ACM college faculty can get a firsthand look at off-campus study opportunities in Costa Rica for their students through the Faculty Site Visits Program this fall. Participants can also make contacts with professional colleagues there and will share their expertise by giving a guest lecture, workshop, or master class.
“This is another way that faculty at the colleges and ACM staff in Costa Rica can engage with each other to strengthen curricular ties between students’ work on campus and their off-campus experience,” said Carol Dickerman, ACM’s Director of International Study Programs. “Our program site in San José is a great resource, with all the local connections we’ve made there through the years and the prominent researchers, academics, and artists who contribute to our Costa Rica programs.”
Fall 2011 Costa Rica Program students and staff visiting the historic Central Park of the city of Heredia during a field trip.
The site visit, covering several days in October or November, will have a full schedule of meetings with students and program faculty and staff, visits to class sessions and the ACM Center in San José, and possibly local field trips. ACM covers the cost of travel, lodging, and meals for the visit, which is intended primarily for faculty who are not already familiar with the consortial programs in Costa Rica.
ACM’s commitment to off-campus study in Costa Rica stretches back nearly 50 years to 1964, when the consortium established a field studies program that is still going strong today as the spring Costa Rica: Field Research in the Environment, Social Sciences, & Humanities program.
The fall semester Costa Rica: Language, Society, & the Environment program was established in 1974 with a particular focus on language study and cultural immersion. Now, the program also includes electives in environmental studies and the arts, and students are involved in service learning and civic engagement activities. A direct enrollment option enables students with advanced Spanish language proficiency to take courses at the Universidad de Costa Rica.
Both the fall and spring programs place students in the everyday life of Costa Ricans through homestays, language study with a faculty of native speakers, a variety of guest speakers, and extensive field trips throughout the country.
The application deadline is April 30 for the fall 2012 faculty site visit to Costa Rica. Dates for the site visit will be finalized after the participants are selected. See the Call for Applications for complete details.
The Faculty Site Visits Program sponsors a trip each semester to one of the ACM program sites, which include Chicago, Botswana, Tanzania, Costa Rica, India, Italy, and the U.K. The inaugural site visit was to Florence in fall 2011 and the second is set for Chicago next month.
Links:
- ACM Faculty Site Visits Program
- Costa Rica: Language, Society, & the Environment (fall semester)
- Costa Rica: Field Research in the Environment, Social Sciences, & Humanities (spring semester and spring quarter/trimester)
