Students 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 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 .

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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.

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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.

It was this past week during our days in the indigenous community of Amatlán that I learned about the hardships migrant workers endure. We heard the story of Alvaro, a man who migrated to both U.S and Canada with work visas to work in the agricultural sector. The living conditions he described are inhumane. Imagine living in a house with twelve other workers where there aren’t enough beds, only one refrigerator and one stove. The carpet was full of bedbugs and mold growing along the walls. The work conditions aren’t usually any better. Migrant workers usually work twelve hour days, seven days a week working with chemicals such as pesticides. Migrant workers usually encounter health problems from working with pesticides, both short term and long term and there aren’t enough knowledgeable doctors. Many workers are unaware of their medical rights because everything is written in English and/or nobody told them and unfortunately is doesn’t help with long term illness that for many results in death.

As consumers we are made to believe that a large, red tomato is the best and what we should buy, but we don’t see what is behind the big, red tomato. We don’t know about the effects from the pesticides and other chemicals the workers work with, or the living and social conditions many migrant workers encounter. These hard working men and women migrant workers endure all of this because they see a light and hope to better their life and their families.

Something to think about as I return back to the U.S is if there are migrant workers in my community and if so, what I can do to not seclude/discriminate against them. Also I think we should think of ways to advocate for migrant workers, whether it be concerning working conditions, living conditions, medical rights, long term effects, and community involvement. How can we get involved to make the already treacherous journey a little better? What rights to legal and/or non legal migrant workers really hold in the U.S?

Want to study abroad?

Apply to Augsburg Abroad by MARCH 12. Come to Murphy Place for walk-in advising:

10:30-10:50 a.m. MTWF

2:30-2:50 p.m. WF

3:30-3:50 p.m. TTH

GET STARTED HERE: Questions? abroad@augsburg.edu or 612-330-1650

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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.

Trekking the Mountains in Mexico with Professor Tony Clapp, Health and Physical Education [pictured here at the top of the Sleeping Lady’s Knee: Iztaccihuatl ˜16,737 ft.]

This program combined a local immersion experience in a Mexican community with an outdoor adventure like no other. Students learned firsthand how our bodies respond to high altitude and monitored the physiological changes they went through when reaching the summit of two peaks in the Sierra Madres.

Vocation & Christian Faith in El Salvador with Professor Matt Maruggi, Religion

This program focused on the concept of vocation in the context of poverty and political injustice. Students examine how Christian theology has been used both to justify oppression, support social justice movements, and offer hope for a peaceful and just social order. We will also reflect on our own sense of vocation in relation to our learning experiences in El Salvador and at Augsburg.

Augsburg student Natalya Brown participated in the El Salvador program. Upon her return, she shared the following:

“I think that if you were to ask anyone that went to El Salvador over break, they would say this experience was extremely humbling. There are many families in El Salvador that are living off of one dollar a day to provide for their entire family and students here complain about the food in the cafeteria. Through this experience, I have become SO much more grateful for what I have and more aware of what others do may not. You may here about people living in bad conditions but when you see it for yourself, it makes it that much more real.

While listening to people that have survived the civil war, one can sense how strong their love and faith is to God. Everyone that we met with thanked God that they were alive and able to share their story with us, instead of asking why God let it happen. It was a very rewarding trip, and it fit in perfectly with the class I would recommend this program to not just students studying religion, but to students with various interests.”

Zack Sommer, a senior who participated in the Mexico program, said, “Trekking the mountains in Mexico was a powerful experience mentally, physically, and spiritually. My perceptions of what it means to be a global citizen have been elevated and the challenges of this trip brought the members of our group together in a way that we understood and appreciated each other.”

Apply by Feb. 1 for Summer Faculty-Led Programs

now, so they are easier to complete than ever! Also, students may come into the Augsburg Abroad office for advising and to find out more about summer programs: teaching English in Thailand, engaging in a business simulation in Germany, building a dam in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, or experiencing internationally renowned theater in Scotland!

