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Center for Global Education and Experience Expands to Northern Ireland

A group of nine students look out over a valley with their arms around each other and their backs to the cameraStudents study abroad for many different reasons. For those who are passionate about social justice, Augsburg’s Center for Global Education and Experience (CGEE) has long offered unparalleled engagement with local communities in Mexico, Central America, and Southern Africa. 

Now that portfolio includes a fourth global site in Northern Ireland. 

In Spring 2023, CGEE will welcome its first cohort of students to a new semester program in the vibrant city of Derry–Londonderry. Based at Ulster University, the Conflict, Peace, and Transition program will critically examine the work of justice, reconciliation, and repair in relation to the history and legacy of the Troubles. 

“This program will give students a unique opportunity to wrestle with the question of building a shared future from a divided past and to witness the hard work of reconciliation after conflict,” said Patrick Mulvihill, assistant provost for global education. Coursework will focus on understanding the politics of the Northern Ireland conflict and the transition to a sustainable democracy. Students will also participate in internships at local peacebuilding organizations and engage in field visits to Belfast, the Antrim Coast, and the border counties of Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Armagh.

Augsburg CGEE programs are open to students from any undergraduate institution. Prior to its transition to CGEE, the Conflict, Peace, and Transition in Northern Ireland program—formerly known as Democracy and Social Change in Northern Ireland–was delivered through the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA), with the first group of students participating in 2002.

“After the disruptions to study abroad over the past two years, we’re thrilled to be in a position now to expand our offerings,” said Mulvihill. “We’re particularly grateful to our program partners in Northern Ireland, whose commitment to experiential learning reinforces everything we’re about here at Augsburg.” 

To learn more, request information, or apply for the spring semester, visit go.augsburg.edu/northernireland.

Augsburg Faculty Awarded Fulbrights in Ireland and Slovenia

George Dierberger headshot
George Dierberger
Joseph Erickson Headshot
Joseph Erickson

Augsburg faculty members George Dierberger and Joseph Erickson have been named Fulbright Scholars for the 2022–23 academic year. Each year, the Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board select roughly 800 U.S. citizens to receive the Fulbright Scholar award for international travel, study, and teaching.

A competitive Fulbright application requires strong academic merit, demonstrated leadership potential, and a good match between an applicant’s strengths and a host institution’s needs. But for both of Augsburg’s faculty recipients, there’s a personal connection that makes receiving the Fulbright particularly rewarding this year.

Dierberger, an associate professor of business administration who also directs Augsburg’s MBA program, is mindful of family history as he prepares to spend three months in residence at the Atlantic Technological University in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. While this will be his first trip to Ireland, his great-great-grandfather hailed from County Cork. During the fall semester, Dierberger will develop case studies, lecture on innovation, help to build out a curricular focus on entrepreneurship, and partner with the Letterkenny business community to create an advisory council and internship opportunities.

Erickson, a professor of education and a psychologist by training, first visited Slovenia in 1994 through connections made by former Augsburg colleague Magda Paleczny-Zapp. Several of the graduate students tasked with assisting the Erickson family during that trip are now faculty themselves—including a department chair at the University of Ljubljana. Erickson will spend the spring collaborating with a team in Ljubljana to adapt a tool used to measure racial attitudes in the U.S. for the Slovenian context. He and his colleagues will shape the new scale around nationalism, a key issue for a society at the crossroads of western and eastern Europe and a way station for refugee migration.

In addition to these faculty awards, Augsburg was recently named a top producer of Fulbright students among U.S master’s institutions, with three students receiving scholarships to teach English abroad in 2021–22.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. For over 75 years, the program has provided more than 400,000 participants with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to challenges facing our communities and our world. ​​Fulbright alumni include 61 Nobel Prize laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 40 who have served as a head of state or government. Learn more about the Fulbright Program here.

Reflecting on migrant workers’ hardships from CGE Mexico campus

lippittabroadErica Lippitt ’13, international business major, returns to our CGE Mexico campus for the second time to study abroad.

When we buy produce, do we really know what we are paying for, or the story behind the produce? Most likely the produce you recently purchased is produced with the help of migrant workers. Migrant workers, year after year, separate themselves from their families to work the season, which is usually eight months. Children are left without their fathers, and wives without their husbands, all because the economy of their home country is struggling and jobs aren’t available. When we purchase produce, we don’t think about the terrible living and working conditions the migrant workers are subjected to, the medical effects, or the non-economic effects. Continue reading “Reflecting on migrant workers’ hardships from CGE Mexico campus”

Short-term study abroad: a credit and an amazing experience

shortterm_abroadDuring the winter break, several students and faculty were busy learning abroad on short-term faculty-led programs through Augsburg Abroad and the Center for Global Education.

