$175,000 Funds Summer Global Studies From: University Currents Date: June 9, 2000 By: Marianne Kunnen-Jones Phone: (513) 556-1826 Archive: Campus News, Research News From the Amazon rainforests in Brazil, to the rice mills of Thailand and the newest office and retail buildings in Berlin, Germany, hundreds of UC students will be enjoying not-so-lazy days this summer gaining valuable global experiences. With $175,000 in funds from UC's Globalization Initiative and UC's Institute for Global Studies and Affairs to help defray the expenses, faculty will lead more than 15 summer study abroad excursions this year. Among them are: Chiang Mai, Thailand, July 27-August 25. College of Business Administration faculty James Comer and Raj Mehta will accompany 10-12 undergraduates to Chiang Mai University, where students will take two international business classes and complete a senior capstone. Students will also tour Thailand's rice fields and mills, learn about Buddhism and the place of royalty in the personal, cultural and business life of Thais, learn about labor management and relations and visit an apparel manufacturing company, a fish company, an industrial park and a ceramic jewelry manufacturer. Rondonia, Brazil, June 28-July 15. Helmut Elsenbeer, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and an expert on rainforests and hydrology, will lead three UC graduate students, plus two from other universities, in a study of the water cycle (rainfall, runoff, rivers, evaporation) in the Amazon rainforest. Students will examine how different land use affects the area's hydrology. Potsdam and Berlin, Germany, July 5-Aug. 28. Associate professor of architecture Udo Greinacher and interior design professor Henry Hildebrandt will lead 21 undergraduate students in architecture or interior design in a hypothetical design project at the Fachhochschule Potsdam (Polytechnic Potsdam), designing a structure where five artists from five continents will live and work. Students will work alongside German students, live with German students and take excursions to newer office, retail and museum buildings to observe contemporary architecture that has evolved after the reunification of Germany. Munich, Germany, June 15-July 8. Twelve undergraduates have signed a "language pledge" to travel with Germanic languages and literatures faculty member Cordelia Stroinigg on the third annual Munich Summer Program. Students promise to speak German whenever the group gets together, which according to Stroinigg, is at least six hours a day. Four hours each weekday are spent in German conversation and German culture classes with Stroinigg and additional hours are spent in class at the Advanced Studies of Languages Internationale Sprachenschule (international language school). Lucca, Italy. The Summer Program of Opera Theatre to Lucca, Italy will involve more than 140 students and 30 faculty from the College-Conservatory of Music who work to produce and perform orchestral concerts and vocal and chamber music performances in this Tuscan city and birthplace of the famous composer, Giacomo Puccini. Additional international study programs include these topics and sites: planning for developing nations at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (HIS) in Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Italian language and culture in Florence, Italy; Japanese language and culture in Nagoya, Japan; British women poets and gothic and romance literature in Harlaxton, England; Spanish language and Mexican culture in Mexico; undergraduate studies in European and French business at a school in Nantes, France; and MBA studies in Sao Paolo, Brazil/Santiago, Chile, and Toulouse, France. For more information about UC study abroad programs, visit the web at www.uc.edu/global.