International Management: Germany May 12-June 10, 2012

BUS 465 or FIN 460 1 credit AugExperience Int. Bus & CCS Elective

Explore cutting-edge international business in its cultural context with a two-week immersion in Germany plus a two-week exchange program with German students in Minneapolis. Faculty: Marc McIntosh

Education & Culture: Thailand May 5-28, 2012

ENL 291/391 1 credit AugExperience Humanities LAF

Interact with the people of the Northern Hill tribes, explore Buddhist temples, and experience English-language teaching in a southern village. Faculty: Kathryn Swanson

Political & Civic Engagement: Egypt May 19-June 5, 2012

HIS 195 & POL 160/461 2 credits AugExperience Humanities LAF (HIS 195) SBS LAF (POL 160 only) or POL/IR/PGS Elective

Examine the political movements in the Middle East and explore how grassroots civic engagement plays a role in modern Egypt, while you visit ancient sites and ride a camel! Faculty: Mohamed Sallam & Joseph Underhill

International Theater: Scotland August 7-20, 2012

THR 299 or 495 1 credit AugExperience Fine Arts LAF (299 only), THR or Film Elective

Experience an exhilarating collection of theatrical productions from all over the globe at the world renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Faculty: Darcey Engen

Hoversten Peace Program: El Salvador June 1-9, 2012

AugExperience (Non-credit)

Join with other Augsburg students as well as faculty and staff to develop a strong learning community together, as you learn about peace and global issues in El Salvador.

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“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. It all began with ten days in Johannesburg, South Africa, where we had orientation and first met, then continued on to Windhoek, Namibia, where we studied politics, religion, history, and the “development process,” and ended with a week in Cape Town, South Africa, where it was difficult to finally say goodbye.

While we had many good times and experienced incredible travel, we were also challenged to think in new ways and challenged to wrestle with our own identities in regards to race, class, gender, nationality, and religion, among other things. We learned about apartheid and its legacy; we saw the legacy every day. We learned about education struggles, the wealth gap, HIV and AIDS, gender issues, Christianity’s role in society, and “western” imposition. We learned about Owambo culture during rural homestays as well as how to pound mahangu (a millet used to make porridge) and cook over the fire. I left Namibia and South Africa with more questions than I had upon arrival.

As is true of most people who study abroad, the experiences further molded my character and changed some of my ideas and understandings. It is the little things that stick out most to me now that I am back home. For example, the majority of Namibians and South Africans I met were very welcoming and always took time to have a conversation. The moment I entered customs at the airport in D.C. I knew I was back in the U.S., where interactions tend to be much more formal and fast-paced than what I’d been experiencing the past few months. The welcoming atmosphere and appreciation of time are aspects I hope to incorporate more of in my own life here.

As far as change goes, I am much more aware of considering my “role” in places. What did it mean for me to study in Namibia? What does it mean for me to have had those experiences and now be back in Minnesota? I don’t necessarily have answers for those questions, but I do know that it is important to continue to process them.

My perceptions of southern Africa also changed. Africa, at least from most U.S. media and mainstream society standpoints, is seen as this homogenous continent with poverty and “Lion King” wildlife and scenery. But each country and city and individual person is different from the next. In Namibia alone there are several different ethnic groups, and everything from the capital city Windhoek to deserts, oceans, mountains, and a rich wildlife. I am grateful that many of my preconceived ideas were dismantled and replaced by real life—real people with real stories, and first hand images of Namibia.

This gaining sense of reality is what has truly made a difference to my education. It is one thing to learn in a classroom about being open to others, but quite another to learn from others in their context. The people I met both through the program and otherwise will influence my take on life for years to come. Perhaps it is in the journey home that the journey abroad truly sinks in.

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I’m currently studying international business at DHBW Mosbach campus. My first course was an introductory language class in which I digested more practical German in the first week than I had throughout the three months I’d spent back in the states in my extracurricular studies. My second course was Human Resource Management (HRM) wherein we were taught the value of corporative HRM. After HRM came macroeconomics, international accounting, and then finance. Classes at DHBW are quite different from those I’ve taken at my home institution in the states.

