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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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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The first International Business semester study abroad program of the Center for Global Education (CGE) is well underway in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The five Augsburg students in the program have been using Mexico as a case study to explore the global economy in their business course and have participated in many educational excursions to deepen their coursework learning.

From visiting the stock market and US Embassy in Mexico City to staying with local families and touring a five-star hotel in rural Amatlán, these Auggies are finding that the hands-on experiences offered by the program are a huge benefit. Kyle Soderberg, an Augsburg senior, says, “The interactive experiences—excursions and speakers—create learning at another level so it’s more relatable to careers and the future.”

Hannah Carlson, Mara Pederson, and Grady Christopherson second this comment, claiming the meetings with businesses in Mexico City such as Boing cooperative and the Central Bank have so far been the highlights of the semester.

The Augsburg students were initially attracted to the program for many reasons. Carlson was interested because she could study in both her international relations and Spanish and be in a foreign country that wasn’t too far away from home. Soderberg said he was excited about the work experiences. He and fellow Auggie, Kaity Berg, will be working on the business and marketing plans for a local cooperative water park as part of their internship.

Aside from the coursework in business and Spanish, educational excursions, and internship placements, CGE’s business program also offers an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in Mexican culture. Berg says her greatest lessons have come from the interaction with Mexican people, especially during her four-day family home-stay in rural Amatlán. The experience made all the students look forward to their month-long home-stays with local families, which will begin in early November.

Relating their experiences in Mexico back to life at Augsburg will not be difficult, the students claim. Carlson is already making connections between what she has previously learned about NAFTA and the visits the group has made to local businesses. She says the presentation of opposing views is one of her favorite things about the business program. Soderberg agrees that the information he has learned in his major-specific courses is now “more relatable, more applicable, and makes more sense.”

As the semester progresses and students deepen their understanding about Mexico and international business, they will continue to post updates on their experiences in Cuernavaca on the International Business .

Apply by October 15 to participate in the CGE International Business program next fall, go to the website.

Article by Stephanie Jackson, intern, CGE Mexico.

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As students prepare to live and work in this world, study abroad presents more than a simple opportunity to visit another country. Studying abroad gives students hands-on experiences with other peoples and cultures. It helps students expand their worldview and challenges their perceptions about policies, cultures, and ways of life. And it offers a life-changing experience that can prepare students to be ethical, informed leaders in their neighborhoods, in their careers, and in the world.

Study abroad can be an affordable, manageable option for all Augsburg students. To learn more about the programs for the 2009-2010 academic year, attend the Study Abroad Fair on Friday, Feb. 13 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Christensen Center lobby.

Studying business in Mexico, as told by Virginia Biorn

Virginia Biorn [pictured left] studied in Mexico last semester as the first Augsburg business student to participate in the International Business and Global Citizenship semester program in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The new program, which will be fully launched in fall 2009, includes two international business courses that meet the requirements for the major, an internship, and one to three Spanish courses that enable students to complete the foreign language requirement.

How has your semester in Mexico benefited you as an International Business major? How has it enriched International Business education?

It has enriched my international business education by allowing me to apply a lot of the textbook definitions. It’s allowed me to witness things firsthand and learn in ways that would have been impossible simply out of the textbooks.

I learned a lot about identifying specific work in a culture because, again, you can read it out of a textbook, but most of the international textbooks don’t specify any particular culture. I think it is very useful to learn Mexico’s aspects because it is so close to the U.S. and there is a lot of business done there and not only cultural but also political and legal differences.

After having completed a semester in Mexico, would you recommend that other international business students participate in the new International Business & Global Citizenship program? If so, why?

Yes, I would. It is almost vital to do a study abroad program, if not in Mexico, then elsewhere because international business is something that is ever evolving and ever changing and it’s different with every particular country. As we learned here, it’s even different in different states because Mexico is so big and diversified.

Do you think Mexico is a good place to study international business?

Yes, because of NAFTA, which is a huge reason, and because the U.S. has so many business relations with Mexico. It’s now a major trading partner; there are a lot of business people here in Cuernavaca, so that’s plenty evidence that Mexico is important.

What did you like best about studying in Cuernavaca, Mexico?

