Winter Term Global Engagement programs send Elon students, faculty and staff throughout the world

More than 1,100 students, faculty and staff are participating this month in 44 programs on six continents.

The arrival of Winter Term at Elon comes with the departure of hundreds of students, faculty and staff to locations spread across six continents, with unique programs that cater to a variety of interests across multiple disciplines.

Elon University is renowned for its emphasis on global engagement, and Winter Term is the busiest time of the year for this critical element of an Elon education. During this year’s Winter Term, which spans the month of January, approximately 1,000 students will participate in intensive programs through Elon’s Study Abroad and Study USA programs, cohort travel and course-embedded travel.

Among the new programs offered this year:

· Boston: Mindful America, Mindful Elon

· New York City: Wealth and Poverty

· Spain and Morocco: Historical and Contemporary Encounters

· Washington, D.C.: Democracy in Transition: Presidential Inauguration

The Washington, D.C. Inauguration program is a special, topical course designed to bookend a timely course last year: The Iowa Caucuses. On this program, students, faculty and staff attended various campaign events, volunteered on-site with campaign operations, and student journalists conducted interviews with all the candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties.

During the winter term, Professor Betty Morgan leads a group of students to critically examine the transfer of power in the American political process and its ramifications for presidential appointments and policymaking. The students will cap the D.C. experience by attending the inauguration of the new president on Jan. 20.

Three students have the opportunity to see this important political season from start to finish: They saw the process begin in last year’s Iowa Caucuses course, and they will see it culminate in this term’s presidential inauguration course.

Unique to Elon is the preparation students receive for their Winter Term programs. Most Study Abroad and Study USA courses require a one-credit course in the preceding fall semester, where students meet with their faculty members and classmates as they learn in advance about the locations and cultures they plan to visit. The classes allow professors to forge strong relationships with their students and give students an avenue to learn about each other prior to their immersion in new and dynamic places.

In addition to the more than 30 programs managed by staff in the Isabella Cannon Global Education Center, each of the cohorts and courses listed below have students that will also be involved in a study away program this Winter Term:

Business Fellows
Communications Fellows
Elon College Fellows
Honors Fellows
Leadership Fellows
Teaching Fellows
iMedia Fly-Ins
MBA study abroad
BUS 270: Innovation in America
BUS 350: Business of NASCAR
HST 376: Trauma and Displacement

Elon also offers short-term faculty led programs during the summer, such as Germany and Italy: Barley and Vine – Viticulture and Brewing, and Japan with Seoul: Exploring Business and Culture. The Global Education Center has also piloted a new program model: semester travel-embedded courses. This fall, students enrolled in the courses Peru: Wilderness and Adventure Therapy, and Iceland: The Crucible of Fire and Ice studied on location during Thanksgiving Break.

The Global Education Center will showcase all short-term programs and kick off the application period for Winter Term 2018 Study Abroad and Study USA programs at the Short-Term Global Programs Fair, held at College Coffee on Feb. 28. Here, students can learn from program leaders, chat with returned students and see which new programs will be revealed for 2018.

These programs, in addition to a wide offering of Elon Centers Abroad, affiliate and exchange programs, Study USA Centers and internships abroad, contribute toward Elon’s goal of achieving 100 percent access to global engagement. As a result, Elon is consistently ranked the nation’s #1 master’s-level university for international study by the Institute of International Education, and four out of five graduates of the class of 2016 participated in Study Abroad or Study USA while at Elon.

To stay abreast of Elon Study Abroad and Study USA travel this month and always, follow @ElonGlobal on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Join the conversation at #ElonGlobal as Elon celebrates critical engagement all over the world.

Complete Winter Term Global Engagement programs include: