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STUDY ABROAD IN THE AMERICAS: MEXICO
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Program: Conserving Marine Mammals & Coastal Ecosystems / SFS
Location: Baja, Mexico
Is This Program Right For You? The research agenda at the SFS Center for Coastal Studies is designed to address the broad question of how to promote sustainable development in Bahía Magdalena through biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. Students assess conditions of critical habitats in the bay, such as mangroves and sea grass beds; determine the conservation status of economically important marine resources, such as sea turtles, gray whales, and shellfish; and strive to understand the social, cultural and economic conditions for sustainable development. Students are involved in developing management plans for habitats, species and community development.
Our unique location on the Pacific coast allows students in the spring semester to work directly on gray whale conservation research, while intensive research is carried out on sea turtles in the fall and summer. Sea turtles have economic, cultural and ecological importance in the region. Despite strong regulations against their exploitation, green turtles are still frequently poached for their meat and are tangled in fishing lines and nets. A complex interaction of community social and cultural factors, lack of protected area sanctuaries and enforcement of existing regulations, and economic hardship in local communities has lead to the continued exploitation and the rapid decline of sea turtle populations throughout Mexico. Students gather data on the condition of the habitats of the Bay that are critical to the turtles' lifecycle, monitor the demographic and behavioral characteristics of turtle populations, and gain more insight into the role of the turtle in the social, cultural, and economic lifestyle of the local community. Student research, in partnership with the local community and conservation groups and governmental agencies, is contributing to the development of a conservation and management plan for sea turtles.
The Courses/Program: SFS students learn professional field research skills as they interview fishermen, explore changes in fishing technology, and collect and analyze catch data as part of our efforts to help regulators and harvesters develop more sustainable management strategies for the fisheries of Bahía Magdalena.
Semester students are registered in four academic courses accredited through Boston University:
BI/EE (NS) 379 Coastal Ecology (4 credits)
EE (NS) 374 Principles of Resource Management (4 credits)
EE (SS) 303 Economic & Ethical issues in Sustainable Development (4 credits)
EE 491 or 492 Directed Research (4 credits)
Housing: The Center for Coastal Studies looks out over beautiful Bahía Magdalena and lies on the outskirts of the fishing community of Puerto San Carlos on the west coast of the Baja peninsula. Bahía Magdalena stretches for 124 miles along the coast with spectacular sunsets draping the mountains of the off-shore islands in orange and purple shadows. Students share four-person cabins. Additional facilities include a computer room, library, classroom, laboratory, kitchen, dining and study areas and a bath/shower house serviced by our artificial wetland waste water treatment system. Faculty live in cabins on site.
Duration/Deadlines:
• Fall Semester: September – December
• Spring Semester: February – May
Rolling admissions. Early application submissions encouraged for acceptance into your program of choice.
Requirements:
One semester of college-level ecology or biology
Program Cost Includes: All tuition, room, board and local travel. Fee excludes airfare. For more information: www.fieldstudies.org. Catalogues are available in ISAP’s Resource Rooms. Please note: The information on this sheet is for reference purposes only. It is your responsibility to confirm details and deadlines.
Program: Universidad Iberoamericana / Fordham Exchange (Jesuit)
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Is This Program Right for You? Universidad Iberoamericana was founded in 1943 by the Jesuits with a School of Philosophy and Literature. It was chartered in 1954 as the Universidad Iberoamericana, A.C. The University moved to its modern new campus in the Santa Fe area of Mexico City in 1988. The University has over 10,500 students of which 800 are enrolled in postgraduate studies. There are approximately 1,900 members in the faculty which ensures that students benefit from the advantages of more personal attention. Modern resources throughout the campus support the numerous academic programs.
The extensive library is an integral part of Ibero’s educational programs. The library contains over 208,000 volumes, a rare and antique book collection, and a periodical department which subscribes to 1,500 publications. The audiovisual center has a collection of over 140,000 slides relating to different subject areas as well as videotapes and music tapes. The University also offers laboratories and workshops in the areas of physics, chemistry, photography, psychology, engineering, communications, architecture, design and nutrition.
