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Grant
committee decides to fund half to trip costs for study abroad International Editor
Italy,
France, China and Greece are all countries groups of Missouri Southern
students will visit next year. The
International Grant Committee met on Oct. 29 to decide which groups
would be funded and how much. "The
committee voted to fund each group 50 percent of the amount they had
requested," said Dr. Chad Stebbins, director of the Institute for
International Studies. Out
of 10 groups that applied to the committee for aid, eight received
funding for 50 percent of the trip's cost, one received partial funding
and one received no funding. The Institute receives $210,000 from the
College and has to portion it out as needed for group trips and
individual students traveling abroad on an exchange program, study
abroad program or internship. It has already spent more than $170,000 on
the eight groups, comprised of 143 students, that have been approved. "It's
not an endless supply of funding," Stebbins said. The
committee granted money to each group on a point system. Some groups
were left out, because they didn't score as high as others according to
the educational value of the trip. Dewane
Hughes, assistant professor of art, will take a group of 15 Southern
students and a number of students from other campuses to Italy and
Greece this spring. The group will visit cities like Florence, Rome and
Athens and get to see such things as the Roman Coliseum, the Oracle of
Delphi and the Parthenon. "We're
going to see an amazing amount of stuff," Hughes said. In
order to be eligible for Hughes trip, his students had to have had
one of three courses - Beginning Jewelry, Beginning Sculpture or 20th
Century Art. Hughes
said there's no better way to relate the Renaissance work of Michael
Angelo to his sculpture students than to let them see it. "The
opportunity presented itself as being a good educational endeavor for my
students," he said. The
participants will also have to write a comprehensive research paper
about aspect of their trip. The
Institute will grant each student $800 to help pay for the trip to Italy
and Greece that's estimated at $1,600 per student. The money is to aid
with airfare, lodging, food and museum fees. The
deadline has already passed for group trips through to the summer of
2003, but the committee will meet again on Jan. 24 and April 24 to
decide on grants for individual student or faculty member trips abroad. The eight groups that will study abroad are as follows: Biology to Costa Rica for one month; Russian Culture & Civilization to Russia for 16 days; Art to Italy and Greece for 11 days; International Media Seminar to France for 10 days; Criminal Justice to Costa Rica for 12 days History & Splendors of Paris to France for 10 days; Southern in India to India for seven weeks; and Italian Treasures to Italy for 17 days. |