First, the weather is fantastic. There are a fair amount of Americans here, which is kind of nice because they work in international businesses, and so they can identify with both ways of life and they’ve had the opportunity to compare and contrast, and so they are very useful to talk to. There are a lot of smaller businesses or sister companies of bigger businesses here, and that’s really nice because usually sister business are easier and more flexible to work with but they still have the bigger business programs and ways of doing things.

What do you see as some of the highlights of your semester in Mexico?

During our weeklong break I went to Acapulco and I went scuba diving for the first time, and it was absolutely phenomenal because it was off season for tourists, so it was a little cheaper and a lot less crowded.

Was your internship here valuable?

The company was Enterprising Solutions Global Consulting. Their product is consulting in microfinance or CSR. I enjoyed doing my internship here not only for the value it will provide on my resume but also for working with a business first hand. Enterprising Solutions isn’t a 100% Mexican business – it’s more of a worldwide business. So it was interesting to work on an international level like that.

I worked in the marketing department, which was interesting because it was marketing on an international level, which is very different from the national level. Even defining the clients, it was very different because there weren’t that many, so it was interesting from that perspective.

Is there anything else you want to say to other international business students at Augsburg?

I would highly recommend the program, and it would be very difficult to go into a career without having any sort of study abroad.

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This year there is also non-credit seminar on Leadership and Vocation in Mexico, designed for the students and mentors who are part of the Augsburg Scholastic Connections program. All these short-term programs are designed to give students a rich and meaningful learning experience abroad in a week to 10 days.

Cindy Peterson, the director of Augsburg’s Scholastic Connections program, is leading a seminar to Mexico titled International Perspectives on Leadership and Vocation. Five Scholastic Connections students and two mentors will live and learn at the Center for Global Education site in Cuernavaca.

The Scholastic Connections program helps students develop leadership skills and encourages them to discern their vocations through work with a mentor. Peterson said the travel seminar will expand on these objectives using Sharon Daloz Parks’ Big Questions, Worthy Dreams. “Daloz Parks posits that one of the tenets of mentoring communities is exploring the ‘other,'” Peterson said. “What better way to do that than through a cultural immersion?”

Peterson said the Center for Global Education staff in both Minneapolis and Cuernavaca helped her create an experience that will introduce students to speakers relevant to their fields of study. They will meet with small business owners, members of an NGO working on community health and development in an indigenous community, and a former president of the Community Land Council. The group will also visit a traditional clinic, a metal-works crafts co-op, and a Catholic faith-based women’s organization.

While the group will spend most of its time in Cuernavaca, they will have a one-night homestay with the indigenous community of Amatlan. Peterson said she is excited about this part of the trip and is also looking forward to spending time with a curandero (a traditional indigenous healer) and to participating in a healing ceremony at a pyramid ruins outside Mexico City.

“Doing cultural immersions makes people better people,” Peterson said. She has been to Guatemala and Namibia with other Augsburg groups and said she still feels connected to the people she traveled with and the people she met while abroad. “I’ve also learned that the world is a small place and that I have way more in common with others who are different from me than there are differences.”

Though Peterson said short-term study programs can be challenging, she encourages other faculty and staff to consider putting a seminar together. “These experiences are enlightening and transformational.”

Vocation and Christian Faith

Bev Stratton, Religion

Focuses on concept of vocation and the relationship of the Church to poverty, political oppression, and social change. Examines the ways in which Christian theology has been used to justify oppression and injustice as well as to support social justice movements.

Indigenous Issues of Central America

Elise Marubbio, American Indian Studies, Women’s Studies, English

Explores the contemporary issues faced by the Mayan peoples of Guatemala, who have survived for 3,000 years despite colonial oppression, genocidal practices, and contemporary discrimination and exploitation. The class will meet and talk with Mayan people, learning about their struggle for existence and human dignity and witnessing their enduring connection to land, language, and spirituality.

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However, in addition to offering beautiful weather and mosquito-free nights, Antonio says Cuernavaca is an excellent location for students to learn about LGBT rights, the feminist movement in Mexico, environmental issues, or business and trade. Cuernavaca is also noted for its innovative grassroots organizations, alternative approaches to health care and education, and for its role in the history of social struggle. “And we have really great food,” he added.

Antonio, who has been on the Mexico staff for five years, is in Minneapolis until December to recruit students for the Center’s semester programs in Mexico. He has been enjoying life as a temporary resident of the Seward neighborhood and traveling the Midwest participating in study abroad fairs.