Winter faculty-led programs were:

History of Cuban Music in Cuba with Professor Bob Stacke, Music

Students experienced the fascinating culture of Cuba and its history, politics, and religion by exploring the way Cuban music has contributed to Afro-Caribbean music as a whole. Students also explored how music is used as a means of expressing cultural difference and social realities. Continue reading “Short-term study abroad: a credit and an amazing experience”

A reflection from Namibia

katelyn_abroadKatelyn Danelski ’12 [right] spent the fall semester studying at the Center for Global Education center in Windhoek, Namibia. The following is her reflection on the experience, written after her return to Minnesota.

*****

“How was your trip,” people ask me. “I hope you had a good time,” they say.  This past semester spent studying abroad in southern Africa with 14 other university students was so much more than just a “trip” or a “good time.” It was a life-changing set of experiences. Homestays, speakers, traveling, classes, and conversations all took me and others to new places and perspectives on spiritual, geographical, and personal levels. Continue reading “A reflection from Namibia”

Auggies aborad: Fia Goldfine in Germany

fia_germanyIn the months preceding my anxiously awaited departure to Bad Mergentheim, Germany I made a few personal preparations. About three months prior to leaving, I began learning the German language and reading all the books I could find on German history and tourist highlights that I wanted to be sure not to miss. Regardless, no amount of studying or research could have prepared me for the shock of landing in Frankfurt among a crowd of German speaking Deutschlanders. Soon after arriving, I took my first ride on the Bahn and made it to the scenic little town of Bad Mergentheim, in which I have spent the last two months studying. Continue reading “Auggies aborad: Fia Goldfine in Germany”

Auggies abroad — Katie Radford in Ireland

katie_abroad
Radford and friends at Coral Beach. Courtesy Katie Radford.

This semester, business major Katie Radford is studying at the National University of Ireland in Galway. Below she shares some highlights of her experiences so far. Read more about Katie and her adventures abroad on her blog — Katie’s Journey in Ireland.

Classes:

* Memory and Cognition psych course–300 person lecture!

* Operations Strategy business course which is actually composed of Masters students, Engineering students, and undergrad business students like me.

* International Business is also a lecture course also with 300 students and a hilarious professor. Continue reading “Auggies abroad — Katie Radford in Ireland”

Study abroad this fall—deadline extended to April 1

studyabroadIt’s not too late to study abroad next fall! Augsburg Abroad is accepting applications for Center for Global Education summer and fall study abroad programs in Central America, Mexico, Namibia until April 1. Augsburg Abroad is also accepting applications for summer and fall International/Exchange Partners Programs in Norway, Germany, Finland, Slovenia, and China. Please note that the deadline for programs other than those coordinated by CGE and IP has passed.

There are currently eleven Augsburg students studying in Mexico at Augsburg’s campus in Cuernavaca, a picturesque colonial city known as the “City of Eternal Spring.” Psychology major Amy Voigt said, “Every day that I wake up in Mexico is my favorite. I can honestly say that I am unable to choose just one day as my favorite. This is an opportunity of a lifetime that I will cherish in my heart forever.” Continue reading “Study abroad this fall—deadline extended to April 1”

Studying away from Augsburg

gunderson_abroadIn her three years as an Auggie, Annika Gunderson ’11 has almost spent more time away from Augsburg than on campus. This international relations and Spanish major from Winona, Minn. has studied abroad three times, spending five weeks in Cuernavaca, Mexico, a semester in Central America, and another semester in Brazil.

Gunderson first traveled to Mexico in the summer of 2009 through Augsburg’s Center for Global Education. There, with a group of students, she studied Latin American culture and civilization. “It was a transforming experience,” she says. Continue reading “Studying away from Augsburg”

A summer in London

rostad_abroadUntil a few weeks ago, Grant Rostad had never traveled outside North America and had never lived more than lived 20 miles from his parents’ home. Now the Augsburg senior is “across the pond” doing an internship with Ernst & Young in London.

“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done,” says Rostad. “If you had asked me about this my freshman year, I wouldn’t have even thought of it.”

An accounting and finance major from Bloomington, Minn., Rostad applied for the internship after a friend recommended he participate in a program abroad. He’s working in Strategic Growth Markets (SGM) doing assurance and auditing for the firm. Continue reading “A summer in London”