A GLOBAL EDUCATION IS AN SU EDUCATION
A New President and A New Commitment to International Education
When President Carolyn Ringer Lepre gave her inaugural State of the University address last fall, she announced key initiatives she aims to pursue during her tenure. While many of her goals enhanced our stellar campus, one important objective involved getting as far away from campus as possible: an increased focus on study abroad and study away programs.
These programs are an integral part of the Salisbury University experience, and the University has set the goal of becoming the Maryland higher education institution with the highest percentage of students with global experiences. To help set the University on the path to achieving this pursuit, Lepre traveled the globe this year, demonstrating her commitment to ensuring SU students have a “world” of learning opportunities.
EXPANDING PARTNERSHIPS
After a nearly 30-year relationship, SU has entered a new era with the renowned American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) to expand access to academic and pre-professional opportunities abroad.
SU President Carolyn Ringer Lepre joined AIFS Abroad Executive Director Emily Merson at the AIFS Abroad Global Education Center in Salzburg, Austria, to announce a multifaceted strategy to increase SU student enrollments around the world.
As one of the oldest and most respected study abroad organizations in North America, AIFS Abroad has hosted hundreds of SU students overseas since the partnership began in 1995. This year, a record number participated in AIFS programs, demonstrating a profound student interest in their program models and locations.
“AIFS Abroad helps us expand SU’s reach around the globe, offering diverse majors the opportunity to study on nearly every continent,” said Dr. Brian Stiegler, SU assistant provost for international education.
SU will continue to grow study abroad enrollments with AIFS Abroad, including the launch of “SU In Austria,” a program featuring SU faculty teaching short-term courses at the AIFS Abroad Salzburg center.
The University also expects to grow its international internship enrollment in partnership with AIFS Abroad through the Salisbury Abroad Internship program. Approximately 100 SU students already have completed full-time internships abroad through AIFS Abroad’s Global Experiences internship program.
SU students will have expanded access to scholarships and support from the SU Foundation, Inc. and AIFS Abroad to pursue their international experiences. This is made possible through a new direct billing arrangement that will allow students to pay SU directly for study abroad on all AIFS Abroad programs.
“Together, our efforts will increase access to a variety of global opportunities and pave the way for future students to expand their SU careers,” said Merson.
CELEBRATING OUR KOREAN CONNECTIONS
For the past decade, dozens of students from SU and Chonnam National University (CNU) in Gwangju, South Korea, have experienced culture and education abroad thanks to a partnership between the two campuses. In March, it was President Lepre’s turn.
She visited Gwangju to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the agreement with CNU President Jung Sungteak. During the first decade of the partnership, more than 100 CNU students have studied at SU, either furthering their education as exchange students in the undergraduate academic program or improving their skills in English as a foreign language in SU’s English Language Institute. Over the same period, two dozen SU students have studied on exchange at CNU.
Joining Lepre on her visit was Dr. Arthur Lembo, SU professor of geography and geosciences, who is teaching and conducting research at CNU this fall as a Fulbright Scholar.
CNU President Jung Sungteak
Lembo’s high-level engagement with CNU is only the latest highlight of the family’s connections to the university. His youngest daughter Katherine is the latest Salisbury exchange student to study at CNU this spring.
Lepre also visited with Lembo’s oldest daughter, Emily (Lembo) Moon ’14, who resides in Korea with her husband, Moon Cheonji, and their daughter, Joy. The couple met during Cheonji’s time as a CNU exchange student at SU, when Emily was a member of the SU Buddy Program, welcoming visiting international students to campus. As SU’s first senior Fulbright Student, Emily reconnected with Moon during her Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in South Korea in 2014 (pictured above).
“The adventures in global learning that Dr. Lembo, Emily, Cheonji and Katie have lived as a result of the partnership between SU and CNU is the perfect example of how international education at SU can change students’ lives,” said Lepre.
Boldly Going Where No Gull Has Gone Before
At her spring inauguration ceremony, President Lepre reminded the audience that SU’s commitment to international education stretches back nearly 75 years when the Student Government Association raised scholarship money to send the first study abroad student – J. Walter Potter – to the University of Zurich in 1949.
She marveled at how far we’ve come since Potter’s trailblazing opportunity: “All our students now have the chance to see the world! We have hundreds of study abroad programs to choose from in just about any country in the world!”
Like Potter before them, SU students and faculty continue to pave the way for Sea Gulls of today and tomorrow to spread their wings and discover all the world has to offer.
WHEN THE WORLD RE-OPENED
Perdue School of Business alumna Julianna Mirenzi ’22 (left) was one of hundreds of SU students who put their study abroad aspirations on hold due to the global pandemic. Undeterred by this disappointment and in the face of uncertainty, she was one of the first to sign up for global travel in fall 2021, reopening SU’s Exchange program with Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) in France.
“Even though it was intimidating and difficult to continue the application process during uncertain times, it was all worth it,” Mirenzi shared. “Studying abroad in France and at GEM was an indescribable experience!”
GEM is one of SU’s oldest foreign university partners. Salisbury students began studying abroad on short-term faculty-led Global Seminars at GEM during winter term in the mid-1990s. When Mirenzi traveled to France, SU and GEM renewed their exchange agreement for the fifth time, beginning a third decade of collaboration.
AWAY TO ALASKA
Senior Caitlin Munson (right) was one of the first SU students to experience “studying away” with the National Student Exchange. An interdisciplinary studies major, Munson spent fall 2022 studying at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.
While there, she was captivated by the mountain views she experienced each day as she walked across campus and was able to take advantage of the unique beauty around her.
“One of my favorite off-campus excursions was a cruise to see the glaciers in Whittier Bay,” Munson shared. “The cruise lasted five hours and the sights were so beautiful.”
She was also impressed with how this “away” adventure enhanced her SU education: “My academic experience was very positive. I really think that the classes I took will help a lot in my future career goals.”
CAREER-MAKING AND LIFE-CHANGING
More than 20 SU students, led by marketing faculty Drs. Patrick Fennell and Aaron Johnson, participated in the University’s first “SU In” global seminar at the University of Stirling in Scotland during summer 2022 (above).
They joined others from around the world in taking courses such as sports management and global marketing, earning upper-level business elective credits in the process. This cross-cultural seminar immersed students in a global business setting through field assignments and excursions to nearby cities including Glasgow and Edinburgh.
“We really want to introduce students to the global marketplace, which can be a very different environment from what is encountered in the U.S. Not only is this view of the international marketplace potentially beneficial for one’s career, but it also can also be incredibly life-changing on a personal level, as well,” said Fennell.
Cultural competence will set our students apart and will advance our goals of inclusion and belonging.
President Carolyn Ringer Lepre
A Travel Program
FOR EVERY STUDENT
SU In
These strategic centers offer SU course work year-round – recent “SU In” sites include Spain, Scotland, Costa Rica, Austria and Italy.
SU Exhanges
These semester-long study abroad programs cost the same (and sometimes less) than a semester in Salisbury – recent exchanges include Ghana, France, South Korea, Sweden and Japan.
SU Global Seminars
SU faculty lead courses for two-four weeks during January and June. They are offered at the SU In sites as well as through other tours that vary year by year. Past seminars have included Portugal, Honduras, France, England, Kenya, India, Iceland, Italy and South Africa.
National Student Exchange (NSE)
SU students spend a semester on exchange at more than 180 universities in the U.S., U.S. territories and Canada. Popular destinations include New Orleans, Alaska, Colorado and Hawaii.