At the Cuernavaca site, Antonio teaches Mexican and Mesoamerican history. He believes it is important for students to understand Latin American history so that they may be more culturally competent. “The Latino presence in the United States is huge now, and these students will have to deal with Latinos in their professional fields.”

He will also teach in the Center’s new business program, “International Business and Global Citizenship,” starting in the fall of 2009.

Antonio suggests that students study in Mexico because to obtain at least a basic grasp of the Spanish language and an introduction to Latin American culture in order to work with Latinos in the United States. The Center for Global Education partners with a well-known language school in Cuernavaca to provide more than 15 Spanish offerings, including speical classes for health care and for business. In addition, students may focus their semester program in one of several areas such as gender studies, women’s studies, business, environmental studies, or religion through an internship. Finally, Antonio says students should come to Cuernavaca to see the newly remodeled facilities and to escape the Midwestern winters.

As a gay activist in Mexico and in Morelos, the state in which Cuernavaca is located, Antonio says he is proud of Augsburg’s achievements in the area of gay activism and LGBT education. He will speak about the history of the LGBT movement in Mexico at the Nov. 4 Soup and Sexuality presentation. He has been involved for several years with Grupo CD4, a sexual education and AIDS prevention organization in Curenavaca. Many students who come to Cuernavaca, both for semester and short-term programs, learn about Grupo CD4 and other Mexican social justice movements.

Students interested in a semester study abroad program for the 2009-2010 academic year must apply by November 1. For more information, go to www.augsburg.edu/global or stop into the Center for Global Education offices in Murphy Place.

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Professors met with the Mexican government’s Instituto de la Mujer (Women’s Institute) to discuss national policies and programs for women, had a guest lecture by Juliana Garcia Quintanilla, the co-director of the Independent Human Rights Commission for the State of Morelos, to discuss women and human rights, and took an excursion to the town of Tejalpa to meet with grassroots organizer Alicia Arines, a former candidate for mayor of Tejalpa, who leads workshops for base Christian communities.

“It is important to internationalize our curriculum by crossing international borders and meeting directly with women studies scholars and community leaders in different nations,” said Ann Lutterman-Aguilar, the Augsburg site director in Cuernavaca who presented this program. “Since an increasing number of U.S. citizens are of Mexican descent, Mexico is a particularly appropriate place to begin to examine the best practices in globalizing women’s studies.”

The CGE staff immersed professors in a broad variety of women’s works and struggles in Mexico, including a guest lecture on feminism in Mexico and indigenous women in the Zapatista Army for National Liberation by Mexican anthropologist and psychologist Dr. Sylvia Marcos.

“I got the opportunity to see first-hand the things that I have been studying and teaching,” said Jessica Nathanson, director of Augsburg’s Women’s Resource Center and assistant professor in women’s studies. “The program was useful to me as a program director and faculty member of women’s studies who seeks to globalize the curriculum so that it has an international rather than simply a U.S. focus.” Jessica is planning to return to Cuernavaca with her own students in the future to learn more about globalizing the classroom.

Augsburg offers two semester programs and summer programs that include women’s studies courses, including “Crossing Borders: Gender and Social Change in Mesoamerica” and “Migration & Globalization: Engaging Our Communities.” For more information on these offerings, go to .

Article by Amanda Symes

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Internships help to enhance the study abroad program, deepening student understanding of the issues they study in the classroom and giving them personal and practical experience with people and cultures. CGE sites in Cuernavaca, Mexico and Namibia have offered internship programs for a number of years. This year, both sites will expand their offerings in response to growing interest from students and internship sites. Mexico will offer year-round internships and Namibia will begin a summer internship program.

The Cuernavaca site offers several options for internships in diverse fields, and students can complete full-time internships during January-term, in a semester, over a full year, or in the summer. Part-time internships are available for students in the semester or summer programs. These placements can be combined with Spanish language study, including courses to complement the intern experiences for students in healthcare, ministry, or business.

In Namibia, a new summer program titled “Social Change and Development in Southern Africa” will provide students with an opportunity to learn about contemporary and historical issues impacting development and social change in Southern Africa. In addition to their coursework, students will be paired with a local organization dealing with education, community development, health, or social change. Participants are also engaged in experiential learning and community engagement through home stays with local families and travel seminars that take place during the program.

