico — but if you cansee a land across the sea that may providebetter chances of staying alive longer, in amore egalitarian society on top of that, youare going to do whatever you can to crossthat border. New technologies and touristsare showing these young people what theyare missing in their own countries. Theymay start a revolution at home to changethings around — and we saw a spark of it

about their kids not taking care of the landwhen they left to the big cities or to anothercountry looking for better opportunities,they all laughed and said that if one oftheir children left they still had 9 more topick up the job.

However, I am in a position that allowsme to understand those who left or arewilling to leave their cultures. As an immi-grant in the USA, having faced the fear ofdeportation, intolerance and discrimina-tion in my journey, I realize there are deeppersonal reasons that sometimes cannot bequantified. Each emigrant has his or herown story that in the end will affect — forthe better in my perspective — the hostingcountry. And this is my role as a foreignereducating citizens of the world: to openthe eyes of newer generations to the con-tribution of intermingling cultures — notonly on a technological level, my academicfield, but also on a personal and creativeaspect.

Even if we improve their life standards,Moroccans will see Europe across theMediterranean and still dream about dis-covering that “new” continent 8.1 milesaway from them, just like I would haveloved to climb any of the mountains inChefchaouen just to explore what was be-hind them. I might have liked it, andstayed there. It’s human nature.

with the 2011 Arab Spring — but whywait decades for these changes to arrivewhen they may come faster by jumping afence?

One of our speakers told us the story ofa man that threw his 9-month-old babyover the 10 ft barbed wire fence that sur-rounds Ceuta — the Spanish city on theMediterranean Moroccan coast. Aftercatching the baby in her fall, a stunnedSpanish soldier asked the father why. Hereplied the baby was sick and that in Span-ish territory, because of their universalhealth care policy, the baby would receivea free treatment that would save her life.The soldier ran immediately to the nearestSpanish hospital, saving the girl’s life.

But does everyone want to leave?Some are forced to emigrate for politicalreasons when they do not agree with theking, when they are not imprisoned. Butit is definitely a minority. There is also abrain drainage happening in the country,with very intelligent men and womenseeking a better education abroad, mostlyin France. But emigration is definitely nota big issue on a larger scale, not as it wouldbe portrayed in the media in Latin Amer-ica. Morocco is big enough with plenty ofresources to sustain its own people, evenhuman resources. When I asked a group ofagricultural workers if they were worried


Chefchaouen, Morocco

The Medina of Tétouan, Morocco

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CHINA

Recognizing the importance of the U.S.-China relationship, President Barack Obama announcedthe “100,000 Strong” initiative in 2009 with hopes

to increase the number of American studentsstudying in China. The University of Tampa strivesto be a part of this important cultural exchange by

sending faculty, students, and advisory boardmembers to China to learn and exchange ideas.

Likewise, the university is enriched by internationalstudents from China, who contribute to the cultural

landscape of our campus community in Tampa.In this feature section, University of Tampa

professors, domestic students and internationalstudents reflect upon their experiences in China.

OUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE PEOPLE’SREPUBLIC OF CHINA BEGAN AFTER AFATIGUING 13-HOUR FLIGHT from thecapital of the United States to the capital ofChina, Beijing. We arrived in the swelter-ing heat of Beijing in early June with littleChinese money and even fewer languageskills. But what we lacked in currency andculture, we made up in enthusiasm. Duringour visit we climbed the Great Wall, touredthe world’s largest industrial complex, vis-ited 1000 year-old sites, and received lec-tures from Chinese academics, politicians,businessmen, and tour guides. A final rideon the world-famous high-speed bullettrain from the financial capital, Shanghai,back to the airport brought our journey toa close. In this short piece, we reflect onthe lessons learned from these travelsabout China’s astonishing economic growth,its challenges and contradictions, and whatto expect in the future.

After landing, we made our way throughcustoms and took our first of many cabrides. The unprecedented growth of thecountry — nearly 10 percent per yearsince the reforms in 1979 — was immedi-ately evident as we drove through the first“ring” (concentric highway) of Beijing. Aview from above shows how many ringshave been added in the last few years and

rest of Beijing, and 5 symmetric temples.Such symmetry and order was of greatsymbolic importance to rulers past andpresent.

The tone for the country is set in Beijing.Prior to 1978, there was little desire foreconomic growth. Noted journalist PaulFrench explained to us that 95 percent ofthe population lived on less than 125 USdollars a year, but everyone was equal.Wages were not based on productivity sothere was little incentive to increase effi-ciency. Taxes on farmland were high, pro-viding little incentive to do much withland. The result was frequent starvationand decades of economic stagnation.

Only after the death of Mao Zedong couldreform occur. Though Chinese pay hom-age to him in the statues that adorn theschools and parks we visited, the studentsand people we spoke to had few illusionsabout the suffering endured under his Cul-tural Revolution and Great Leap Forward.Post-Mao governments changed the tonein the late 1970s and began a long processof granting additional rights and marketreforms. Enjoying rapid economic growthand social and political stability, they haveeschewed the Marxist ideal of class struggleand instead want their people to embracetheir idea of “Harmonious Society.” For

how the city has grown exponentially. Asimple Google maps perspective makes thisclear. There are now 7 rings containing asmany people as the state of Florida. This issymbolic of the growth of the country as awhole.

Our hostel in Beijing was just 3 blocksfrom the Forbidden City, the home of thepast emperors. Beijing is both the politicaland historic epicenter of China and thefirst thing one notices is the sheer scale ofgovernment structures in Beijing. Fromthe enormous walls and moat of the For-bidden City to the sprawl of TiananmenSquare and adjacent Chinese CommunistParty (CCP) headquarters, one cannot helpbut feel like an ant within the political cap-ital. It was in the Forbidden City whereemperors decided how the peasants wouldserve them and where emperors wouldmaintain control over early technologysuch as sundials. Later it became the CCPheadquarters which promulgated the “OneChild Policy” and the rules governing themigration of workers. Today Beijing iswhere the allocation of domestic invest-ments is determined. To the north standsa hill compiled by the peasant workersfrom the displaced dirt dug up from theForbidden City’s moat. Atop this hill is aperfect view of the Forbidden City and the


Our RoadThrough Chinaby Joshua Hall, Ph.D., John Stinespring, Ph.D.and Alex Tan, Ph.D.

Photos by Alex Tan, Ph.D.Top left: Dr. Liv Coleman, Assistant Professor, Government and World Affairs, and Dr. John Stinespring, Associate Professor, Economics, participate on an international faculty development seminar in China.Professor Coleman was a recipient of one of six annual International Programs faculty developmentawards. Professor Stinespring was supported by a Department of Education grant encouraging researchon the economies of Brazil, India, China, and Argentina.

historical support, economist Shen Dinglitold us that the CCP is embracing Mao’snemesis, Confucius, whose writings empha-size obedience to rank and natural order.This is one clear lesson we will pass on toour students: culture matters for economicgrowth and a government that can influ-ence it can use it to help steer its economy.

Before leaving Beijing, we visited theGreat Wall. The two-hour taxi ride rangedfrom frightening to absolutely terrifying.Though communist China is officiallyatheist, one immediately turns to prayerwhen swerving in and out of both incom-ing and ongoing traffic. Our driver appearedto be sober (and even smiling!), giving usthe ride of our (tragically-cut-short?) lives.Thankfully, we arrived, stomachs beingrelocated to our throats, and experiencedthe unforgettable views from on top of thewall. The wall, situated in an extremelymountainous part of northern China, wasbuilt to protect the Chinese from Mongo-lian forces and nomadic tribes. Though thewall was ultimately unsuccessful, it re-mains a symbol of the history and pride ofChina.

Beijing was the first half of the journey,and our next stop was Shanghai. We trav-eled by train on one of the many rail linesthat crisscross the immense country. Our11-hour ride would take us through thecountryside, giving us first-hand views ofthe CCP’s economic policies. We left Beijingin the early morning and, in hindsight,embarked on a ride that symbolized ourtime in China. The trip took us near many

private and foreign investment — becausethe return to government investment wasdeclining. This is an idea called diminishingreturns to capital, one of the most impor-tant concepts taught in economics courses.To avoid diminishing returns, the govern-ment decided to turn its attention inlandwhere poverty was still widespread, laborremained cheap, and investment was low.Infrastructure — roads, bridges, rail, com-munication technologies, internet access— was poor. According to economist JunZhang, this is one way that China willmaintain its tremendous growth in thedecade ahead. Government investment ininfrastructure in the inland areas is designedto encourage private and international

of the coastal development areas — Tianjin,Tantai, Qingdao, Lianyungage and Nantong.In these cities, international commercewas allowed and flourished. These wereexamples of the government’s Special Eco-nomic Zones (SEZ) which serve as a sort ofnatural experiment allowing for differenttax systems, economic freedoms, and evenpolitical structures. The first SEZs devel-oped when manufacturing overtook agri-culture as the leading industry. As Chinaopened up to trade, foreign capital enteredinto the country. The coastal areas experi-enced tremendous economic growth. Whatthe government learned from the earlySEZ experiments it was now applying tocities within the interior. From our vantage

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point on the train, we saw entire citiesbeing built to support manufacturing —not just individual buildings but entirecities. While some were teeming with peo-ple others were ghostly, like an apocalypticmovie set straight out of Hollywood. Laterwe would learn that these were citiesmerely awaiting the government-enactedtransplantation of entire towns from theredesigned coastal areas to these newly-built metropolises.

