Professional Engagement Programs

The seminar organizers did an excellent job packing the program with leaders of political parties, NGOs, and media. I was amazed at the access we had to such high-profile participants of the revolution and current government. The cultural outings also helped situate the present environment in the long history of Tunisia. Finally, having the opportunity to interact with faculty from around the country with diverse academic interests added to the intellectual rigor of the trip.

Kate Floros, University of Illinois at Chicago
SIT Seminar in Tunisia

I went on an SIT seminar to the program in Belgrade, Serbia, and Pristina, Kosovo. … We were quite impressed by everyone we met there. The six Gettysburg faculty members plan to incorporate material from the seminar into courses and programs at our college in the U.S. An archaeologist, for example, will use some of the information from a visit to local museums in her courses. A sculptor will use pictures and information from a wide range of public pieces that we viewed while in Belgrade and Pristina. An expert on Muslim religion in South Asia found great material for comparative studies on Muslim communities in both Serbia and Kosovo. As an historian, I will use material and insight from the seminar for courses on modern European history, including a new course on the Habsburg Empire and its neighbors that I plan to introduce soon at the college.

William Bowman, PhD, Professor of History, Gettysburg College
SIT Seminar in Serbia and Kosovo

Learning about the diversity of Ecuador with SIT and with my wonderful seminar participants was an amazing experience that I am excited to incorporate into my courses! Highly recommended!

Participant on an SIT Seminar in Ecuador

Skills-Based Field Seminar: What Do We Mean by Decoloniality, Sustainability, and Epistemic Justice? Creating a Community of Practice in Cameroon

In partnership with Dickinson College

Location: Yaoundé, Cameroon
Topics of Inquiry: Through this seminar in Cameroon, participants will address the concepts of “Decoloniality, Sustainability, and Epistemic Justice.” We will begin to unpack the meaning(s) of these terms in an international education context using Cameroon as a case study and lens for furthering our own understanding. The program will be based in Yaoundé with an overnight excursion within Cameroon. 

Grounding Faculty-led Programs in Experiential Education Pedagogy & Decolonial Perspectives

Location: Accra, Ghana
Topics of Inquiry: Through this on-site, immersive skills-based seminar, participants will explore strategies for grounding global program design and delivery in the principles of experiential learning pedagogy and decolonial perspectives. Using Ghana as a case study, you’ll gain a new perspective on Africa’s cosmopolitanism, one that complicates and defies Eurocentric representations.

Critical Approaches to Activism, Advocacy & Policy in Southeast Europe

Location: Belgrade, Serbia
Topics of Inquiry: As the largest urban space in Southeast Europe, Belgrade is home to numerous social justice movements, local NGOs, dynamic civic activism, and advocacy work. In this seminar, participants will examine civic action on a variety of issues—from corruption scandals to demanding more democratic participation and socially just policies—on local, regional, and transnational trajectories.

Grounding Faculty-led programs in Experiential Education Pedagogy and Decolonial Perspectives

Location: Kathmandu, Namobuddha, and Dhulikhel, Nepal
Topics of Inquiry: This seminar will focus on best practices and strategies for grounding experiential learning pedagogy and decolonial perspectives in program design and implementation for successful faculty-led programs. Examine best practices in experiential learning for study abroad programs and build skills to ensure effective curriculum integration, design impactful programs, and navigate common challenges. Learn about SIT’s approach to field-based learning and consider how experiential pedagogy can enhance students’ experiences on faculty-led programs abroad.

Africa Rising: Hip Hop, Politics, and Critical Resilience in Senegal

Location: Dakar, Senegal
Topics of Inquiry: Explore the vitality, resilience, and global breadth of contemporary African and African diaspora communities. Examine hip-hop and urban cultures as decolonial voices that continuously engage the limits of coloniality, global capitalism, religious pluralism, and local political realities.

Identity, Privilege, and Power: Activities for Centering Decoloniality in Study Abroad Practices 

Location: Virtual
Topics of Inquiry: Identity, privilege, and power. Investigate practical activities that can be integrated into short-term and faculty-led programming to help students—and ourselves—think critically about issues of decolonizing studying abroad. You will walk away with experience using activities that can help your students move towards achieving a decolonial mindset. 

Integrating Experiential Learning into Faculty-Led Programs Abroad

Location: Amman, Jordan
Topics of Inquiry: Examine best practices in experiential learning for study abroad programs and build skills to ensure effective curriculum integration, design impactful programs, and navigate common challenges. Learn about SIT’s approach to field-based learning and consider how experiential pedagogy can enhance students’ experiences on faculty-led programs abroad. 

Art and Memory in Argentina

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Topics of Inquiry: How residents of Buenos Aires have made sense of the violence of the dictatorship and the period of State Terrorism through the arts

Community Health and Indigenous Knowledge in China

Location: Kunming, China
Topics of Inquiry: The intersection of “western” and “traditional” medicine in practice, policy, and community health in the city of Kunming and in Tibetan areas of Yunnan province

The New Tunisia: Migration and Democratic Consolidation

Location: Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
Topics of Inquiry: Current issues in Tunisia, where the only successful revolution of the Arab Spring ushered in a new democracy as well as an influx of migrants headed toward the European Union

Rwanda in the Contemporary Global Order

Locations: Kigali, Rwanda, with an excursion to southwestern Uganda
Topics of Inquiry: The contemporary roots of genocide; sociological and psychological perspectives on the causes of mass violence; prospects for and threats to sustainable peace in the Great Lakes Region of East Africa; the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and the current refugee crisis

Public Health, Community, and Healthcare Systems in India

Locations: Delhi, Agra, and Dharamsala region, India
Topics of Inquiry: Introduction to India; public health systems in India; traditional and alternative healthcare practices; right to health and equity in Indian and global contexts; social determinants of health; women’s and children’s health

Geopolitics and Humanitarian Action in Jordan

Location: Amman, Jordan
Topics of Inquiry: International relations in the Middle East; the impact of immigrants and refugees in Jordan; causes and consequences of the Arab Spring; psychology of peace and diplomacy; priorities of intervention for refugee relief; the role of the UN and other agencies in humanitarian response

Comparative Ecology and Conservation in Ecuador

Location: Quito, Ecuador
Topics of Inquiry: The ecology of Amazonian and Andean ecosystems; current ecological challenges and the efforts under way to combat them; key biological and ecological indicators such as plants, insects, birds, mammals, and other biological taxa; current research projects at world-renowned Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Tunisia in Transition: Social and Political Transformation

Location: Greater Tunis Area, Tunisia
Topics of Inquiry: The dynamics between modernity and tradition; Islam and constitutional democracy; technology and youth culture; social and political transition in Tunisia