Ibero is fortunate to be located in Mexico City, with magnificent examples of the remains of the great Aztec Empire, the splendor of the colonial period and the amazing cosmopolitan vitality of modern Mexico. The exciting metropolis remains unchallenged in its educational and cultural facilities. A source of national pride, modern museums of art, anthropology, history and archeology present the glories of Mexico's past. Mexico City is also the gateway to the most beautiful Pacific, Gulf and Caribbean regions as well as to many interesting archeological sites and colonial cities. Approximately 2,280 meters (7,500 feet) above sea level, the city has a temperate climate with cool nights and early mornings.
The Courses /Program: The University system, structured into departments, allows for interdisciplinary study in the following areas: Disciplinary Studies: Art, Sciences, Religious Sciences, Political and Social Sciences, Economy, Philosophy, History and Literature; Professional Studies: Business Administration, Accounting, Architecture, Urban Studies and Design, Communication, Law, Education and Human Development, International Relations, Engineering, Psychology and Health.
A special option, The Spanish Language and Latin American Culture Program, is designed for those students wishing to learn Spanish or to improve their proficiency in the language as well as to learn more about the culture of Latin American countries. The program takes a holistic approach to language learning and consists of two hours of Spanish classes each day for a total of 180 classroom hours per semester. Field trips to sites of cultural and historic interest in Mexico City are a part of this program and provide additional hours of experience with the Spanish language and Latin American culture. Complementary classes in art, history, political science and economics are offered in this program.
Housing: Students are guaranteed housing if it is requested. The policy of Universidad Iberoamericana is to place its foreign students in private Mexican residences. Students and universities alike as a rewarding cultural and social experience have generally accepted this policy. Students are placed two in a room with bathroom facilities. An additional fee will be assessed for students arriving before or leaving after housing dates, or for students requesting a single room.
Junior Year Abroad Housing is offered without meals, but students can make their own meal arrangements with the housemothers. Three cafeterias on campus are open Mondays through Fridays from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. through 12 noon.
Duration/Deadlines:
• Spring Semester: January - May / Application Deadline: October 15th
• Fall Semester: August – December / Application Deadline: April 1st
Requirements:
• 3.0 GPA
• Spanish language placement exam (Language of instruction is Spanish)
Program Cost Includes: Tuition and housing without meals. Visa not included. For more information: www.uia.mx. Catalogues are available in ISAP’s Resource Rooms. Please note: The information on this sheet is for reference purposes only. It is your responsibility to confirm details and deadlines.
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Program: Gender and Social Change (Fall) and Social and Environmental Justice (Spring) /
Center for Global Education, Augsburg College
Location: Cuernavaca, Mexico
Is this Program Right For You? The Center for Global Education at Augsburg College was established in 1982. The Center’s mission is to provide cross-cultural educational opportunities in order to foster critical analysis of local and global conditions so that personal and systemic changes take place leading to a more just and sustainable world.
The program is based in Cuernavaca, a city known for its perennial springtime (70-80 degrees). Cuernavaca, the capital of the state of Morelos, is about a 1 1/2 hours drive south of Mexico City. Both the city and the state are important in Mexican history: the palace of the conqueror Hernan Cortez borders the central plaza in Cuernavaca and Morelos is known as “the cradle of the Mexican revolution” of 1910 led by Emiliano Zapata, who was born in a small town near Cuernavaca. A city of more than one million, Cuernavaca is also known for its innovative grass-roots education programs, economic cooperatives, and base Christian communities inspired by liberation theology.
The Courses/Program: The Center for Global Education has an ethnically and culturally diverse staff of North Americans and Latin Americans who coordinate educational programs. The program instructors are Augsburg College faculty who live full-time in Mexico and Central America, have advanced studies and are bi-lingual. In addition, a diverse pool of individuals and organizations serve as community resources. You will also be assisted by an intern/resident advisor who lives in the house and assists in planning house meetings and activities. Includes two-week educational seminar to an indigenous region of southern Mexico and Guatemala. Spring and Fall programs both offer day trips to Mexico City and to rural villages, as well as opportunities for individual travel on weekends and during breaks.