The coastal areas were being redesignedby the government — and partly financed by

investment in those areas. This concept,known as “crowding-in,” is discussed littlein the United States, but is important indeveloping countries. Western policy mak-ers worry about “crowding-out,” wherebygovernment investment reduces privateinvestment. This is another important ex-ample to be illustrated in our economicscourses.

As we neared Shanghai, we cameacross another of China’s controlled exper-iments that has contributed to theirgrowth — the Suzhou Industrial Park

(SIP). This 288 square kilometer area is thehome to thousands of multinational cor-porations taking advantage of lower cor-porate tax rate and already-establishedinfrastructure. Black & Decker, for exam-ple, made this SIP home in 1998 and re-sides in their export friendly zone. WhileBlack & Decker still struggles with brandrecognition in China, the SIP gives themthe opportunity to be part of the tremen-dous growth of the Asia region.

Finally, we arrived in Shanghai, China’sfinancial capital. While manufacturing is

being moved inland to “sister” cities, suchas Suzhou. The focus on the environmentis unparalleled to anywhere else in thecountry, with a free bike sharing program,electronic buses, and the removal of high-polluting factories.

The skills and technology required for aworld-class service sector factor prominentlyin the government’s current economicplan. They have committed to significantincreases in expenditures on educationand the rule of law along with a new focuson research and development. While in-vestment in areas with a high marginalproduct of capital and industrial parks thatbring in multinational corporations willsupport growth in the short run, it is thosepolicies that will sustain the growth beyondthe next 5-year plan. In short, China ex-emplifies the transition from agriculture tomanufacturing to services. By almost everyeconomic measure, reform has been a suc-cess. There is an urgency to keep growingand an unstoppable desire to move up insociety. From the early agricultural reformsto the manufacturing initiatives and morerecent financial sector development, theoutput of the country increased by a factorof 200 within 32 years. With more than 1million college graduates a year, it may bepossible for China to sustain its extraordi-nary economic growth in the decades tocome.

still the dominant industry in the country,Shanghai represents the new 5-year planfor the country: a transition of already-developed coastal regions away from man-ufacturing toward more service-orientedsectors. It is home to China’s stock marketand dozens of universities. Party SecretarySun Chao — one of 9 secretaries in Shanghai— devotes 20 million US dollars to univer-sities each year in his district alone. Hisdistrict provides the buildings and tax hol-idays to financial institutions that move tothe district while manufacturing plants are


China’s biggest city is one of sky-scrapers built seemingly overnight,millions of upwardly mobile con-sumers, and soaring markets foreverything from housing to lux-ury goods. Racing from the airportto city center, Maglev trains carry

passengers at speeds of up to 268 miles anhour, the fastest in the world. The thrill ofdanger is commonplace, with throngs ofcars breaking around corners, nearly clip-ping pedestrians — or maybe that was justme struggling to get my bearings.

Our travel group spent a lot of time juststaring up at the Shanghai skyline, a symbolof China’s rise to become the second-largesteconomy in the world. Pudong, the glitter-ing business center of the city, bestrides theHuangpu river with its striking, ultra-mod-ern buildings. They light up in bright colorsat night, illuminating pleasure boats andwandering tourists below. The Bund, a his-toric district, lines the other side of theriver with buildings that date from Shang-hai’s raucous 1930s. We spent one evening

close look at business strategy at a Fortune500 American company in an industrialpark. Another day, we visited a Shanghaicourthouse, an opulent building with apicture of traditional execution devices onthe lobby wall. We asked tough questionsover lunch of Sun Chao, Communist Partychief of the Minhang district of Shanghai.A key theme that emerged from these ex-cursions is that the Chinese CommunistParty still firmly guides the pace of changeand seeks to retain control.

The underside of this rapid economicdevelopment became apparent especiallyafter our trip concluded. In July, a bullettrain accident near Wenzhou left close to 40dead by official count. Some of the train carswere buried, possibly to cover up evidenceabout the accident. Just weeks earlier, Chi-nese officials had been touting the bullettrains as a symbol of the country’s nationaldevelopment. The accident rekindled con-cerns about official corruption and an ob-session with development at the expenseof public safety. A Chinese television news

in a jazz club at the historic Peace Hotel, arenovated art deco masterpiece.

One of the hardest things to convey inmy political science courses is the speed ofeconomic development in China. Buildingcranes in Shanghai helped me appreciatethis rush more viscerally, but it was hardto wrap my mind around the fact thatmuch of what I was seeing wasn’t eventhere ten years ago. Shanghai has grownto a city of 23 million — a “city of dreams”for a burgeoning middle class and poor mi-grant workers alike. The city has elevensubway lines running on 434 kilometers oftracks, nearly all built in the last ten years.It boasts the world’s busiest port, and theregional headquarters for 305 multina-tional corporations.

Our trip had many highlights basedaround the international faculty develop-ment seminar theme of economic develop-ment and urban transformation. We donnedhard hats for a trip to a state-owned steelmill, visited the American Chamber ofCommerce in Shanghai, and got an up-

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SHANGHAI:a city built on speedby Liv Coleman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Government & World AffairsPhoto by Alex Tan, Ph.D.


anchor made a plaintive appeal: “China,please slow down. If you’re too fast, you mayleave the souls of your people behind.”

Amidst our hectic travel schedule, themost memorable evening of my trip was onespent in the city of Suzhou, a short drivefrom Shanghai. Suzhou is known as the“Venice of the East” for its network of canalsand beautiful traditional gardens. At a teahouse there, we listened to songs aboutSuzhou and sipped tea from clear glasseswith blooming flowers inside. I ate choudoufu (“smelly tofu”) from a street vendor,watched a puppet play deemed part of worldcultural heritage by UNESCO, saw stray dogsscamper about, and conversed with my hostsin Chinese over dinner — another feast —about what we had seen that day.

At night in Suzhou, the gondolas lightup their red lanterns. The boatsmen ploughtheir oars into the murky waters with longglides. The rest of us, we linger and watch.The best way to appreciate a visit to China,with all its dizzying changes and contradic-tions, is to drink it in slowly.

When international student Xiao “Monica” Liu arrived in the United States from her native Beijing,China, she was a bit disoriented. It was her first trip to the U.S. and the 22-year-old was filled withnervous excitement. She found herself lost in a crowded New York airport as she searched forthe gate to board her connecting flight to Florida, where she would begin studies at The Universityof Tampa. Getting lost may be Liu’s first experience in America, but the help she received froma stranger is what she remembers most.

“There was a policeman who was so nice who helped me find my way,” Liu says of the officerwho guided her to her gate. “He told me ‘Don’t worry, Florida is a beautiful place — you madea good choice!”

Liu says she is glad she decided to study in the U.S. The Marketing major found adjustmentto American culture easy due to the friendliness of strangers who helped her settle into her newlife as an international student in America.

Liu smiles as she remembers her arrival at the UT campus for the fall 2011 semester. “Thefirst day I came here, I met an undergraduate student in the elevator,” Liu says. “He took mearound campus and showed me where everything was. He was just a normal student who didn’thave class that day.”

Location is another reason Liu says she’s glad she chose UT. “I love the sea, and the beach,”says Liu. “It’s so beautiful — I’m so glad I picked this place”.

Liu, who studied International Business as an undergrad in China, says she discovered UTon the internet. “I’m very interested in marketing and read online that UT has very good businessprograms,” says Liu.

After graduation, she hopes to utilize her passion for marketing to help others. One sourceof inspiration was a principle she learned in her Brand Management class. “A real marketer’sjob is making changes to people’s life in a positive manner,” Liu explains. “That is exactly myaspiration of life.”

Every road to cultural adjustment has a few bumps — such as language or communicationbarriers. Liu says she learned and practiced English throughout her school years in China. How-ever, since English is not her first language, it takes a bit more focus. “I am an international student,so the pressure here is with having to listen very carefully,” says Liu.

