May 8-27, 2012
Kigali, Musanze, Gisenyi, Butare and Akagera, Rwanda
This Study Abroad Program is a study abroad component of the following courses offered during the Spring 2012 term: BIO 4390 - Special Topics and FYFS 1310 & First-Year Seminar: Studies in World Cultural Traditions.
Students MUST be enrolled in one of the Spring courses to participate in the Study Abroad Program to Rwanda. The travel component is a required part of the course content, students enrolled in the courses must participate in the study abroad portion to complete the course.
Thematic commonalities between the courses offered on this program offer unique opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and service. These opportunities will be explored in two ways:
- Themes “Colonial Creation of Race” and “The Science and Propaganda of HIV/AIDS” will be bring the two classes together for team-teaching and integrated group discussions.
- Service learning is central to these courses; consequently, both classes will work to create science activities / experiments appropriate for primary schoolchildren. These lessons will be practiced in local elementary schools during the spring semester, perfected, and then the students will team, teach, and facilitate learning in a number of Rwandan orphanages and schools.
The world cultural traditions requirement introduces students to broadly significant elements of the cultural traditions of the world in their richness, diversity, and complexity. Each course used to fulfill this requirement entails comparison between several Western and non-Western cultures.
Objectives for students completing the world cultural traditions requirements are:
(1) To better understand significant social, economic, and political developments in Western and non-Western history; (2) To better understand significant cultural developments in Western and non-Western civilization (religion, art, philosophy, language, and literature); (3) To be familiar with enduring expressions of human thought by study of some major texts of Western and non-Western cultures; and (4) To better understand the interaction of Western and non-Western cultural traditions.
Students enrolled in BIOL 4390 will:
1. Examine the long and complicated relationship between the Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda.
2. Study the history of Rwanda's educational system and explore how this system contribute to the genocide of 1994. Additionally, students will examine the current educational system and evaluate the country's STI (Science, Technology and Innovation) initiative.
3. Study the flora and fauna of three unique ecological areas in Rwanda: the Virunga Volcano Region, the savannah and wetlands of the Akagera region and investigate the effects of war on the the environment.
Flight Itinerary
FLT DATE CITIES DEP ARR
United 4307 08MAY Little Rock-Houston 4:11P 5:37P
Qatar 078 08MAY Houston-Doha 8:40P 7:15P+1 (09 May)
*Qatar 538 10MAY Doha-Entebbe 1:00A 6:25A
10MAY Entebbe-Kigali 7:25A 7:20A
*There is what is called a "hidden stop" on flight 538. The flight crew will inform the passengers if they will need to change planes.
*Qatar 539 26MAY Kigali-Entebbe 10:40A 12:35P
26MAY Entebbe-Doha 1:35P 6:55P
*There is what is called a "hidden stop" on flight 539. The flight crew will inform the passengers if they will need to change planes or not.
Overnight stay in Doha, Qatar. The arrangement with Qatar includes transit visas, hotel, roundtrip airport transfers and meals. The customer service representative at Qatar Airways will specify detailed arrangements for the group.
Qatar 077 27MAY Doha-Houston 9:00A 5:15P
United 5253 27MAY Houston-Little Rock 6:54P 8:14P
For questions on the group travel arrangements above, contact Suzi Perlman at STA Travel: sperlman@statravel.com 1-800-714-6503 Group Travel Folder: 895462 Qatar Airlines Confirmation: ZHIERC
Faculty Program Directors:
Leah Horton • Lewis Science Center, 134 • Biology Department & STEM Residential College
COURSES OFFERED: BIO 4390 - Special Topics
Dr. Jayme Stone • Harrin Hall, 207 • Director of Learning Communities
COURSES OFFERED: FYFS 1310 - First-Year Seminar: Studies in World Cultural Traditions
YFS 1310 (First-Year Seminar: Studies in World Cultural Traditions) fulfills the World Cultural Traditions requirement of the General Education Core.
All General Education objectives can be reviewed on the GE webpage at: http://www.uca.edu/gened/
Honors Credit: HONC 3310
Course option offered on all study abroad programs with approval by Honors College. Please contact Patricia Smith, Director of Student Engagement • McAlister 305A (501) 450-5295