Faculty-led Study Abroad Courses

This upcoming Spring Quarter, as a certified wine education expert (holding a WSET Diploma and Italian Wine Ambassador credentials among other things), I’ll be offering HUM H399: Italian Wine Culture, a unique course with an incredible study-abroad trip component over spring break. This is your chance to embark on an unforgettable global adventure and travel with your peers.

This course explores the rich tapestry of Italian wine culture through historical, regional, and cultural perspectives. During the Spring Break trip, you will dive into the dynamic culinary and viticultural heritage of Central Italy. This trip will be fun, tasty, educational, as well as very practical!

We bypass ordinary lectures to explore the living heritage of Italy. You will study how history, geography, and tradition influence today’s Italian wine culture through lectures, group work, and hands-on activities during the Spring Quarter. During Spring Break, A faculty-led journey through Central Italy to experience regional food, history, and wine culture firsthand. The highlights of the trips include historical landmarks, wineries and museum visits. You’ll visit great areas, such as Florence, Chianti Classico, Siena, Pompeii, and Rome!

Why is this course practical?

• Before and after the trip, you will learn the basic concepts of wine tasting through tasting practices using food and non-alcoholic beverages. During the trip, I will guide you through exclusive tasting sessions to learn the essentials of wine tasting and gain a newfound appreciation for authentic Italian wine right where it is made.

Enrollment & Eligibility

• Who can join: This course is open to all students across all majors who are over 18 at the time of travel, including graduating seniors.
• Requirements: There are no prerequisites, and this course will fulfill one of your general HSSA requirements.
• Spots are strictly limited to ensure an intimate group dynamic and exclusive winery access.

Costs & Financial Aids

• The entire trip cost is estimated at $5,300-5,800, depending on the number of participants, but you will get a guaranteed stipend from HSSA ($1,500), and there are opportunities for further substantial scholarships from the Center for Global Engagement as well as WorldStrides.

Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech, Agafay,
Country, Morocco

April 09 - 18, 2027
(includes all program costs and round-trip flight):
$4,800 (for 15+ students)
$5,500 (for < 15 students)

Students who haven't taken Leadership & Global Challenges (EMGT 536-ONL, 4 credits) have to enroll in it and in Engineering Management Seminar (EMGT 512, 1 credit). Students who have already taken EMGT 536-ONL will only enroll in EMGT 512.

REGISTER BY DEC 07, 2026

Learn More about this trip:

Eva Andrijcic
Professor of Engineering Management
andrijci@rose-hulman.edu

During the Fall and Spring Quarters, Dr. Muller and Dr. Ben Mertz will be offering MDS 201: Global Engineering and the Social Context. This class does not require you to travel, but it will prepare you to do one of the faculty-led summer travel opportunities to either Kenya or Peru. The class will help you develop valuable skills related to solving problems all over the world. During the class, you will work on a design project couched in an international context. You will get to explore the cultural aspects of creating good engineered designs while building intercultural competencies, practicing sustainable engineering concepts, learning general design principles, teamwork, and communication skills. 

Once you have taken MDS 201, you will be prepared to appreciate an exploration of the culture and societal contexts that you can explore over a 2-week, faculty-led study abroad experience in either Kenya or Peru. Once you return from that international experience, you can get credit for the learning that occurred on the trip by taking MDS 202 in the Fall Quarter of the next academic year, where you will reflect on and share your experiences with others in the Rose-Hulman community. 

If you choose to travel to Kenya, you will learn about the roughly 70% of Kenyans that use live-fire cooking techniques (wood and charcoal) by visiting the homes of those who use these forms of cooking and experience Kenyan hospitality first-hand. You will be stretched to learn from people living in both rural and urban societies that may look very different from the ones you are accustomed to. You will also hear from groups that are trying to solve the health problems associated with using this kind of cooking and learn about the challenges associated with solving this culturally and technologically complex problem. You will also experience the Maasai culture through an interaction with the Maa Trust and see the wonders of wildlife in Kenya as we go on Safari on game drives in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. These experiences will give you new perspectives on human-centered design and a better appreciation for the beauty, ingenuity, and resilience of Kenya and its people.

Enrollment & Elligibility

• Who can join: TMDS 201 is open to all majors and class standings
• Requirements: There are no prerequisites for MDS 201. Taking both MDS 201 and 202 would earn you a total of 4 elective credits that can be used toward your degree (without needing to pay for summer class credits). For Mechanical Engineers, MDS 201 can also be used to fulfill the EM 103: Introduction to Design required class.
• We need a minimum of 10 students to be able to run the faculty-led trip to Kenya

Cost & Financial Assistance

• The entire 2-week trip is estimated to cost $6500 (this includes flights, housing, activity fees, food, and ground transportation). Depending on the final number of students travelling, the final cost may be less than this (but will not be more). The Center for Global Engagement may be able to help you identify scholarship opportunities on campus.

For more information, contact Ben Mertz.

Spring Quarter course with travel in June 2026 

From Keir Starmer to King Charles, from Magna Carta to Margaret Thatcher, POLS304 British Politics and Government, will guide you through the ins and outs of Great Britain’s history, institutions, and politics. During the spring quarter, we will be examining the big events of recent British history – from Churchill and the “finest hour” to the drama of the Brexit referendum. Then we will study the country’s political system, examining its governing ideas, institutions, actors, and electoral processes. 