On the weekends I have seized every opportunity to travel to and view the many fine sights Germany has to offer. My favorites have been the castles in Fussen. The Neuschwanstein Castle was absolutely thrilling to tour. It was grand and elegant, piercing proudly through the mountains. Also, I have made my way to many cities on the romantic road. From Wurzburg to Munich, Augsburg to Rothernburg, Stuttgart, Hiedbronn, and Trier; every city has been an unbelievable adventure filled with charm and beauty, each surpassing its reputation.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to visit Berlin. During our five days there, I learned a great deal about the German government and a few of Germany’s largest companies, not mention seeing countless attractions like the Berlin Wall. We started our tour with the Reichstag Parliament, climbing all the way to the top of the glass dome. I also learned all about Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railroad company, as we received a lecture from the head of human resources at the headquarters. We visited the STASI-prison too, the famous Brandenburg Gate, and Alexanderplaz.

Outside of Germany I have visited a few of the surrounding countries including Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Spain, and the Netherlands. Amsterdam was, as it is invariably said to be, an incredible adventure. I visited the Red Light District, as you are obliged to do in Amsterdam, went to the flower market, the Anne Frank house, and the exquisite Van Gogh Museum. Although I must say, our most extraordinary visit had to have been the notorious Prague in the Czech Republic. It was there that I walked through the old Jewish ghetto and learned much of the city’s history. Prague was simply a fairytale. One morning I woke up unusually early and beheld the sunrise on the Charles Bridge; a heavenly sight like none I’d ever set eyes upon.

This has been a wonderful experience that has allowed me to travel to places I would have shamefully never knew existed, meet and befriend delightful new people, and discover so much within myself that I never knew was there. It has been an education like none I could have ever wished to receive, and an experience I will always remember as the trip that so irreparably and fortuitously changed my life. I now possess that feeling you get after visiting somewhere new and knowing you could never be satisfied with just settling down to lead a “normal life.” I want to see more, to ingest every bit I can until I’m full and expired. For anybody considering spending a semester abroad to study in Germany but isn’t sure if it’s worth it, my advice is to not dare deprive yourself of the wonders that lay within the majestic, inexhaustible Deutschland. Es ist die beste Erfahrung.

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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.

* Irish Language for Beginners: We meet twice a week because it is an advanced course and learn how to speak Irish (otherwise known as Gaelic). Irish is very hard to learn because it is NOTHING like what we are used to and doesn’t have a base language like Latin.

* Service Learning: Literacy and Learning in the Community: This is a course that has three main parts. First we have a two hour lecture once a week where we discuss factors centered around child development and learning styles. Then we volunteer two hours a week at a local homework club. I work with 9-12 year olds at Bohermore every Thursday. Volunteering has been both rewarding and challenging. The first time kids wanted to know if I had friends on tele or if I worked for the FBI but since then I’m just another volunteer trying to get them to do their homework. One 10 year old and I have worked out a great strategy though. I help him with math and he helps me with Irish. He finds great pleasure in my inability to say things correctly. The final component is a one hour seminar on Thursdays where we debrief what happened that week at the homework club. This is my favorite class for sure! I love working with the kids and it is a nice change of pace!

Fun/exciting bits:

* I am the Vice Chair of International Students Society and organize cultural events and trips around Ireland. Last week we took 100 students to Belfast and Derry for a historical tour of the cities. It was a fascinating yet sad experience to hear and see how the conflict has literally divided the cities for centuries.

* Spent a weekend in the Gaeltacht at a homestay to practice my Irish. The weekend was full of class, pubs, a Gaelic Catholic Mass service, cailees, and me being completely confused when trying to strive up conversations with the locals!

* I was in an epic cardboard battle in front of the Quadrangle which is the administration building that pretty much looks like a castle. Just for fun here is a video of it. I am the one in a black and white flower box.

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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.”

Voigt, a Weekend College student who came to Mexico with her seven year-old son, added, “As an older, non-traditional student, I have felt extremely welcomed and accepted in the program and homes we live in. The thing I have liked most is allowing myself and my son to engage in a learning experience in which we learn something new about ourselves and others every day.”

All of the students appreciate the fact that they have been able to meet graduation and major or minor requirements while studying abroad in Mexico; core requirements are offered such as language courses, religion, the business keystone, a fitness course, and LAFs in fine arts and other areas.