Internships have been a highlight for many students because they provide opportunities for hands-on learning, personal and professional development, and rich exposure to local cultures and communities. An Augsburg College student who interned in Namibia with Hope Initiative said, “I enjoyed every minute of my time at Hope Initiatives. The staff has been so flexible and willing to help me in any way. The amount of knowledge and confidence I have gained here is endless. I now feel that I am a more well-rounded teacher and have had my mind opened to all new experiences.”

An ongoing goal is to make sure that internships are reciprocal for the host organizations. Aunty Clara from Vision Life in Namibia, a small organization catering to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children, said, “[Our intern] was everything in that home for us. She taught me many things — to be patient, to look beyond [skin] color. I could see in her an angel… She wrote a proposal and we received funding from a big company in Windhoek to buy food. She made a positive contribution in our lives, and I’m grateful.”

For more information on the Center for Global Education at Augsburg, go to .

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During his visit to Minneapolis, Aranda hosted a printmaking workshop where Augsburg students learned his techniques and shared their own works. While here, he got to view the works created in Augsburg’s fall printmaking class, taught by Instructor Lynn Bollman. Aranda was so thrilled by the Auggie prints that he asked for copies of all them and hosted an exhibition of the work on May 16, 2008 at the CGE site in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

To accompany the works of the student artists, Aranda exhibited one of his own prints, titled “Sketches of an Era.” Next to this print, he had the following statement (originally in Spanish):

I dare to say that artists can no longer remain indifferent to and isolated from their surroundings — self-absorbed in completely individualistic creations. Social inequality has made artists create in a more analytical, reflective and critical way.

Art is no longer just aesthetic enjoyment for a few. Printmaking brings it into the public sphere. In the history of humanity, printmaking has addressed social issues. It is a mirror in which society can see its defects and virtues. And today more than ever, it contributes to society’s struggles, hopes and dreams. It is inspired by society’s daily-ness, by its constant journey toward justice, democracy and dignity.

These works by young artists from Augsburg College hit the mark. They bring us a true view of Mexico that many of our politicians don’t want to see: the problems of immigration, economics, and environment.

Aranda is a frequent lecturer to students in the CGE program in Mexico, where he addresses the topic of art in the quest for social justice. For over two decades, he has created and exhibited paintings, murals, and prints that speak to the inequalities and injustices of Mexican society.

For more details about his October 2007 art exhibition at Augsburg, please visit

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For these courses, Augsburg students pay about the same costs as studying on campus, plus free round-trip airfare is offered.

In the Crossing Borders program, students examine key social, economic, political, and cultural issues in Mexico and El Salvador. They explore the interconnectedness of race, class, and gender, and see first hand the experience and empowerment of women.

Global economic conditions are examined in the International Business and Global Citizenship program, using Mexico as a case study to identify the issues around trade and resources, and understanding it from the perspectives of both developed and developing countries.

The Augsburg Mexico campus is located in Cuernavaca, known as the “City of Eternal Spring.” Full of colonial and revolutionary history, art, indigenous culture, and archaeology, Cuernavaca is only 1.5 hours south of Mexico City and 3.5 hours north of Acapulco.

Students live both in Augsburg’s study center and with families in homestays, but learn mostly outside the classroom — in the city, on field trips, in museums, rural villages, and indigenous communities. Advanced Spanish is not required , since there are intensive courses and courses in English. After the first three weeks of intensive Spanish, students spend a week in a rural Nahua community, living with host families and learning about indigenous culture.

Tiffany Ramm, Walter Gies, and Julie Schellack (pictured above) are currently in Cuernavaca, studying this spring in the program, Social Work in a Latin American Context. This includes a two-week exchange with social work students at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City and an internship in a social service organization.

When asked what they have liked best about the program, all three mentioned the experience in the Nahua community. They participated in a sacred ceremony, which Schelleck recalls as  “the most powerful experience I’ve ever had with a guest speaker.”

Ramm is doing an internship at the Salvation Army Orphanage, teaching English to kids. She plans to work in juvenile corrections and says, “I know this experience of working with youth in another culture will help.”

Gies works with an organization involved in HIV/AIDS education, and says that his experience is challenging his idea of traditional social work.

To learn more about the current students in Mexico, read their blog at www.swkmexico08.blogspot.com.

For more information on applying for the fall programs, International Business and Global Citizenship, and Crossing Borders: Gender and Social Change in Mesoamerica, go to www.augsburg.edu/augsburgabroad. The deadline for applications is April 1.

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