Immersive, faculty-led study trips
As an engaged major, Global Development encourages students to learn from and with communities both locally and globally. In addition to the required eight-week internship and required courses designed to prepare students to engage productively with communities and make sense of their experiences, Global Development offers immersive study courses led by our faculty.
Fall-Winter Courses
Fall-Winter
Course format
- 0.5 credits of classroom instruction: to occur in the second seven weeks of the Fall semester as a one-hour class that meets weekly
- 2.5 credits of field-based practicum: to occur in January over Winter break with at least 62.5 practicum hours, which will be structured as an immersive, on-site learning experience over 8-10 days at an off-campus site

Current Fall-Winter Course Offerings
Costa Rica
Agriculture & Food Systems of Costa Rica
This course will expose students to the organizations, labor conditions, trade policies, and gender considerations that impact value chains in Costa Rica, with a focus on specialty crop production such as flowers, pineapples, bananas, and coffee.
Faculty: Marvin Pritts, Terry Tucker, Justine Vanden Heuvel
Spring Courses
Spring
Course format
- 1.5 credits of classroom instruction: to occur through the entire Spring semester as a 75-minute class that meets weekly
- 1.5 credits of field-based practicum: to occur over Spring break with at least 37.5 practicum hours, which will be structured as an immersive, on-site learning experience over 7 days at an off-campus site.

Spring Course Offerings
Ecuador
Culture, Communities & Development: From Upstate NY to Quito, Ecuador
Working with students, faculty, and community partners from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, the course will apply theories of cultural change, intercultural communication, and community empowerment to understand how community change happens in two distinct geographic contexts.
Faculty: Julie Ficarra, Sofia Villenas