Maren Daniels, an art education major said, “I have been pleased by Augsburg’s program in Mexico in relation to my graduation requirements. I feel like I have been working my way to graduation. In addition to taking a fabulous Mexican art class that includes numerous excursions, I am taking REL 200 and WST 357, which meets an LAF in the humanities. I am also fulfilling a fitness requirement by taking the Latin dance class. It’s been really fun to learn Spanish and dance at the same time, and it’s a great way to get exercise. I am being challenged here.”

Social work major Chelsea Crivello said, “Studying abroad in Mexico doesn’t set me back one bit. Every class I am taking in Mexico meets the requirements of the social work major.” Similarly, Alicia Fowler said, “Every class that I am taking here in Mexico is counted and goes toward my Augsburg credits. The courses correlate with those back at Augsburg, only in a Mexican context.”

Social work major Deidre Smith said, “I would encourage all students to study abroad, no matter where they are going or for how long. There are things that cannot be learned in the classroom, and things that cannot be learned in the U.S.” Paige Onstad, also a social work student concurred. “Do it!! I had not planned on going until I heard my friends keep talking about and I figured, why not? Sometimes when I’m here I think about what a great decision it was because I am having an amazing semester both in and outside of the classroom.”

Picture: Students in the Migration and Globalization: Engaging Our Communities course in the Palacio de Cortés in Cuernavaca. Courtesy CGE .

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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.

She says Mexico is often written off as a vacation spot where one place is the same as another. The CGE program opened Gunderson to another dimension of Mexico and taught her about the various rich cultural aspects and history of the country.

The structured program also provided opportunities for Gunderson to dialogue with her classmates. “CGE focused on opening up space for us to have conversations and to process our different experiences and opinions.”

Gunderson spent the following fall semester in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua studying sustainable development, also through CGE. She says the semester program was challenging for her academic and personal learning. She adds that it helped her see connections between the countries while also giving her a greater appreciation for the differences.

Last year, Gunderson went to Brazil through the School for International Training (SIT) to conduct research and learn about the social, political, and environmental movements in the country. There she researched holistic alternative health and healing at a center for healing and spirituality.

Gunderson suggests that all students consider studying abroad on a short-term program or for an entire semester. “It’s important to be able to challenge oneself to go beyond, to experience something unfamiliar,” she says. She adds that study abroad is very possible for all students.

Leah Spinosa de Vega, director of Augsburg Abroad, says that study abroad is an essential part of any liberal arts education but is especially important for Augsburg students because of the College’s mission. “It provides cultural learning in addition to academic learning,” she says.

Spinosa de Vega adds that study abroad gives students in all fields a competitive edge in the job market. “All jobs have something international,” she says, “whether it’s product, employees, or customers.” In addition to facilitating educational experiences abroad, CGE also gives students an opportunity to participate in internships as a part of their study.

The cost to study abroad is similar, says Spinosa de Vega, to studying, living, and eating on campus for one semester, so students who are concerned about finances should inquire about options. There are also many external scholarships available for programs abroad, including scholarships especially for students of color.

The deadline to apply for study abroad for the winter break (January 2010) or spring semester is October 1. Go to the website for application materials and information.

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“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.

Rostad says his first experience abroad has helped him gain confidence in himself. “I’m turning into my dad,” he said. His father had a similar experience working in Japan. “He told me before I left to go out and try to meet as many people as I could.” Rostad is constantly working with a team and meeting new people, whether it’s in the Underground or on the way to and from his flat.

Besides the fact that an internship with a leading international accounting firm looks great on a resume, Rostad says he is grateful for the experience of living and working abroad. He likes working with the assurance team, traveling to small towns outside London, and meeting people from all over the world.

Back at Augsburg, Rostad is involved with KAUG as the “advertising guy” and says he tries to get involved in many activities. Thanks to a friend and to Leah Spinosa de Vega of Augsburg Abroad, he can now add study in London to his list of accomplishments.

If you are an Augsburg student studying abroad this summer, please let us know so we can share your experience with the community. Email wheelerw@augsburg.edu.

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