Themed Semesters

Canada and the United States enjoy a relationship unique in the world. The Canada-U.S. partnership is forged by shared geography, similar values, common interests, strong personal connections, and powerful, multi-layered economic ties. Together, we share a deep and longstanding defense and national security partnership, providing both countries with greater security than could be achieved individually.  

• Canada and the United States enjoy the world’s most comprehensive trading relationship, which supports millions of jobs in each country. We are each other’s largest trade partners with nearly $3.6 billion worth of goods and services crossing the border every day.  
• Canada and the United States share the longest international border in the world. There are 13 U.S. states, seven Canadian provinces and one territory along the border. Most Canadians – 2 out of 3 – live within 60 miles/100 kilometers of the border. It is estimated that around 400,000 people cross the Canada-United States border every day. There are many Canadian Indigenous people and U.S. Native American Tribes whose communities and cultures span the border.  
• Canada and the United States are key allies and defense partners, and we collaborate closely to address international crises and to defend shared values abroad. Our mutual objectives of strengthening continental defense and safeguarding global peace and security have led to the close cooperation of our respective defense and national security agencies such as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Five Eyes, the intelligence alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

From the outside, Canada and the United States are very similar. Once you get to know Canada, the multitude of small differences between the two countries becomes apparent. Our bilingual society, multicultural population and unique cultures offer endless opportunities for exploration. While both countries were formed from European colonies, the paths we chose are different from each other in some ways, complimentary in many others. This themed semester brings Canada to campus for you to start your journey into understanding the True North a little better. 

Although only slightly larger than West Virginia and possessing a smaller population than Missouri, Ireland punches above its weight in a worldwide context.

Here are five reasons why Ireland is worthy of its selection as MSSU’s Fall 2023 themed semester country:

1. With a GDP exceeding $504 billion in 2021, Ireland is one of the most open and export-driven economies in the world. Ireland remains a wealthy country and a net exporting nation with a per capita GDP in 2021 of $100,602. (Ireland – Country Commercial Guide)

2. In 2022, the Irish economy grew at the astonishing rate of 12.2 percent, the fastest on the European continent. Ireland ranks high because property rights and contracts are well protected. The business climate is friendly because regulations aren’t nutty and intrusive, while tax rates are competitive. It's freedom, not the “luck of the Irish,” that explains Ireland’s remarkable economic success. (FEE Stories)

3. More than 30 million Americans, almost 10 percent of the population, claim Irish heritage. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, America's first Irish-Catholic president, was a son of two families whose roots stretched back to Ireland. (U.S. Department of State and John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)

4. For its small size, Ireland has a large cultural imprint, particularly in English literature. The country’s famous authors include Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde – just to name a few. Ireland has rich musical and folklore traditions and is also the creator of Guinness, perhaps its most famous export along with St. Patrick’s Day. (U.S. News & World Report)

5. Although Ireland is now both urbanized and Europeanized, its culture retains many unique characteristics, and its people prize folkloric and social traditions that largely derive from and celebrate the country’s rural past. (Britannica)

For the Fall 2022 themed semester, we turn our attention to a small, landlocked country in Central Europe. The Czech Semester focuses on the history, trade, food,  literature, films, music, and culture of a nation that was created on Jan. 1, 1993, when the former Czechoslovakia was dissolved.  

The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. The country formally added the short-form name Czechia in 2016, while also continuing to use the full form name, the Czech Republic.  

With a population of 10.7 million, Czechia is the 86 th largest country in the world. Geographically, it is slightly smaller than South Carolina and ranks 121 st in the world.  

Czechia has a prosperous market economy that boasts one of the highest GDP growth rates and lowest unemployment levels in the European Union.  

Prague, the capital, is regarded as the social and cultural capital of Central Europe. Nicknamed “the City of a Hundred Spires,” it’s known for its Old Town Square, but it is also a modern and vibrant city of 1.3 million.  

For just the second time since MSSU began celebrating themed semesters in 1997, a country has been chosen twice for the honor. The Fall 2021 themed semester focuses on Japan, 20 years after we first highlighted the Land of the Rising Sun.

China is the only other country to be featured twice, in 1997 and 2007.

With a population of nearly 125 million, Japan is the 11th largest country in the world. Geographically, it is slightly smaller than California and ranks 63rd in the world.

Japan boasts the world’s third biggest economy, behind the United States and China and ahead of Germany. Although Japan’s role as a global power cannot be disputed, it is the country’s culture and tradition that makes it fascinating for so many Americans.

For the third year in a row, the  Fall 2020 themed semester  focuses on a region of the world rather than on a single country.

The Caribbean Semester brings the history and culture of 13 independent countries – Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica – to the Missouri Southern State University campus throughout the semester. 

The Caribbean also includes numerous territories affiliated with other nations, such as the Cayman Islands (Great Britain), Aruba (the Netherlands), Martinique (France), Puerto Rico (United States), British Virgin Islands (Great Britain), Bonaire (the Netherlands), Guadeloupe (France), the Turks and Caicos Islands (Great Britain), U.S. Virgin Islands (United States), Montserrat (Great Britain), and Curaçao (the Netherlands).

The population of the entire region is nearly 44 million, with Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic the three largest countries. The majority of the population speaks English, as much of the region was colonized by the British. The other main languages are Spanish, French, Dutch, Haitian Creole, and Papiamento – a Portuguese and Spanish-based Creole language.