During 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”
It’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.
Today the world is a small place. The population continues to grow while perceptions of distances and differences are minimized by faster and smarter ways for the world’s citizens to connect. That reality means we are confronted daily with the effects our actions can have on people not just across the table but also across the globe.
While most of us will be returning unwanted Christmas gifts and taking advantage of post-holiday sales in early January, several Auggies will be heading south, not for the entire winter but to participate in study abroad programs and non-credit seminars. There are two “Winterim” study abroad courses–REL 480: Vocation & Christian Faith in El Salvador and AIS 305/490 Indigenous Issues in Guatemala.
Who wouldn’t want to spend a semester in the “city of eternal spring”? Ask Antonio Ortega, a staff member at the Center for Global Education’s study site in Cuernavaca, Mexico. “I think students have been to Cancun or Acapulco and think ‘I’ve been there, done that.’ They think Mexico, as a place to study, is not as interesting as Europe or South Africa,” he said.
For the past 28 years, Augsburg’s Center for Global Education (CGE) has offered Women’s Studies courses in Mexico as a way to internationalize class curriculum by crossing international borders and expanding learning experiences. This past July, CGE offered a faculty development program in Cuernavaca, Mexico for women’s studies faculty who were interested in globalizing their courses. During the seminar, professors from several disciplines had the opportunity to meet with many Mexican women who have had significant influences in the Mexican academic world. 
While many Mexicans are heading north to Minneapolis, Augsburg students Courtnie Higgins and Sarah Mueller have headed south for a semester at Augsburg´s Center for Global Education (CGE) campus in Minneapolis’ newest sister-city, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Students who study abroad often return home and tell of profound, life-changing lessons. Through their programs, students come into contact with a wide range of people and circumstances, and many of these encounters lead students to explore careers or ways of life they had previously not considered. Augsburg’s Center for Global Education sums up this experience with a promise: “See the world through another’s eyes, and your world will never be the same.” 
In October 2007, Mexican artist and social activist Alejandro González Aranda visited Augsburg College. Aranda’s visit came at the end of an exhibition of his linocuts in the Christensen Center Art Gallery that was part of that year’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of the