McMicken On The Road...

Spring Break involved more than sand and suntan lotion for several McMicken students and their professors.

The Hewett-Kautz Fund sponsored a trip to Washington, D.C. that was organized by Brian Preston, president of the Economics Society, the official association of undergraduates in the department of economics. Eleven students and their faculty advisers, Gigi Escoe, associate dean and associate professor, and Joe Gallo, professor of economics and head of the Center for Organizational Leadership, spent several busy days in the capitol.

Among the organizations they visited were the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Ways and Means Committee, the Joint Economic Committee, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the European Commission, the American Antitrust Institute, the International Monetary Fund, the Winston Group, and the International Affairs Committee.

Escoe said the trip "provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to interact with key economic policy agencies and decision makers about some of the most interesting and important economic questions of our time. The access we are offered is really remarkable.”

Mary Fox and Billie Dziech, professors of biology and English, took their fourteen Honors students to the Charleston and Beaufort, South Carolina, area as the final requirement for their place-as-test study in “Conroy Country and the Southern Experience.” Students toured Charleston, the Citadel, Magnolia Gardens, Drayton Hall, the ACE River Basin, and Beaufort. .

Fox explained, “We decided to use novels by Pat Conroy because they’re popular with students and have rich interdisciplinary discussion possibilities. In addition, learning about the ecology of the area gave them a deeper understanding of Conroy’s and other residents’ deep sense of connection. Bringing together the literature and ecology was an exciting experience for all of us, and I think our students will remember the trip for a long time. It was important they recognize that the natural beauty of the place, as well as its incredible created beauty, shaped the author’s mind and imagination and contribute to current preservation efforts. We wanted students to explore the Gullah culture and other aspects of the diverse southern experience so that we could establish the connection between identity formation and place.” .

Adventure and learning don’t stop when summer arrives. Students in the romance languages and literature department’s “Introduction to Brazil” course will travel to Rio de Janeiro and the province of Minas Gerais in June. Connie Scarborough, associate professor, and Sandro Barros, a native of Brazil, will lead the tour. Students will experience aspects of Brazilian culture they studied in the spring and will discover the many different “Brazils” of which the country is composed, as they visit locations in and around Rio, the island of Paquetá and colonial towns in Minas Gerais.

Scarborough observed that “Brazil is the largest country in Latin America with the most robust economy, but unfortunately, it is not included in many courses on Latin America. The students on this trip will learn about the many unique contributions of Brazil, including facets of it rich African heritage, as well as witness firsthand the struggles of a country where there are still great inequities between rich and poor.”