Best of all, after our time in the classroom, we travel to London and Edinburgh  to get a firsthand look at the places and institutions we have been discussing. We will check out the Houses of Parliament and the Scottish Parliament and meet some of their members. World-class historical and cultural sites are also on the itinerary, including the British Museum, the Tower of London, Edinburgh Castle, the National Gallery, and the Cabinet War Rooms. And we will be immersed in British culture and enjoy a much more diverse and delicious cuisine than these nations often get credit for!

Contact Dr. Terrence Casey for more information.

The romance of Tuscany is about more than just the  magnificence of its Renaissance art and architecture.  It’s also about the food of Tuscany.  Tuscan food is truly from the earth, with a bounty of whole food products and livestock that spring from and live off the land.  This course will present fundamentals of the chemistry of food and drink with a special emphasis on foods and beverages that are uniquely Italian with an emphasis on Tuscan foods. During spring break, students will travel to Siena to tour food processing sites as well as tourist sites like the Galleria dell ’Accademia (home of Michelangelo’s David) in Florence, and the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo in Siena.  Even better, there will be a cooking class focusing on regional food.  For more information, contact Dr. Tilstra or Dr. DeVasher (Chemistry & Biochemistry). 

Spring Quarter 2024: ANTHS 301 - Japanese Society

Japan has long-inspired outside fascination. From the samurai to Godzilla and the tea ceremony to Pokemon and Hello Kitty, it’s iconic cultural and creative innovations have intrigued and confused the outside world. Japanese Society (ANTHS-301) seeks to unravel some of this confusion and attach our collective fascination to sturdy intellectual moorings. In class we will examine contemporary Japan with an eye to experiencing all that we study over a week of travel to Tokyo, Osaka/Kyoto, and Hiroshima during spring of 2024.

Contact Dr. Paul Christensen for more information.

MDS202 - Global Engineering and the Social Context

This program will expose students to the design methods, standards, codes, and regulations of engineering in Kenya, as well as the social, cultural, and political factors that impact engineering practice in the region.

We will arrive on Monday, May 27, 2024, in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. A Local Program Facilitator expert from EDU‐Africa will meet the group at the airport and arrange for travel to Brackenhurst in the Limuru region. Students will stay in dormitories on the 100-acre site. We will also visit the Egerton University where we will live and work on an engineering project. We will also spend about 4 days on safari at the world-famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve. Our goal will be to complete a practical engineering project appropriate in Kenya.

We will visit local sites to learn about the people of Kenya, their culture, and challenges. Planned visits include: the Nairobi Design Thinking School, the Kibera Power Women’s Group, Gearbox—an initiative that aims at improving the ecosystem for hardware entrepreneurship, the Maa Trust a Maasai community, and an Elephant Orphanage.

View more information here.

Check out this immersive story from the 2022 study-abroad experience.

To apply please visit the RHIT Global Programs website at:

http://global.rose‐hulman.edu Search under Faculty‐led programs.

Questions? Contact Dr. Deborah Walter.

Dr. Mark Minster (Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts) Spring Quarter 2023 -- Travel to Belgium and the Netherlands during Spring Break

This is a course about the future that we need right now. How is it being imagined? How is it being built?

We know humans need food, water, and energy, for example. But growing food is energy- and water-intensive. It takes lots of energy to clean water and lots of water to generate energy. What kinds of infrastructure and agriculture will we need in order to sustain the well-being of 10 billion people, without requiring even more water and energy?

What kinds of changes will we need to make? Leading the way in imagining and building a sustainable future are countries like Belgium and the Netherlands. Over Spring Break 2023 we will visit historic windmills and state-of-the-art wind-farms, world-class farms and greenhouses. We will meet scientists, engineers, activists, and experts from climate and eco-power cooperatives and car-sharing initiatives. We will tour climate resiliency infrastructure from medieval dikes and canals to newly restored wetlands. And of course we will build in plenty of time for cultural experiences: museums, breweries, chocolatiers, and marketplaces.

Before the trip, we will learn about the fundamentals of sustainability in historical, social, scientific, and engineering contexts. We will see firsthand how these concepts are applied in Belgium and the Netherlands. After the trip, we will examine the costs and benefits of what we have experienced in our travels, proposing strategies to manage these challenges. Focusing on the food-water-energy nexus, we will think about how they can be redesigned to complement each other.

For more info, email Dr. Minster >>

Spring Quarter 2024: CHEM270 - CHEMISTRY OF FOOD AND DRINK IN JAPAN - Travel to Japan in Summer

Have you ever wondered exactly what tofu or miso is? Or maybe you’ve wondered how sake differs from other liquors. In this course taught by Professors Fumie Sunahori and Luanne Tilstra, you will—in Spring quarter—learn some of the fundamental chemistry behind food and drink and then explore mysteries of Japanese food, drink, and cooking methods developed in Japan.

We will complete with two-week trip to Japan—right after Commencement—in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, and Hiroshima led by a native instructor, offering you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse themselves in a unique, foreign environment to learn history and culture in Japan where both traditional practices and latest technologies coexist. As a part of the course, you will participate field trips to sake and miso factory as well as traditional Japanese sweet cooking class. Availability for the course is limited to 16 students. Cost for the study abroad experience is estimated to be between $3,300 and $4,000. Students must have completed prerequisites in CHEM 112 or CHEM111 & CHEM111L.

Want more information? Contact Dr. Fumie Sunahori.