When she’s not in class or working part time in the UT campus library, Liu says she enjoysgoing to the beach and Curtis Hixon Riverfront Park in downtown Tampa, or just grabbing a biteto eat with friends.

What’s Liu’s favorite American food? “Cheeseburgers,” she says. “Chinese food in the U.S.is different from the food in China. My mom’s food is my favorite food back home — she makesKung Pao chicken, tofu, and soups,” Liu explains. “The food here is much sweeter than Chinesefood back home.”

Liu’s circle of friends includes other international students from various parts of the world.She loves the diversity of her social group, enjoys learning about the cultural backgrounds ofher friends, and sharing her Asian culture. Liu says having an open mind and being able to adjustto anything are key ingredients for a successful experience as an international student in theU.S. “It’s all about experience,”says Liu. “Be open-minded to different cultures, and don’t havestereotypes of other people — no matter where they come from.”

WORLD VIEW STUDENT PROFILE:Xiao Liu

by Rosa Mercado

This mountain is considered to be thebody of a warrior spirit; not onlylocal legend, but the fact that noone has ever successfully climbed it(and a few have died in the attempt)solidified my respect for KawaKarpo. Since arriving in Yunnan

Province in southwestern China, my sem-inar colleagues and I had been learningabout this region and Tibetan religion,ecology, and cultural identity. Most promi-nent in my mind now as I looked at themountain was our seminar leader DanSmyer Yu’s lecture entitled “MountainDeities and Ritualized Relation of Land andHuman Dwelling.” The deep connection be-tween the people and the land was palpa-ble; I could both intellectually understandas well as feel why legends and folklorewere so deeply rooted in the land and in-spired by these mountains.

The day before the hike we had arrivedin Shangri-la, where I would say our offi-

cial immersion and contact with Tibetanstruly began. Prior to 2001 and Shangri-la’srenaming to attract tourists, this particular“Shangri-la” was a moderately-sized, mostlyethnic Tibetan town named Zongdian.Modern Shangri-la is a fascinating mix ofold Tibetan village and new Chinese archi-tecture. Leaving Shangri-la on the morningof our hike, we experienced a harrowingbus ride through massive highway con-struction. Then, after a steep hike down aseries of forested trails, we arrived at theShangri-la Institute’s eco-lodge within theBaima Xueshan Nature Reserve at the footof Kawa Karpo.

We set out the next morning afterbreakfast for a day’s hike towards themountain. The thin air (we hiked around3,000 meters, or roughly 9,000 feet) taxedmy breathing at times, and by mid-day wetook a much needed break for lunch. Westopped at a nomad’s camp, and visited afamily that spent a few months in these

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A Visit to the Warrior Mountain: a Hike Around Kawa Karpo Story and photos by Scott Alan Husband, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology

I was standing at the base of Kawa Karpo,

a mountain sacred to the local residents.

The summer sky was clear blue and the

air cool, with intermittent flashes of

glare from small pockets of ice and

snow that still clung to the mountain.

pastures grazing their livestock. They shareda gracious meal of local Tibetan fare includ-ing tsamba (a barley flour and butter teamixture), yak momos (Tibetan dump lingswith yak meat), vegetable dishes, and yakbutter tea (an acquired taste). The family’sfather kept our tea cups full and also at-tended to churning yogurt in hugewooden casks. He sang a traditional songthat not only helped him to pass the timebut to keep track of the number of churnscompleted.

Several hours later we made it closer tothe base of Kawa Karpo, where there wasagain time for rest, photographs, and re-flection. On the return hike to the eco-lodge, my fatigue instantly vanished whenI encountered a male Yak. I had inadver-tently gotten in between him and a femalewhile crossing a small stream and he beganto charge my guide, Gomba, and I. Someshouting and waving of our walking stickssent him back on track to focus on the fe-male he was pursuing. The return hike alsobrought some rain, but that didn’t dampenmy spirits one bit. Dinner that evening in-cluded the trading of songs between ourlocal Tibetan hosts and our group, alongwith traditional dancing. This day was by farthe best of many great days in the seminar;it seamlessly combined body, mind, and

religions across cultures, and whether suchuniversal human inventions reflect thefunction of the human brain as it evolved.I am already integrating other material in-spired by my trip into my courses as well(e.g., states of consciousness material inmy Behavioral Neuroscience course).

In my scholarship, I am exploring theintersection of brain areas with deep med-itative practices. Tibetan Buddhism is one ofthe earliest systematic introspective tradi-tions, predating the introspection methodsof early psychologists by hundreds of years.Ancient Tibetan ideas about consciousnesslegitimately point the way to interestingavenues of research that can be combinedwith modern neuroscience techniques.Numerous recent studies regarding medi-tation effects on the brains of Buddhistmonks, particularly changes in the pre-frontal and parietal cortex, illustrate thatthese long-held practices have measurablecorrelates in brain function. After my expe-riences in southern China, which wereenabled by the generous financial and ad-ministrative support of the University ofTampa, I have a renewed sense of missionin exploring these topics, sharing themwith my students, and contributing to theseareas of research.

spirit as I hiked, reflected on the academiclectures, and experienced this awe-inspiringlandscape infused with such deep culturalsignificance.

Participation in the international facultydevelopment seminar to study Tibetan cul-ture has had a big impact on me personallyand professionally. The trip deepened myinterest in meditation practices and theireffects on the brain, as well as the evolu-tion of supernatural and religious beliefs inhuman societies. My experiences have en-riched several courses I teach at UT, as wellas my scholarship, in ways I could nothave imagined prior to actually going onthe trip.

In the seminar, I became aware of a reli-gion called, “Bon”, whose adherents in Tibetare called “Bonpo.” This religion predatesBuddhism’s arrival into China and Tibet. Ithas many surface similarities to Buddhism,mixed with animistic concepts and deitiesinhabiting the natural world. In my Evolu-tionary Psychology course, we discuss howarcheological artifacts from early hominids(ancestors of modern Homo sapiens) indicatea growing level of cognition and develop-ment of beliefs in a spiritual realm (e.g.,totemic cave paintings, burial rituals forthe dead). I am creating an entirely newunit for this course on the fundamentals of


This past summer I interned withChina Entrepreneur Magazine. BeforeI arrived in Beijing I had been studyingMandarin Chinese for two semestersat two prestigious schools in Shanghai.When most Americans think of China,they imagine it to be a communistcountry with a strong authoritativegovernment. My internship and myyear abroad in China gave me a greatperspective of what China is really like;I came to realize that I felt more freein China than I do in the United States.China has grown into a progressive,successful, and modern country thathas a flourishing, relatively free market.

During the time of my internship my Chinese was very good: but far from fluent. Withexception of one of my coworkers and my supervisor, none of my coworkers could speakEnglish. My communication with my coworkers had to be done in Mandarin Chinese.Communication with my coworkers significantly helped me improve my Chinese. Mytasks included proofreading translated articles, providing captions for magazine segments,providing insight, contacting foreign sources, and light translation. Though I do not haveany plans to become a reporter, this was an invaluable experience that has directlycontributed to my future goals and aspirations.

Various experiences enriched the value of my internship. This past July, I was called toattend a boardroom meeting to discuss China Entrepreneur’s edition on Africa. Many ofthe top reporters, managers, and editors attended the meeting. Though the meeting wasconducted in Chinese, I could understand about 60% of what was covered (my supervisorlater informed me on the parts that I missed). I was asked to research and provide information on many African issues. In addition, since English is my first language, I wasasked to email/contact people in Nigeria that could help with stories on that region. Themanagers of the company also asked for my assistance on the creation of a Facebookand Twitter page for China Entrepreneur. After a long discussion I informed them thatthe creation of these pages would not be a great idea; first because these sites cannotbe accessed in China, and secondly because China Entrepreneur’s competitors alreadyhad these pages (in which all of these pages had fewer than one hundred followers,which made these pages look unsuccessful).

After I graduate I will be returning to China to find work; I want to live and work inChina. My internship experience has allowed me to further understand the Chinese office setting and business within China. In addition, my internship has allowed me togain invaluable language and communication skills. Since China Entrepreneur is such areputable magazine, this internship experience has strengthened my resume and willhelp me secure an affluent job once I return to China. Overall my experiences in Chinaare priceless and I can’t wait to start my career there.

China is the new land of opportunity.

20 www.ut.edu

DAN MIXAMy Internship in Beijing

FIRST IMPRESSIONSby Ronald Kuntze, Ph. D.

I found a lot of surprises in China — first the con-trast between modernity and the peasant past. Itwas not uncommon to see a new BMW racingdown the road, passing a small mule team pullinga load, which would in turn be passing a singlebarefoot man maneuvering an overburdenedrickshaw-like cart full of branches.