Fall Program: Crossing Borders: Gender and Social Change in Mesoamerica. Learn about the central issues facing Mesoamerica, with emphasis on the experiences and empowerment of women. You will engage in gender analysis of key social, economic, political, and cultural issues in Mexico and El Salvador; explore the interconnectedness of race, class, and gender; and learn first hand from both women and men who are involved in struggles for sustainable development and social change. Earn credit in Religion, Political Science, Women’s Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Spanish. The semester includes small group intensive Spanish study provided by Mexican instructors.
Spring Program: Social and Environmental Justice in Latin America. Explore socioeconomic and political issues with a focus in the impact of environmental policies on the lives of women and men from varying economic classes and ethnic groups in Mexico and Central America. Examine the ethics of land distribution, environmental racism, eco-feminism, social change, and the complexity of gender, class and ethnicity in Latin American societies. Courses may be transferred for credit in History, Interdisciplinary Studies, Political Science, Religion, Spanish and Women's Studies. Includes a two-week educational seminar to El Salvador.
Housing: The Center for Global Education maintains two houses in Cuernavaca which will be your home base during the semester. It is located in Colonia San Anton, across the street from the language school where you will take your Spanish classes and just a 15 minute walk from downtown Cuernavaca. Approximately four students will share a room. There is also common living space for classes, study and leisure time, as well as a small library. Meals (including vegetarian options) are prepared and served on the premises. You will also spend six weeks living with a local working class family in Cuernavaca.
Duration / Deadlines: (Rolling admissions. Enrollment is limited; early application is encouraged.)
• Fall: 16 weeks - Late August to mid-December / Application Deadline: April 1
• Spring: 16 weeks - Late January to mid-May / Application Deadline: October 15
Requirements: (Language of Instruction is English)
• one previous college-level course in Spanish or its equivalent is required
Program Cost Includes: Tuition, room and board, medical/emergency insurance, travel seminar to Central America, and all other program costs in Mexico, Central America, and at the border. Students are responsible for their travel to and from the program. For more information: www.augsburg.edu. Catalogues are available in ISAP’s Resource Rooms. Please note: The information on this sheet is for reference purposes only. It is your responsibility to confirm details and deadlines.
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Program: Universidad de Guanajuato (Liberal Arts) / CIEE
Location: Guanajuato, Mexico
Is This Program Right For You? The Liberal Arts Program aims to provide students with an intellectually rigorous and coherent program which directly links intense language study both to a critical Bellas Artes-focused curriculum and to a core concern with issues related to writing about culture, power, and identity. This will be a writing- and reading-intense program, designed for majors and/or serious Spanish language/Latin American culture students with four or more semesters of Spanish.
The program is designed for students to refine their language abilities exponentially, to deepen their intercultural skills as they immerse into daily Guanajuato life, and to engage in critical reflection about both self and others as they come to understand contemporary Mexican culture.
Founded in 1732, the Universidad de Guanajuato is ranked among the top institutions of higher education in Mexico. Currently, there are approximately 21,000 students enrolled in various types of programs. Of these, about 8,000 are pursuing undergraduate degrees in 46 different disciplines. Mexican students choose career paths upon entry, and tend to take most of their classes from a single faculty often within a single discipline. The curriculum is demanding and an undergraduate degree generally takes more than four years to complete. Some of the strongest academic departments at the university include engineering and architecture. Fine arts and humanities also enjoy an excellent reputation. The university’s different faculties are scattered around Guanajuato and thus its intellectual and cultural energy is felt throughout the community.
The Courses/Program: The CIEE Study Center in Guanajuato provides students with a formal framework for learning that includes both language and content courses. Upon arrival, students’ Spanish language levels are assessed, and they are placed in the appropriate language courses. All Liberal Arts students will take five courses: one language course at the appropriate level, the CIEE core course, and three content courses. All classes are taught in Spanish.
Complementing the classroom language instruction is the University's unique self-access center, which includes conversation rooms for interacting with native speakers, audio materials, computers with language specific web references and software, a collection of Mexican films, and a library. All program participants must spend at least two hours per week at the self-access center.
