Global Learning Opportunities

Since Sophia Loren charmed audiences in “Boy on a Dolphin” (1957), the Greek brand has been associated with several quintessential images promoted to entice tourists: olive groves, the Parthenon and white-washed buildings on sun-drenched islands. Beneath this pleasantly reductive picture lies a rich and contentious past inscribed in the country’s architecture, monuments, art, dance, music, poetry and cuisine. This course introduces students to Greece’s many histories, beginning with its touchstones: the Golden Age of Athens (480-404 BCE), the War of Independence (1821-1829 CE) and the anti-Axis resistance (1941-1944 CE).  

Through tours, lectures and experiential learning activities, it explores often-suppressed Byzantine, Ottoman, Jewish, Romá, communist, migrant and refugee pasts. Students will examine how debates about textbooks, commemoration practices, secularism, cultural preservation, academic research and national identity reflect ongoing contests over Greek history. The course will challenge students to consider (i) why societies remember the past, (ii) how they decide which/whose pasts are worth remembering; (iii) how shared socio-historical narratives shape group identity; and (iv) what motivations drive the promotion of specific pasts.  

Course Director: Vasilis (Bill) Molos, Chair, Liberal Studies 

This six-week interdisciplinary course explores themes of resilience, mental health, and trauma in post-conflict societies, and the adaptation of professional services within communities recovering from communal violence. The course challenges students to examine global examples of post-conflict truth and reconciliation (including South Africa, Chile, Spain, and Argentina), and to reflect on Canadian contexts and the implementation of the Calls to Action advanced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2015.  

The immersive component of the course focuses on the case study of Northern Ireland and the ongoing recovery from the thirty-year cycle of political and sectarian violence labelled as ‘The Troubles’. Students will travel to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland for the travel component part of the course, where they will review the impacts of ‘The Troubles’ across both sides of the border, and consider the work of individuals, communities, not-for-profit, and governmental organizations in promoting post-conflict recovery and reconciliation. 

This immersive experience will involve interdisciplinary discussions about national and international concepts of reconciliation and restorative justice with academic partners at Ulster University’s Belfast and Derry/Londonderry campuses. Upon the return to Canada, students will complete a detailed reflective project, with a multi-media component, as an expression of knowledge dissemination from the course. The project will reflect on concepts of truth and reconciliation and inter-generational traumas both within the context of Northern Ireland as the primary case study for the course, but also in relation to the ongoing Calls to Action for justice for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples within Canada. 

Course Director: Gary Galbraith, Chair, Justice Studies

This field course invites students to the Dominican Republic for a service-learning experience focused on immersive community work that centers around youth empowerment and education.  Rooted in the principles of experiential learning and reciprocal community engagement, this course offers a unique opportunity to explore how theory meets practice in an international context. 

Students will work in collaboration with local non-profit organizations to support initiatives aimed at improving the wellbeing of community members in under-resourced communities. This is achieved through hands-on community-led development efforts, meaningful engagement with community members, paired with structured reflection and cultural immersion experiences. Students will also have the chance to explore the cultural and historical richness of the Dominican Republic through guided excursions and interactions with community members. 

Academically, this course is grounded in interdisciplinary approaches to community engagement and global learning. Students will examine social issues such as educational equity, youth agency, and sustainable development, while also exploring their own roles and responsibilities and the varied disciplinary lenses taken.  This course emphasizes the importance of teamwork, collective action, and cultural humility. Students will develop skills in cross-cultural community engagement, collaborative problem-solving, and community-based inquiry.   

Through preparatory readings, reflective journaling, group work, and a final synthesis paper, students will critically evaluate the ethics and impact of international service work, and apply key theories from community development and engagement to real world contexts.  

This international field course is ideal for students who have an interest in community engagement, social justice, collective empowerment, and change making! 

Instructor: Olivia Boukydis, Chair, Community Social Services 
 

This course involves a ten-day study tour where students engage in an immersive cultural and historical exploration of London and Paris, two of Europe’s most influential cities. In London, students will experience the city through guided tours of landmarks such as Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Buckingham Palace, along with visits to the Tower of London and Covent Garden. Cultural enrichment includes a theatre workshop, a West End performance, an afternoon tea, and a cricket lesson, encouraging students to reflect on the ways tradition and performance contribute to cultural identity.

In Paris, students will engage with French culture through a guided city tour of the Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides, and the Eiffel Tower. Interactive activities include a perfume- and cologne-making class, a hands-on art workshop, and a pétanque lesson, complemented by exploration of the Marché des Enfants Rouges, one of Paris’s oldest markets. Shared cultural experiences, such as traditional French dinners and a Seine River cruise, provide opportunities for reflection on community and heritage.

Throughout the course, students are encouraged to connect these experiences with broader themes of culture, tradition, and globalization. By analyzing how history, art, and everyday practices shape modern European societies, students will develop critical perspectives on identity, heritage, and cross-cultural exchange.

Instructor: Karey Rowe, Chair Business

In just the last 25 years, tourism has become Peru’s third-largest contributor to the national economy (after mining and fishing). A fascinating destination for archaeologists and adventurers in the mid-20th century, Peru drastically stepped up its tourism push in the 1990s; since then, the country has grown as a top destination – especially among young, environmentally conscious and culturally sensitive travellers.

Today, Peru is a national incubator for modern approaches to tourism and tourism marketing: ecotourism, community enrichment (or “volunteer”) tourism, adventure tourism, cultural and historically-focused tours and, most recently, gastrotourism (Peru was named the world’s top culinary destination in 2024 by the World Travel Awards). At the same time, it is a focal point for debates on sustainable tourism and the impact of large-scale tourism on such UNESCO treasures such as Machu Picchu.

In this course, students will have an exceptional opportunity to explore and analyze modern tourism and its impacts as they visit the ancient cities and temples of the Inca people, the modern gastrotourism hub of Lima and the spectacular natural  landscapes of the Andes Mountains and the Amazon rainforest. Visits to the Incan strongholds and religious centres of Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, traditional tented markets in Peruvian villages, a lodge on the Amazon River and Miraflores, the upscale shopping and nightclub district of Lima, will encourage students to reflect on the impacts (positive and negative) of tourism on a society, and discover first-hand the emerging approaches to tourism marketing.

Instructor: Kathy Ullyott, Chair, Media Communication Studies