In class the first day — the air conditioning wasnot working, and the AC units were very high upnear the ceiling. The gorgeous building we werein (tall, multi-story, granite and marble) looked in-credibly impressive from the outside but was notunlike a 1960’s era classroom inside — old, roughsounding AC units struggling with the heat, tinycheap wooden mini-table chair combinations notunlike those I had used back in the day. Therewere also no working controls for the AC systemthat we could access.

So a ‘team’ of school construction workers stoppedby to ‘fix’ the units by cleaning them out (they hadapparently not been cleaned since construction,some 10 years previous). They did not bring a ladderor any obvious tools; they simply began stackingthe unused chair/table combos up to reach theAC units some 15 feet up. We continued teachingwhile one of the workers dangerously scamperedup the eight or nine precariously wobbling desksand pried open the front of each unit, allowingyears of dirt and dust to fall to the floor. Studentsmoved their seats to the side (but not far enoughif the leaning tower of desks/ chairs were to fall— nor far enough to miss some of the falling de-bris). While this occurred my co-professor and Ilooked on incredulously. About 30 minutes laterthey were done — about a hundred labor laws andOSHA violations would have occurred here in theU.S. — but they seemed happy with a job welldone and the students remained totally uncon-cerned. And yes, nobody died (and no ladder orconstruction tool was harmed!).

UT Professors Steven Geisz and Ronald Kuntzewere invited to China to guest lecture at SiasInternational University, a private college affiliated with Zhengzhou University in theHenan Province, in the summer of 2011. WhileDr. Geisz is a veteran traveler throughout China,it was Dr. Kuntze’s first experience in the hostcountry. Below are some of his first impressionsin the ancient city of Xinzheng.

When one thinks of manufactur-ing in China, images of largefactories producing electronicgoods often come to mind.However, venture beyond thelarge cities such as Shanghai,and you will encounter firms

that challenge these preconceptions.During my three weeks in China, I en-

countered a new breed of entrepreneur inthe lovely city of Shangri-La. Kesang Tashiis Dartmouth-educated and lives in NewHampshire. Fiercely proud of his Tibetanheritage, he has founded several entrepre-neurial firms in the ethnically Tibetan regionsof China. His mission is to preserve the tradi-tional crafts and way of life of the Tibetan cul-ture through sustainable enterprises.

The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep inTibetan culture since the region sits alongancient trade routes for silk and tea. Tashiaccomplishes his social mission by estab-lishing companies that manufacture itemsusing traditional methods and importingthem for sale into the U.S. and Europe.The items are also available in Chinathrough storefronts in areas with largetourist economies like Shangri-La. One of hisprimary start-ups manufactures wool rugs

in several shops in the ethnically Tibetanregions of China.

The weaving tradition in the region datesto at least the 11th century according toTashi. More recent activities have focusedon weaving rugs for domestic consump-tion and until the 1940s the industry sup-plied saddle rugs for British troops in theregion.

In the 1980s Tashi became disillusionedwith his career in the U.S. banking indus-try and sought a way to reconnect with hishomeland in Tibet. After several trips tothe region he decided that the best way topreserve the culture was to support thelocal traditions and he began recruitingmaster weavers to serve as mentors andmanagers for his enterprise.

It can take up to 9 months to make acarpet using the Tibetan methods. Kashi’sfirm currently employs about 350 people inthe region. Kashi views his social enterpriseas a critical link that can help preserve andprotect the heritage of the Tibetan people.China has over 50 distinct ethnic groupsand Kashi has been working to popularizehis social entrepreneurship ideas so thatother groups may also benefit from thiseconomic model.


Social Entrepreneurship in China Story and photos by Michael Weeks, Ph.D.

I’ve wanted to see Poland, but also toreturn to Berlin, where a shard of myidentity and just a little bit of my mem-ory might be revived from 1979, that

year I lived there. And where anotherwall, one in the novel I’m trying to finishby the end of summer, might yield at myreturn. I almost stayed to marry a German,and isn’t that old life in the novel some-where, revived, in new pieces, new people?

That first evening we dine at the famous14th century Restaurant Wierzynek, de-lighted by the old-world elegance, the sortof place where waiters lift silver covers offentrees in rapid sequence. The next fewdays familiarize us with the tempo andtruer nature of the tour. It is indeedquickly paced, but with a grim tone: byDay 3 we’re at Auschwitz. I’ll never beprepared, of course, for that, but I’ve beendoing as much reading as possible. Allspring and into June, I’ve been carryingaround Tony Judt’s Postwar: The History ofEurope Since 1945. I’m not “the historian,”so the book, almost a thousand pages, hasbeen essential — though I’m only on page463 when we get there. I’ve read some oth-ers on the list: The Uses and Abuses of History(McMillan) and Stasiland (Funder), thelatter some of the finest literary nonfiction

22 www.ut.edu

RUINANDREVIVAL:History, Modern Memory, and Identity.Poland and Germany. by Lisa Birnbaum, Ph.D.

It’s a pro forma icebreaker and much more. Our seminar leader at Jagellonian University

(est. 1364) in Krakow recalls disarmingly a period of unhappiness during his undergraduate

days in Chicago. He inspires us to be as much ourselves as possible when it’s our turn to

speak, so beyond saying where and what I teach, I admit I’m working on a novel, looking

for a better understanding of my narrator’s early life here. (Thereafter, I’m “the novelist,” as

another is “the historian,” and another “the journalist.”) The group of nearly 20 — university

professors, actually, and one high school teacher, and the two in charge from CIEE — is

reassuringly interested and warm. It’s my first academic seminar overseas, my resistance

to organized tours giving way when I saw the title:

Auschwitz death camp

you’ll find about communist life. The filmThe Lives of Others was also recommended,and is also impressive.

The ruinous evidence of foreign occupa-tions is here “in the shadow of Auschwitz,”as they say in Krakow. At the annual Jewishfestival, with visitors and presenters andmusicians from all over the world, “virtualJewish culture” circulates for almost aweek in the artificial shell of the old quar-ter. The oldest synagogue (16th century)in Poland, Remuh, still holds services forthe few — I heard the number 120 severaltimes — observant Jews who live in Krakowtoday. “Judaica devoid of Jews,” the jour-nalist Konstanty Gebert described the phe-nomenon the day before, adding that it’sdifficult to be enthusiastic about the some-times “inauthentic” events conducted by“the descendants of the murderers, theaccomplices, or the indifferent onlookers”of the Holocaust. (It’s now called not the“destruction” or the “annihilation” of Jewsbut more often the “killing” or “murder,”language that makes one more aware ofeach human life criminally taken.)Nonetheless, in his fascinating book Livingin the Land of Ashes, Gebert writes that it iswrong to criticize any such cultural effortfor its “ill will or artistic tawdriness.”

We later attend a talk at the fledglingJewish Community Center by Jan Gross,who grew up in Poland and is now Professorof War & Society at Princeton. He discusseshis research into pogroms such as the onehe wrote about in Neighbors (2001) — in1941, in a single day, 1,600 Jews werekilled by their fellow townspeople, with-out Nazi coercion. The book caused greatcontroversy, though the facts were drawnfrom municipal records. His appearancehere in Krakow so concerned our seminarleader we were asked not to speak about itahead of time. Equally powerful is Gross’Fear, a gruesome account of post-Holocaustanti-Semitic violence. In 1946, non-JewishPoles in several towns killed hundreds ofreturning survivors, and Gross asserts theguilty did not want to be reminded of thespoliation of Jewish property in whichthey had participated and upon whichtheir livelihoods then relied.

At Auschwitz we try to imagine the littletown’s flourishing community of Jews, at

eye might be caught by a small shiny cobble-stone standing out from the others, almostunderfoot. On closer inspection, he will seea name engraved in the brass, of a previousresident of the neighborhood, with thedate of his or her deportation to a concen-tration camp. Below that, the date ofdeath. It is a distressing recognition thatevery day we walk over the past, all itshorrors, mostly unaware.

At the Berlin Wall Memorial Site, theoriginal inner and outer walls loom, recon-structed to show the sequence of obstaclesfacing a would-be escapee. Midway acrossthe Death Strip stands a display of photo-graphs of those 136 killed there, surpris-ingly few, even with eight defecting guardscounted. The museum director told us thatwhen the Wall came down in 1989, some-one had inconceivably rescued two of theguard towers, probably more than 30 feethigh, from the euphoric, destructive cele-bration. When reconstruction began at thiscentral site about five years ago, no towercould be found among the ruins. Knowingit was essential, the director had no choicebut to purchase one of them, miraculouslyintact, on ebay.

