August 27, 2019 As we settle into the new academic year, the Office of Study Abroad (OSA) encourages all faculty and staff to promote study and intern abroad opportunities to UAH students. Meaningful experiences abroad allow students to broaden perspectives; challenge assumptions; and build essential soft skills. Additionally, research has shown that education abroad experiences contribute to higher retention rates, timely graduation rates, and better employment opportunities for student participants. As we strive toward increased education abroad enrollment, success depends on cross-campus collaboration. Please consider collaborating with our office in the following ways: Class Visits - Building awareness of study/intern abroad opportunities is a key area of focus for our office. One effective way of generating student interest is through brief classroom presentations. The OSA will happily send a representative to your classroom and speak for 5-10 minutes about the opportunities available. Course approvals - Department Chairs will soon be contacted by our Spring 2020 student applicants for course reviews and approvals. Students should come to you with syllabi and the Course Approval Form in hand. We thank you in advance for the time and energy spent on assisting students with their course plans Further Collaboration - Our goal is to develop strong, customized programming with departments on campus, so all students have access to and can benefit from robust study/intern abroad programming. This can be accomplished through curriculum matching for select programs, faculty-led programming development, or custom program development built specifically for the needs of your students. Please email Nicole Hughes, Director of Study Abroad, at nicole.hughes@uah.edu to coordinate a class visit, explore potential avenues for collaboration, and/or ask questions about the course approval process David Berkowitz, Ph.D.Dean of the Graduate School and International Services