The program's academic culture is defined by its affiliation with the prestigious Universidad de Guanajuato and by the program's own commitment to providing an intellectually and personally stimulating experience abroad.
The CIEE Study Center in Guanajuato firmly believes that learning occurs not only in class, but also through the careful and critical connecting of lived experiences to the formal learning. Visits to local museums and galleries, participation in artistic events and traditional celebrations, and discussions with local experts in diverse fields greatly enhance classroom learning. Homestays with Mexican families – a highlight of the program – also providea particularly intense and rewarding site in which to continue both language and culture learning. Indeed, the family is seen as a key resource for cultural learning. In sum, all activities on the program bring deeper meaning to the reading and discussing done in class, and the formal knowledge built through coursework enriches students’ everyday lives on the program.
Housing: Essential to the student’s learning process and integration into life in Guanajuato is the homestay. The opportunity to live with a Mexican family not only allows students to deconstruct stereotypes and to observe real life in action, but also creates opportunities for dialogue about issues viewed in the courses, and for Spanish language practice. Most importantly, host families play a major affective role in students' lives, providing them with a social identity as a family member, and offering them warmth and friendship. Families are middle class and house only one student per semester. Three meals per day are included in the program fee.
Duration/Deadlines:
• Fall Semester (16 weeks): late August – mid December / Application Deadline: April 1st
• Spring Semester (17 weeks): late January – late May / Application Deadline: November 1st
Requirements: (Language of instruction is Spanish)
• 3.0 GPA
• Minimum of 4 semesters of college-level Spanish or the equivalent.
Program Cost Includes: Tuition, housing and some meals, orientation, cultural activities, local excursions, field trips, pre-departure advising, and insurance. Visa not included. For more information: www.ciee.org. Catalogues are available in ISAP’s Resource Rooms. Please note: The information on this sheet is for reference purposes only. It is your responsibility to confirm details and deadlines.
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Program: Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán / IFSA-Butler
Location: Mérida, Mexico
Is this Program Right for You? Originally founded in 1922 as Universidad Nacional del Sureste, today Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY) is a large university with 15,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Like most Latin American universities, UADY’s buildings are spread around the city. With fifteen faculties, a research institute, and nineteen libraries, UADY offers a challenging academic environment and extensive resources.
The capital of the state of Yucatán, Mérida is a colonial city on the Gulf side of the Yucatán Peninsula. Mérida’s compact size makes it easy to explore the city's squares and markets, but its population of about 800,000 makes it big enough to have theatres, art galleries, and museums.
The Courses/Program: Students will take one advanced Spanish course developed especially for the program’s students and participants may also take an optional program course in political science. A full program consists of three or four courses at UADY and one or two program courses. Classes are generally worth 3-4 credits.
UADY offers a full range of coursework in anthropology, biology, business administration, economics, education, history, law, linguistics, literature, nutrition (including public health), psychology, social anthropology, and social communications. Program students may choose classes from a variety of faculties, although most concentrate their studies in the Facultad de Antropología, which offers courses in history, literature and linguistics, anthropology, and social anthropology. This preference is not an accident: UADY has an active commitment to archaeology and anthropology because of its location among some of the most fascinating archeological sites in Mexico.
Housing: Housing is with a host family that will help you settle into Mexican life. Because the social life in Mexico tends to revolve around the family, living with a host family is the best way to integrate into the Mexican culture. Your host family will live in Mérida or the surrounding area.
Duration/Deadlines:
• Fall Semester: August - December / Application Deadline: April 1st
• Spring Semester: January – May / Application Deadline: October 15th
• Academic Year: August – May / Application Deadline: April 1st
Requirements:
• 3.0 GPA
• Four semesters of university-level Spanish or equivalent
Program Cost Includes: Tuition, housing while classes are in session, orientation, academic advising, optional excursions, medical insurance and assistance plan, and an official transcript. For more information: www.ifsa-butler.org Catalogues are available in ISAP’s Resource Room. Please note: The information on this sheet is for reference purposes only. It is your responsibility to confirm details and deadlines.
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