The design decisions of curators andboard members fascinate our group. The

the bustling intersection of internationaltrain lines, along a river, all surprisingly or-dinary before the Nazis chose it especiallyfor those features of its excellent location.The last Jew died recently, having stayed onfor reasons we can not imagine after seeinga film of contented survivors of Oszpicin(its Polish name) now living in Israel. Severalof our program speakers steadfastly assertthat we can accept coexisting narrativesabout the Polish role in the Holocaust —they were heroes, they were victims them-selves, they were blackmailers and murder-ers — even if we cannot reconcile them.“It’s our only hope,” one concludes.

After four days or so, we fly to Berlin,and I am relieved and thrilled to find thatbisected town of my memory now thrivingin its openness. More than two decadeshave elapsed since the Wall came down, butits absence has the effect of fresh, excitingnews. Especially in Berlin, our seminarthemes guide us: Arts, Literature and Cul-ture; Institutions and Education; and Placeand Memorial.

Just outside our hotel in the formerEast Berlin, as on many streets all overEurope, is a small part of the largest artworkin the world, “Stumbling Blocks,” begunby Gunter Demnig in 1994. A pedestrian’s


Above and top right: the Berlin Wall Memorial with reconstructed tower;right: a section of “Stumbling Blocks”

stylish architecture of the Topography ofTerror Historical Site & Museum strikes “theartist” among us as disconcerting, althoughthe intent is for a visitor to see how elegantthe displays of the Third Reich could some-times be. What is apparently an art piecealong a wall draws us, until we discover it isa collection of ghastly photographs and per-sonal possessions of victims. The Memorialto the Murdered Jews of Europe is an evenmore controversial design, and more mov-ing — its maze of charcoal slabs surroundsinterior rooms where one can hear recordedtestimonies of survivors and read thewords of victims. Some in our group takeissue with the means of commemorationthere and elsewhere, with monuments“telling us more about the people whoerect them than about the events or peoplethey’re made to honor.” A speaker at themuseum refers to “fast-food commemora-tion,” the kind that gets gobbled up with-out much thought, processed experiencesthat don’t deliver consequential effects.

Everywhere we witness the representa-tion of history still in flux, something thatcan’t be grasped until one is close in,where the fighting over versions is moreintense. “Witnesses are the enemy of his-torians,” someone ironically remarked. Inspite of invaluable first-hand experience,their focus is inevitably small, tighter thanan outsider’s overview, and their purposesoften in conflict.

has been mandated in German schools fora long time; though only in 1999 was it in-stituted in Poland. The general revival ofinstitutions as well as the arts that one seesin the culture of Berlin has happenedfaster. Krakow is comparatively inexpen-sive to visit, the economy much weaker.Poland’s wartime losses were far worse,notably in human lives (one in five of thepre-war population, the highest percent-age in Europe). Yet the memorials we havevisited there do not equal these startling,heartbreaking, challenging ones in Berlin,perhaps partly because the imperative toconfront the past is greater for Germans.They have had to afford it.

In a fine restaurant at the Hauptbahnhof,Berlin’s main train station, our group savorsa parting champagne toast to the grandand complicated city glittering beyond thebroad windows. Many of us speak, againof identity, but not as we had as strangersat that first gathering in Krakow. To thegroup, I say my experience in these twocountries has most of all been about thecharacter and the imagination of the peo-ple whose stories we’ve encountered inthe memorials and museums. But it is alsoabout the character of my present com-panions… and my character, while livinghere at age 24 and now, at the end of atransformative journey. And it is also aboutthe character in my novel, whose silenceabout her history and her refusal to believein the past has begun to be explained byall we have seen. Identity is a matter ofhistory, and even an invention of theimagination must live and breathe throughmemories.

At Humboldt Box, project headquartersfor the Berliner Schloss, the Berlin Palacein the center of the city, we find a disputein progress. According to some, the projectis outrageously wasteful in a time of greatneed, even if the massive expense for thereconstruction is privately funded. The EastGerman government squandered a smallfortune in 1950 demolishing the venerablestructure. Now, to reconstruct a copy, fourtimes as much is required. The scars ofdemolition will be deliberately exposed insome parts of the new building, an interest-ing mark of historical strife, then and now.

“The past was used,” one speaker tells us,“for an array of political purposes.” Duringthe Cold War, what happened during theShoah was sometimes ignored in favor ofother agendas. Still, Holocaust education

24 www.ut.edu

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Humboldt Box

Photos © dream

stim

e.com

JENNA TINNEY WAS AMAZED TO LEARNTHAT REAL PEOPLE ACTUALLY PLAY POLO.The University of Tampa student was alsosurprised to find that although Americans andthe British speak the same language, theycannot always be easily understood. Tinney,20, spent the summer of 2011 interning forCaptive Minds, an event marketing companyin London. From the beginning, she realizedthis jump into such an exciting journey wasdifferent from any other work experience shehad ever had.

During one of Captive Minds’ biggest events,MINT Polo in the Park, Tinney says her Amer-ican accent was just too thick for many of theprominent members of London society. “I hadto put on a slight British accent just to com-municate effectively,” says Tinney.

More than 10,000 people attended the three-day polo extravaganza in Hurlingham Park,which won the London Sport Attraction of theYear award for 2010 and 2011. Tinney playedan integral role in the meet and greet ses-sions by bringing players to meet their fans,escorted prominent guests and media to thepress box, and also did some stargazingwhen cast members of the TV show Gleemade appearances.

Experienced at finding local internships while atUT, Tinney wanted to broaden her experience

British servicemen in the program became thefirst team of war-wounded amputees to reachthe North Pole. Along the way, the veteranswere joined for a week by Prince Harry,making the undertaking even more prominentin British society. Captive Minds was in chargeof the post-trek PR and Tinney played a partin publicizing the record-breaking feat. “I wastasked with creating a press book, assistingin the coordination of media coverage, andworking at an event with Prince Harry andthe team of wounded soldiers,” says Tinney.

Beyond the whirlwind of exciting events,Tinney gained valuable professional skills,along with a new perspective and under-standing that comes from an experienceabroad. “I learned how to prepare for a large-scale event and not get overwhelmed, howto promote with various forms of media andpress kits, and how to work with a prominentand diverse clientele,” says Tinney.

Learning all this in an international context ledto increased interest in her resume and re-sulted in three internships since she’s returned,including one in New York this summer.

As she reflects on her time in London, Tinneyrecognizes how the experience affected herpersonally. “It made me more independent,”she says. Along with this, she also becameaware of some commonly-held stereotypes.Tinney says there were several who believedthe American college student stereotypes ofGreek life, provocative co-eds, and ubiquitousred solo cups. Despite this, the chance tolearn how others view Americans was eye-opening and a great opportunity for cross-cultural insight — revelations that would neverhappen without an adventurous spirit and thewillingness to get out of one’s comfort zoneand pursue an experience abroad.

Photos courtesy of Captive Minds, UK

by working abroad. She found the interna-tional internship with Captive Minds throughthe help of UT’s Office of International Programsand CAPA International, an education abroadprovider.

Tinney, a Communications major, says a newworld was opened to her while in London,and describes the working environment thereas relaxed, collegial and egalitarian. She wasgiven important responsibilities and tasks fromday one. “There was little emphasis on hierar-chy,” says Tinney. Sometimes her co-workerseven served her tea — a British mainstay everyday at 4 p.m. She was pleasantly surprised bythe lack of separation between colleaguesand friends and describes her relationshipswith her coworkers as friends working to-gether. Many evenings office members wouldall go out together in London. This dynamicwould serve them well for the many weekendevents and long hours required in the industry.

As glamorous and fun as the polo event was,Tinney says her most meaningful opportunitywas the work she did for the “Walking withthe Wounded” North Pole trek. In April 2011, the


MINT Polo in the Park, 2011

opportunities ABROAD by Katie DeGuzman

internships:

“Walking with the Wounded” North Pole trek, 2011

debt before. What becomes clear whenmeeting with the villagers, not only at thePak Mun dam site, but in all villages, is thatthey are hopeful people who love their fam-ilies, where they live, and want the returnof their former lives.

On a boat trip on the Mun and Mekongrivers, it was clear to see that there are stillmany people trying to live off the bountiesthat the rivers bring. On both rivers onecan see canoes, small boats and peoplethrowing fishing nets into the waters.These people were always seen smiling,waving, and willing to show their catch forthat day. I don’t believe I have ever seen amore joyous people, even with the diffi-culties that they face in their daily lives.

