Class sends students to Egypt

Multidisciplinary program gives entire university chance to travel

By Ali Pavlicek

Photos courtesy of Mark McKeon

Western Herald

Western Michigan University has offered study abroad opportunities in Egypt for many years. However, this spring, students had the opportunity for a new offering, where geology and Egyptian culture merged into one course and one trip worth three credits.

The course titled Civilization and Geology in Egypt can earn students distribution area four credit as a general education requirement, yet students must first pass the course taught on campus as well as travel to Egypt with the program from May 1 to 16.

During the spring semester, the GEOS 2020 class will be taught by several instructors, including Robb Gillespie, the assistant professor of geosciences, and Mustafa Mughazy, the associate professor of foreign languages.

“It’s interesting to have a number of different people and different departments teaching the students,” said Gillespie. “It’s not just teaching geology but getting across the idea that geology allows Egypt to flourish as a civilization.”

“The course was purposefully designed to be a lower level course so that it would be open to the entire university,” said Gillespie.

Executive Director of International Programs Brett Berquist explained that there are no prerequisites for the course and that after successfully completing the classroom portion, the students will be prepared for the trip itself.

(Photos courtesy of Mark McKeon) Students in the Civilization and Geology in Egypt course at WMU will get to travel to Egypt in May.

The preparation aspect of the course incorporates assignments that educate students about Egyptian culture. For example, Gillespie described lessons on hieroglyphics, research on sites that the group will visit, and an understanding of Egyptian gods.

“The assignments get [students] into what we’re doing to understand why [they’re] there and what makes it important,” said Gillespie.

Berquist said about two-thirds of WMU’s study abroad students go to Western Europe to earn credits.
“There has been a lot of interest [in Egypt, but] it is a new program and it takes awhile to get the momentum going,” said Berquist.

Both Berquist and Gillespie agreed that such new programs depend a lot on word of mouth to get students to sign up.

There are currently four openings for students only wanting to go on the trip to Egypt; however, students can no longer sign up for the spring semester class because WMU’s add/drop deadline has passed.

“We fell a little short for recruiting,” said Gillespie, who said that the program was aiming for around 15 participants. “Most summer [study abroad programs] are not associated with the course, and most students sign up in the middle of the spring semester [for summer programs].”

Eight students had the opportunity to sign up for the course and the trip, and even three alumni are participating.

“This is the first program that we are running that is co-developed by two departments,” said Berquist.
The program got started by the Haenicke Institute for Global Education, looking to expand its offerings so that a professor could accompany an existing program on a trip for the future development of a new program.

Last summer Gillespie accompanied Mughazy and his students on a trip to Egypt, where he spent one month observing the cultural and scientific aspects of the country.

“The geosciences department is running the course part of the material and study abroad is handling the trip portion,” said Gillespie.

Further collaboration involved Mughazy helping to design the course and choosing sites based on his past experiences in Egypt.

Mark McKeon, a sophomore studying political science and international and comparative politics, has been to Egypt with Mughazy before and while he was there, he studied the Arabic language and Egyptian culture.
“I figured that it was the best place for me to study abroad to study Arabic,” said McKeon. “I would love it if individuals studying abroad would learn the culture before they go there. It explains the day-to-day life in the country they’re in.”

McKeon especially enjoyed Mughazy’s knowledge of the country, since Mughazy was even able to correct the Egyptian tour guides at times.

Now that Mughazy and Gillespie will be teaming up this May for the Civilization and Geology in Egypt course, both professors can share what they know with students during lectures and during the trip, with the Arabic and geology groups merging at certain points to learn together.

“The ability to bring two different disciplines together is fascinating and not normal,” said Berquist. “It did take longer to create a new course with the College of Arts and Sciences to get the general education area four approval.”

Anyone interested in future study abroad trips to Egypt should explore the WMU Arabic Program Facebook page to see pictures posted from past trips.

The Haenicke Institute’s Web site is also a source for information at www.wmich.edu/studyabroad.

“Any student coming out of a university in the next few years will need the [study abroad] experience in the global marketplace,” said Gillespie. “I think [the interdepartmental aspect] is very applicable to other departments and other trips.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jan 12 2009. Filed under News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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