[187] MTSU Study Abroad Fair Shows Students Passport To Success

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 6, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU STUDY ABROAD FAIR SHOWS STUDENTS PASSPORT TO SUCCESS
Trips to Fascinating Locales Add Dynamic Dimension to Classroom Credit Hours

(MURFREESBORO) – A passport to a world of new and exciting possibilities awaits MTSU students at the annual Study Abroad Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, on the second floor of the Keathley University Center.
Rhonda Waller, director of Education Abroad and Student Exchange, says this year’s fair will be the biggest ever in terms of opportunities to travel to countries all over the world for the learning experience of a lifetime.
“My philosophy is to come and learn more information,” says Waller. “You may be surprised to find what’s possible. We’re here to find out what fits you.”
Exchange programs offered by MTSU can send students to Brazil, China, France, Germany, Ghana, Japan, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
In addition, relationships with a number of consortia, including the Kentucky Institute for International Studies, the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad and the Tennessee Consortium for International Studies, provide students with numerous other options.
“The fair is a great first step, but the next step is to come in for advising,” says Waller. “Don’t wait until the last minute!”
MTSU sent 254 participants, including 232 undergraduates, abroad in the 2008-2009 academic year. Sixty-seven percent of them went to Western Europe. Twenty percent went to Latin America. Nine percent went to Asia.
In the same year, MTSU hosted 46 exchange students from 15 countries ranging from Antilles to Thailand. Seven of those students came from France, the destination for MTSU’s general education courses at the Institut Universitaire de Technologie in Cherbourg.
The school hosts MTSU undergraduates each June for summer classes augmented by historical trips to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mont St. Michel and the D-Day beaches of Normandy.
“Although we offer French, we’re not primarily a foreign language program,” says Dr. Steven Livingston, professor of political science and coordinator of the Cherbourg excursions.
Accommodations are at a former French emperor’s naval hospital that has been converted into a cinema school. Each student will have his or her own room with a bath and a kitchenette.

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“I’m sure the students like the field trips the most because there are spectacular places they’ve never been,” Livingston says. “I just like daily life in France, the pace, the food, strolling around. France is still a country of small, individual shops. The shops you see in Cherbourg you’re not going to see anyplace else.”
“I loved being able to get out of my comfort zone and experience different cultures,” says Leah Rehmert, a senior marketing major from Union City of her 2008 Cherbourg trip.
Students seeking to study abroad for summer 2010, fall 2010 or the full 2010-2011 academic year can apply for generous scholarships. The deadline is January 28, 2010.
For more information, contact Livingston at 615-898-2720 or slivings@mtsu.edu or Waller at 615-898-5179 or mtabroad@mtsu.edu.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For color jpegs from prior study abroad trips to Cherbourg, France, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.


With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.