After seeing the impact of a Pak Mundam that is already constructed, I got to meet

river. The impact of these releases of non-native fish and shrimp are still being deter-mined. Studies have looked at solutions tothe dam’s impact; one from Khon KaenUniversity found that the gates should beleft open only 4 months out of the year,however this study and others have beenignored by the government. There havebeen calls for money to compensate thevillagers for the loss of their way of life andto purchase land for resettlement, yet helphas been slow in coming. Meeting andspeaking with the villagers, it is clear to seethe impact: they miss the fishing and trad-ing that goes along with that way of life.One man said that “the Mun River is likea bank for the poor,” but since the dam hasbeen opened, these villagers have becomepoorer and owe money where they had no

26 www.ut.edu

Is ItThailandorSiam? by Susan F. Brinkley, Ph.D.

Chair and Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice

I was fortunate to be able to participate in an international faculty development

seminar titled, “Human Rights in Thailand: Military Coups, Social Movements

and Rule of Law.” Having traveled extensively, this area of the world was

new to me and represented my first trip to Asia. I knew that I was headed to

Thailand, yet I encountered many people who still referred to this beautiful

land as Siam.

Human Rights have long beenan area of interest to me bothacademically and personally.I have been a member of

Amnesty International and Human RightsWatch for years and it was an honor to beable to see first hand many of the strugglesI have only read about in the past. Someof the topics that were covered during theprogram included the series of coups thathave plagued Thailand over the years, theresults of governmental decisions upon theThai people, as well as forestry changes andthe impact upon villagers whose livelihoodsdepend upon access to the lush forests andaccess to medicinal plants. These topics,and others, were presented to us by someof the most important figures currently liv-ing and working in Thailand.

A visit to the Pak Mun dam site broughtforth the implications of governmental de-cisions upon the rural people of Thailand.The Pak Mun dam was built as a means tocontrol the water flow during the rainyseason and to serve as a bridge to connectboth sides of the Mun River. The govern-ment moved an entire village and another45 villages may be at risk of being moved.The people of these villages have existed forgenerations because of the river, taking theirfood from its waters and growing vegeta-bles on its banks. Once the dam was built,the fishing deteriorated. As a response, thegovernment released non-native fish andshrimp back into the affected parts of the

h

with a group of villagers at a proposed damsite called Ban Kum. Due to the involve-ment of NGO’s and the increased activismof the people impacted by governmentaldecisions, the people in this village haveknowledge that was not available to thosein the Pak Mun dam site. These villagershave already experienced decreased fish-ing because of dams built in China andthey do not want their lives further dis-rupted by the Thai government building anew dam 2 kilometers upstream from theirvillage. This group is concerned aboutbeing displaced and since most rural Thaipeople over the age of 40 have only 4years of education at most, it would be dif-ficult for them to find employment. Theproposed dam would also result in the lossof habitat along the banks of the MunRiver due to a proposed golf course andrecreational facility to go along with thenew dam. In speaking with these villagers,they feel lucky because they have knowl-edge of the dam’s impact, have the experi-ence of other villagers who have beenthrough similar events and, unlike theirneighbors across the river in Laos, they feelthat at least they can protest the govern-ment’s proposed actions.

In meeting with so many villagers af-fected by changes to the Mun and MekongRivers, I learned their social structure haschanged. Young people, especially those ofchildbearing age, are leaving the forests forthe big cities in search of work. They leavetheir children with their parents andgrandparents in the process; this haschanged the family dynamics, perhaps for-ever, in this part of the world. Walkingthrough the villages, one sees very youngchildren and very old people — no one inthe middle age groups. Historically, theelderly people in Asian societies are fre-quently revered for their knowledge,looked up to for advice, and taken care ofby the younger generations. When I askedan older man if he thought the exodus ofyoung people to the cities for work haschanged the relationship between the oldand young within his village, he respondedthat young people see “old people as stu-pid, like a thousand year old turtle.” Whowill look after the elderly when their chil-dren and grandchildren leave the villagesin search of work and don’t return?

Silvaraksa has been arrested many timesfor offenses such as lese magiste (speakingill about the monarchy) and defamation(his offenses related to speaking ill aboutspecific individuals in the government andthe monarchy). His view of the criminaljustice system is eye-opening. Being in a12 X 12 foot cell with 90 other people, nobeds, a hole in the floor as a toilet, and notenough food to go around is certainly nota place anyone would want to go — espe-cially someone who while there was nom-inated for the Nobel Peace Prize!

It is difficult to put into words all that Ilearned during this Thailand program. I havebeen introduced to the Thai people in a waythe average tourist is not; people who, bywestern standards, at least, are living inpoverty. However, these people seemed in-credibly happy, content, hopeful and inter-ested in us. They had little food, but sharedwhat they had. They lived in thatched roofhuts, but shared the few chairs with theirvisitors. Whether called Siam or Thailand, avisit to this land will leave lasting memoriesof beauty and happiness.

One of the people that I met during thistrip to Thailand and whom I will never for-get is Sulak Silvaraksa. He is editor of So-cial Science Review, a social critic and hasbeen a champion of economic, social andcultural rights in Thailand and throughoutSoutheast Asia. Sulak discussed Buddhismand human rights with a focus upon therole that greed, hatred and confusion playsin the lives of people and their decisions.Buddhism is a way of life that encouragesall to seek truth for oneself. This truth,Sulak believes, can force a bad govern-ment to change through the thoughts,speech and actions of ordinary people.However, this change can only happenwhen people question their government;left unquestioned, he believes that govern-ment will commit violence, greed and killits citizens. He believes that education canteach us to be less selfish, learn to livepeacefully with others and respect therights of others. Yet, when the focus be-comes “I” (as in my rights, my money, mywelfare) the danger impacts all of us.

As a criminologist, I was interested inthe role the death penalty plays in a reli-gious country such as Thailand. Sulak in-dicated that Hindus support the deathpenalty but most Buddhists do not. He be-lieves that those who do support capitalpunishment have received western educa-tions primarily in the United States. Yet thedeath penalty is used often in this part ofthe world and because media coverage ofthe death penalty is nearly non-existent inThailand, the average person has no ideaabout the occurrence of executions. Simi-larly, the criminal justice system is not re-ported on frequently in Thailand. Sulak


Dr. Susan Brinkleywith Sulak Silvaraksa

of socio-cultural anthropology to interna-tional management theory. As a conse-quence, my research interests cover a widerange of topics, such as conflict resolution,material culture, infrastructure, gender re-lations, ethnicity, socialization, religion,myth, values, etiquette, music, food, festi-vals, and language. As a result, learningabout the culture was the first step in myquest to understand management, organi-zational behavior, and entrepreneurship inEast Africa.

The three main cultural influences inAfrica are indigenous, Islam (East), and theWest. Known as the triple heritage, thesetraditions have come together to create arich, blended culture. First, the indigenousAfricans generally embrace nature, “hold-ing dear what was near to them”. Whiletraditional Africans are interested in theoceans for sustenance, they cared muchless about what lay beyond the horizons.

Visitors to Tanzania and Kenya will findstriking landscapes, high concentrations ofwildlife, and pristine beaches. The coun-tries also attract people interested in someof the earliest and richest archeologicalsites in the world. Louis and Mary Leakey,the dynamic husband-wife duo, discov-ered Australopithecus boisei or “Nutcrackerman” in 1959 at Olduvai Gorge in Tanza-nia, confirming the existence of hominidsapproximately 2 million years ago. It wasexhilarating to walk in the footsteps of theLeakeys, in a place known as “the Cradleof Mankind” for its central role in under-standing early human evolution.

My interest in the land was driven bythe curiosity to learn about the East Africanculture, for it is difficult to understand thepeople from outside their environment.Having minored in anthropology duringmy doctoral studies in business administra-tion, I was most interested in the application

28 www.ut.edu

To most Americans the word “safari” means little

more than a trip taken to observe and photograph

animals and wildlife. Tourists from all over the

world dream about coming face-to-face with the

Big 5, a term originated during the great hunting

expeditions of the last century. Referring to the

elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, and buffalo, animals

thought to be the most dangerous to kill, these

trophies are the most treasured. In Swahili, safari

means “long journey.” The international faculty

development course on “Tanzania and Kenya:

Landscapes and Culture: Human Geography in

East Africa” lasted only ten days, but my safari

to Tanzania and Kenya was a “long journey”

into the soul of East Africa.

A Long Journey into the Soul of East AfricaStory and photos by Bella L. Galperin, Ph.D.

Traditional Africans believe that animalshave souls and that the forces of creationand humans were partners with nature.The African man is the hunter; the Africanwoman is the mother and cultivator. Aman can have as many as eight wives andtwenty-five children, because to be re-membered after death by ancestors repre-sents immortality.

The cultural influences of Islam (East),which started in the seventh century, alsoplay a role in African heritage. The IslamicArabs from North Africa shared their Ara-bic language and Islamic religion with theAfricans. Islam provided Africans with dis-cipline and a new sense of direction, asthey prayed to the East. The notion of asingle G-d also became more important,though the concept was not novel to the

the bush, zigzagging though the shrubs lis-tening for chirping birds in the trees. Sud-denly, the group of men decided to takebreak and make a fire by rubbing a cylin-drical piece of wood into a tree branch.What was the purpose of the fire? It wasto light the pipe so that they were able tofinish smoking the remaining tobacco.They completed their break by pickingbright orange berries from a nearby bushin an attempt to replenish their energy be-fore continuing their hunt.

During my encounters with the indige-nous African traditions, I recalled our classdiscussions on the influence of culture onbehavior in my Global Organizational Be-havior class. We discussed that nationalculture consists of a complex set of inter-actions of values, attitudes, and behaviors

enced African culture. Along with the Eu-ropean colonists, Africans developed newtastes such as French bread in Senegal orTusker beer in Kenya.

I was fortunate enough to experienceall cultures of the triple heritage during mysafari. Rather than only wearing khakiclothing with animal prints and a sloth hat,I became a participant-observer. In otherwords, I was able to experience the cultureand become actively engaged within thecultural landscape of East Africa. Instead ofbeing enclosed in a comfortable five-starhotel room, our team leader provided uswith the opportunity to understand theculture from an “insider’s” perspective andgo beyond our comfort zone.

One of the highlights of my safari wasvisiting the Hadza, a hunter-gatherer eth-


Africans since more than 2000 years be-fore Muhammed; Akenhatem worshipedone G-d: the Sun. Moreover, the lunar cal-endar became the center. The influence ofIslam is also seen in gender relations. Al-though women were initially segregatedand isolated in traditional Islam, modernMuslim women viewed themselves to holdmore equal roles compared to men.

With respect to the Western influence,which is largely characterized by Christi-anity, nature is both separate from andserves man. This perspective has certainlytipped the delicate scales of ecological bal-ance. Despite the long term consequencesfor the environment, profits became centralto decisions regarding the environment.When Christian missionaries first came toAfrica, they taught reading, writing, arith-metic, and religion. Africans learned tospeak, dress, and think like Westerners.Africa’s rich colonial history also has influ-

nic group in north-central Tanzania, wholive around Lake Eyasi in the central RiftValley and the Serengeti Plateau. Accord-ing to a National Geographic1 article pub-lished in December 2009, the Hadza are atrue hunter and gatherer society since theypossess no crops, livestock, or permanentshelters. Genetic testing suggests that theseBushmen may be one of the “primary rootsof the human family tree — perhaps morethan 100,000 years old.” We were wel-comed to their community by a group offive men with blood-shot eyes sitting by afire and roasting their recent kill whilesmoking a pipe filled with tobacco andmarijuana. Rather than just listening tothe guide about their culture, I joined theBushmen as they hunted. They used theirdelicately hand-crafted bow and arrow tocatch their next dinner — little birds. Weclosely followed the Hadza’s agile leanmuscular bodies as we trekked through

exhibited by its members and covered howsocial scientists gather data and measurenational culture. In management, we usevarious frameworks which attempt to clas-sify cultural values on various factors (e.g.individualism vs. collectivism; power dis-tance; and time orientation). While thesedimensions enable researchers to measurenational culture by quantifying how coun-tries score on various values, I was remindedof the importance of ethnographic dataconsisting of rich descriptions and accountsof culture enabling the reader to be placedin a context, which is often lost in the quan-tification process.

In our visit to Nairobi, I noticed a womanselling a pile of sardines on the ground andasked our guide Mary whether I can get

1 Michael Finkel (2009, December). The Hadza. NationalGeographic Magazine. Retrieved from http://ngm.na-tionalgeographic.com/print/2009/12/hadza/finkel-text.

permission to take a picture of the micro-entrepreneur. She spoke to her Swahiliand responded, “yes,” with a smile. Thebusinesswoman was actually one of Mary’sstudents. As part of a program to empowerwomen by starting small businesses, Maryhelped her acquire the necessary skills tostart a venture. I couldn’t wait to share thisexperience with my graduate class on con-tingency leadership which highlights theimportance of the external environment onleadership effectiveness, as well as entrepre-neurial leadership. At that point in time, Ithought that despite our visible differencesin skin color and clothing, we were similarin our quests. We were both interested ineducating others so that our students canmake better lives for themselves.

My most memorable experience withthe Eastern triad of the triple heritage was inZanzibar, the spice center of Tanzania, whichhas a 95% Muslim population. Witnessingthe lunar eclipse on the beach after chant-ing from the mosque was surreal. Althoughinitially perplexed since the chanting didnot correspond to one of the five prayertimes, we soon realized that we were listen-ing to a special prayer for the eclipse (SalatulKhusuf or the eclipse prayer) in order to

conservatively despite the heat. While Iwas deep in my thoughts, a “beach boy” indreadlocks wearing a Bob Marley shirtapproached me asking whether I was in-terested in buying traditional African paint-ings. After a relaxing morning, I enjoyed adelicious lunch (chicken tikka masala andKenyan Tusker beer) while listening to asmall Indian band in the distance who hadjust finished playing an Indian melody andstarted singing, “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias.

observe and reflect on the beauties andwonders of the natural world — as signs ofAllah’s majesty. It was certainly an unfor-gettable and magical evening.

Our visit to the Anglican CathedralChurch in Zanzibar reminded me of theWestern role in Africa. The church, con-structed between 1873 and 1883, is the lo-cation of the holding cellars where theslaves were kept. The church was built byEdward Steere, the third bishop of Zanz-ibar, in celebration of winning the battleagainst the slave trade. Dr. David Living-stone, an anti-slavery campaigner, finallywon his crusade in 1877. As I stood in theslave cellars, I was saddened by imaginingthe living conditions of the slaves. It washard to believe that I was walking in thechurch which sat on the island’s largestslave market.

It was only on the last day of my safari,after the faculty course officially ended,that I was able to fully appreciate Africa’s“triple heritage.” After taking the ferry fromDar Es Salaam, I had the wonderful oppor-tunity to discover a nearby beach calledSunrise Beach. As I looked around, tradi-tional Muslim families enjoyed their Sundaymorning and the women were still dressed

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Bella Galperin with her new friends in East Africa

for an island located only 90 miles fromthe Florida coast, Cuba has remaineda forbidden destination for many trav-elers. According to Dr. James Lopez,

Associate Professor of Spanish at the Uni-versity of Tampa, more than one millionCubans — almost 10 percent of the totalCuban population worldwide — live in theU.S. The historical ties between Cuba andthe U.S. date back to the Spanish-AmericanWar, the Cold War, and the Cuban Revo-lution, yet very few Americans had theopportunity to travel to Cuba — until now.

The University of Tampa was one of thefirst American universities to take advan-tage of the Obama administration’s easingof certain academic travel restrictions toCuba by leading a group of 17 students toCuba in January 2012. The trip was part ofa UT travel course focused on Cuban polit-ical economy and cultural history called“Revolutionary Cuba.”

Seeing the students adapt and interactwith the Cuban people was one of thehighlights of the experience for Lopez, oneof the faculty leaders of the course. “Thestudents were able to take what theylearned in class and apply it to the actualexperience of coming face-to-face withCuban reality,” says Lopez. “They did so ina fashion that made us proud.”

During the intensive 10-day trip, thegroup traveled by bus to six cities in Cuba,participated in cultural activities, met withcommunity groups, and toured historicalsites. Free time was included in the dailyschedule so students could explore ontheir own and interact with the locals.

From the moment Eric Louderback, 22,arrived on the island, he was intrigued bythe experience and the people he metalong the way. The Sociology major re-members a taxi ride in Santiago de Cubaon the first day of the trip.

“We were talking to the cab driver inSpanish about his car,” Louderback says. “Hesaid it’s a 1959 Plymouth and that he doesall the work on it himself. It’s incredible.”

For decades, Cubans have found waysto keep historic buildings, cars and relicswell-preserved despite the 50-year-old tradeembargo with the U.S. Louderback refers tothe attitude of the locals he met as “resolver”which in Spanish means “to solve.”

“It’s a ‘we’re going to fix things andmake things work themselves’ attitude,”says Louderback.

About half of the students on the tripspoke Spanish, including Louderback, whostudied abroad in Barcelona, Spain previ-ously. “The people were really open to us.They would take the time to talk to you


not forbidden...not forgotten by Rosa Mercado

and ask you what you think about Cuba,”says Louderback. “People are more socialthere — more community-oriented. Theywould hang out outside with their neigh-bors and talk, whereas in America peoplekind of stay shut-off in their homes.”

Lopez says the experience reaffirmedhis belief in the value of educational expe-riences abroad.

“Over and over again the studentswould tell me that no amount of classroominstruction would have been able to fullyprepare them for the actual experience ofbeing in Cuba,” says Lopez. “The excite-ment and emotion was evident everydayin the way they carried themselves andtook full advantage of the trip.”

For Louderback, going to Cuba fueledhis desire to work abroad in the future.After graduation this Spring, he plans topursue a master’s degree in Sociology andhopes to research quality of life issues bothhere and in Latin America.

“The people you meet on the trip —both in the group and outside — the locals,the experiences — it’s life-changing,” saysLouderback. “You really come back to yourhome-country with a whole different per-spective on the world. It’s made me considerthings on a global scale.”

ONE STEP AT A TIME, BUT DREAMING BIG.This is the mantra I’ve had since the begin-ning of my college experience. When Istarted at The University of Tampa, I camewith the dream of becoming a U.S. Diplomatand being a positive agent of change whileimplementing U.S. foreign policy. I knew thatin order to achieve my dream, I needed tostart small. Starting from the beginning meantgetting involved on campus and participatingin many programs and organizations. Takinga semester abroad, interning for an office inthe private/public sector, or just participatingin research fellowships and extra-curricularactivities on campus help students developcrucial skills needed to perform successfullyin the outside world. Some students think thatbeing active within a campus organization orparticipating in study abroad is not helpful, isjust more work, and is a waste of time. Butwhat they don’t realize is that while involvedon campus or living abroad in a study/workenvironment, they can find new opportunitiesthat can change their life. This is what hap-pened to me this summer while completingmy internship in Madrid, Spain with the U.S.embassy.

Before starting my internship, I knew that achallenging experience was waiting for me.What I did not know is that with it, new op-portunities were going to be waiting for me,too — opportunities that were going tochange my life trajectory. As I started my in-ternship, I demonstrated to my supervisorsmy capability to handle high-level tasks.Some tasks included writing and drafting thedaily report for consulate officers and assistingthe Control Manager’s Office with the visit of

accepted into both programs! I believe the ulti-mate success of my application was due toshowing extensive participation on campusas well as education abroad programs andinternships during my time at UT.

As I look back through all of my experiencesduring my time in college, I do not regret thetime I spent in my extra-curricular activities,studying abroad and interning in differentcountries with the U.S. Department of State.Living abroad and interacting with differentpersonalities and cultural backgrounds gaveme the confidence needed while working atthe embassy with high-level officials. All ofthese skills and experiences led me to whereI am now.

When I get time to talk to first year students,I always advise them to enjoy one of the besttimes of their life, “the college life.” I advisethem to not rush. Many students come withthe idea of graduating early or in a shortamount of time; do not do that. Instead, planfun projects that will make you different fromthe rest of the students. Take your educationto a completely different level. Plan to partic-ipate in fellowships, enjoy extra-curricularactivities, travel abroad as a student—notlike a tourist (it is different living in a countryfor months), and take as many internships aspossible. Always ask yourself, “What canmake me different from others and morecompetitive?” If you just follow the normalacademic curriculum, you will be just onemore like the others. Remember, while em-barking on one of those experiences, an op-portunity could be on its way that couldchange your life trajectory completely.

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to Madrid,Spain. The performance and quality of my workduring the first weeks of my internship gaveme the opportunity to get assigned even morechallenging tasks. I was designated to be theembassy’s representative in an ambitiousfundraising project of 300,000 Euros. I workedclosely with high-level managers of 65 U.S.private companies investing in Spain and Por-tugal. After weeks of hard work, I achievedthe embassy’s goal and raised 350,000 euros,surpassing my supervisors’ expectations. Allof the accomplishments during my internshipin Spain were, in part, due to lessons learnedfrom my past experiences as a student leaderat UT, from past internships (U.S. Departmentof State, U.S. Senate, among others) and frommy participation in exchange programs dur-ing my time at the university.

After proving myself in my internship, a greatopportunity was presented to me: applyingfor a Dual Masters Program at Instituto Em-presa, Spain and Columbia University, NYC intandem with a U.S. Department of State pilotFellowship/Fulbright program that would payfor the cost of tuition and expenses of theprogram. At that time, getting into the pro-gram looked impossible due to its highly com-petitive application process. But at the sametime, the opportunity looked like a dreamcome true. During the last weeks of my in-ternship, my supervisor (now the current U.S.Ambassador to Guatemala) kept pushing meto apply to both the fellowship and the dualmasters program since he claimed I had thequalifications to be accepted. Now, aftercompleting such a stressful and rigorousprocess, I am happy that I applied as I was

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opportunities ABROAD by Carlos Salinas

internships:

FAQ’sPrepare to be global citizens! Today’s employers seek graduates who are able to communicate in at leastone foreign language, have multicultural knowledge, possess skills and training in negotiating with peopleof different cultures, and have the ability to work outside of the United States. With The University of Tampa’seducation abroad programs, you can gain the skills that will offer international career opportunities in a number of disciplines and industries. Questions?

Who is eligible to study abroad?UT Education Abroad programs are open to all UT students, including freshmen and graduate students. Applicants must be in good academic standing with at least a 2.5 GPA and may not have any current conduct sanctions with UT’s Office of Student Conduct.

Where can I study abroad? And for how long?At The University of Tampa, your options to study abroad are almost limitless. Students have travelled to China, India, Brazil, Ghana, the Galapagos, Costa Rica and Dubai, as well as more traditional locations such as Australia, Spain, Italy, and the UK. Only countriesunder a U.S. Department of State Travel Warning or Alert are off-limits for study abroad programs. Program lengths vary from severalweeks to a full semester or academic year. Flexible options such as UT Travel Courses ensure that education abroad is available to all students, regardless of schedule constraints.

Can I use financial aid for education abroad?Students often assume it is more expensive to study abroad than to remain on UT’s campus, however many education abroad destinationsoffer lower tuition and cost of living. In most cases, students can apply federal student aid and Bright Futures Scholarships to educationabroad, and many other scholarships and awards are available. Students should meet with a Financial Aid Counselor to determine how financial aid could be applied towards an education abroad program. Please note that some UT scholarships and aid cannot be applied towards study abroad.

Will credits from study abroad transfer to UT?All courses taken abroad are reviewed by UT faculty to determine credit equivalencies. In most cases, students are able to earn credit forcourses taken abroad, including course requirements for majors or minors. It is important to plan ahead and discuss study abroad planswith an academic advisor to ensure it will fit into an academic plan.

Do I need to speak a foreign language?A number of UT education abroad programs are designed to improve foreign language skills and allow students to earn credits towards a language major or minor. However, there are programs open to students with little or no foreign language background. Many of our partnerschools offer courses in English, even in countries such as Italy and Spain, as well as beginner level language courses.

How do I begin the process?The first step in studying abroad is to apply to the UT Office of International Programs. The application is available online via the Spartans Abroad Program Portal. Once your application is approved, you will be contacted by an education abroad advisor to set up a first step meeting. At this meeting, you will find out the next steps, such as how to complete the program application and how to ensure that courses abroad are approved for credit transfer.

EDUCATION ABROAD


Enhance Your Résumé!Build Your Credentials through an Education Abroad Program at The University of TampaThe University of Tampa’s education abroad programs prepare students to be global citizens so they may recognize international career opportunities in various disciplinesand industries.

Today’s employers seek graduateswho are able to communicate in atleast one foreign language, have multicultural knowledge, possessskills and training in negotiating with people of different cultures and have the ability to work outsideof the United States.

Explore Your Options:UT TRAVEL COURSEEnroll in an on-campus course with a travel component. Continue to earn UT academiccredit as you travel after the on-campus portion or during spring break. Each course’stravel component may last from seven days to four weeks and vary slightly each year.

SEMESTER/YEAR ABROADGot the travel bug? Each year UT sends more than 100 students abroad for an entiresemester or year-long educational experience. Our students are currently studying inIndia, China, South Africa, Turkey, Iceland, Dubai, Brazil and Costa Rica, as well asmore traditional locations like Australia, Italy and the UK.

INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIPSThere are many internship programs which specialize in placing you with a companythat best matches your major, interests, experience, and skill set. Placements includead agencies, cultural institutions, and multinational corporations such as Saatchi ArtGallery, American Express Services Europe Ltd and CNBC Europe.

UT COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNINGCombine your volunteer service with travel abroad and benefit communities outside theUnited States. Community Service Learning trips have gone to Peru, where studentswork with children whose families cannot afford public schools, as well as other destinations such as Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Jamaica. You will receive notation on your co-curricular transcript and/or academic credit.

Learn more by contacting: OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMSEducation Abroad | (813) 258-7433 | [email protected] | www.ut.edu/international

Documents

The University of Tampa World View Magazine