Antioch Education Abroad is now accepting applications from students who attend any college or university in the U.S. for our Fall 2013 study abroad programs. Contact us to let us know you are interested, and follow the Application Requirements to submit your application. (Only our Germany and Argentina programs require proficiency in the local language.)

Our application deadlines are as follows:

March 15 Deadline:

Buddhist Studies in India: (Bodh Gaya; Fall Semester) A semester of study and meditation while living in a Buddhist monastery near the site of Buddha Shakyamuni’s Enlightenment.

Antioch in Germany: (Tubingen University; Fall or Full Year options) Full immersion program—study
and live at Tubingen University.

March 30 Deadline:

Arts and Culture in West Africa: (formerly in Mali, now in The Republic of Guinea; Fall Semester) Immerse yourself in Mande culture through coursework, an arts apprenticeship, and a homestay experience.

Brazilian Ecosystems: (Based in Curitiba, travel throughout Brazil; Fall Semester) Study, intern, and immerse yourself in biodiversity conservation in 5 different ecosystems. Includes a 4-week science internship.

Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions: (Kyoto; Fall Semester) Explore Japan through the study of its society, culture, and religions.

Comparative Women’s and Gender Studies in Europe: (Multi-Country—Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Turkey; Fall Semester) Explore and examine feminist and queer theory while conducting field research across Europe.

Our Spring semester programs have October application deadlines, but your home deadline might be different. We advise ALL students to visit the study abroad office on their home campus as soon as possible as they may have earlier deadlines and additional application requirements for study abroad.

Our Spring programs are:

Community Development in Cameroon
Globalization and Community Responses in Argentina
Antioch in Germany

We recommend that students who wish to apply begin as early as possible, as space is limited and enrollment is competitive. If you plan to apply after the deadline, please contact AEA so that we can advise you as to availability.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or to be put in touch with past participants. We look forward for another great year!

AEA Flickr Photo Gallery
AEA on Facebook

Included in their key findings were:

• 90 percent of study abroad alumni found their first job within 6 months of graduation (compared to only 49 percent in a recent survey of the general college graduate population)
• Study abroad alumni earned, on average $7,000 more in their first full-time job salary than the general college graduate population
• 78 percent of study abroad alumni considered their first job after college to be a “stepping stone to a career or as a career itself.”

At Antioch Education Abroad (AEA), our program alumni continuously connect their experiences abroad to successful international careers, graduate studies in a related field, prestigious fellowships, and use the cross-cultural skills they acquired abroad on a daily basis. In addition, our alumni demonstrate an ongoing dedication to our institutional mission of advancing social, economic, and environmental justice.

Below are a few examples of our former students who are now leaders in their fields, as well as links to additional featured alumni that we recently added to our website.

Zachary Strassburger participated in our 2004 Comparative Women’s and Gender Studies in Europe (WGSE) program. The research Zach conducted on the WGSE program strengthened his commitment to advocacy for marginalized populations. Zach is now an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Kids Voice in Pittsburgh, PA, working as an attorney representing mentally ill young people in the foster care system. In addition, while a student at the Yale Law School, Zach published “Our Moral Duty to Address Gay Discrimination in Iraq” in the Huffington Post.

Eric Herman participated in our 2003 Arts and Culture in West Africa program. He is now co-founder and President of Modiba Productions in NYC that manages a number of established and emerging artists, including Bombino, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, and Vieux Farka Touré – son of world-renowned musician Ali Farke Touré – whom Eric met while studying guitar in Bamako with AEA. Upon its founding in 2004, Modiba first released the 100% benefit album ASAP: the Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project to critical acclaim, and has since raised over $140,000 to fund humanitarian groups in Darfur.

Christine Bacon, a 1999 participant in our Brazilian Ecosystems program, is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, based in Ancon, Balboa, Panama. In 2012, she wrote: “AEA’s Brazilian Ecosystems program was fundamental in forming both my career and life choices. During the program I was exposed to language, rivers, culture, Amazonian rainforests, amazing people, plants, cities, and science. My experiences helped me get into graduate school afterwards and to shape my Masters and PhD projects.” Christine has dedicated her career to understanding the evolutionary forces behind the formation of biodiversity hotspots, such as those found in the tropical Americas.

Check out additional Featured Alumni on the following AEA program pages:

• Arts & Culture in West Africa featured alumni

• Brazilian Ecosystems featured alumni

• Buddhist Studies in India featured alumni

• Comparative Women’s & Gender Studies in Europe featured alumni

• Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions featured alumni

If you are a prospective student interested in speaking to program alumni about their experiences on an AEA program, contact us!

About Antioch Education Abroad: Since the 1950s Antioch Education Abroad has been a pioneer in global education offering rigorous academic programs with cultural immersion abroad. Two of AEA’s co-founders, Irwin Abrams and Paula L. Spier, were instrumental in helping to shape the field of international education nationwide.

In 2012, one-third of all students participating in AEA programs came from the top 25 colleges or universities in the United States, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, including Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Carleton, Carnegie Mellon, Colby, Columbia, Harvard, Middlebury, Northwestern, Smith, Swarthmore, Vassar, and Wesleyan.

AEA students are directly engaged in their fields internationally and gain invaluable, relevant, real world experience. The top-notch academic quality of Antioch’s study abroad programs includes the unique integrating of academic study with practical, hands-on learning through internships, service learning, and independent field research.

More information is available at: antioch.edu/aea/

Media Contact:
Matt Cookson
Chief Communications Officer
University Communications
mcookson@antioch.edu

• Antioch in Germany

• Community Development in Cameroon

• Globalization & Community Responses in Argentina

Download an AEA application packet here.

Students may also apply to AEA’s new Irwin Abrams & Paula L. Spier Study Abroad Scholarship. For details and an application, click here.

AEA Founders Irwin Abrams and Paula L. Spier

YELLOW SPRINGS, OH – In an effort to make college and university study abroad opportunities more accessible, Antioch Education Abroad announces the Irwin Abrams and Paula L. Spier Study Abroad Scholarship. Irwin Abrams and Paula Lazarus Spier were visionary leaders in the field of international education as theorists and practitioners of experiential learning. They were co-founders of Antioch Education Abroad in 1957.

The scholarships are need-based and range from $1,500 – $4,000 per semester and offered to support broader access for students to study abroad through AEA. AEA is currently accepting applications for the scholarship, which can be applied toward any AEA study abroad program in a number of locations around the world.

“Both Irwin and Paula tirelessly dedicated their lives and academic careers to creating and promoting cross-cultural experiences through study abroad as a pathway for international peace-building,” said Andrzej Bloch, Dean of University International Education. “This scholarship is just one way we can recognize their commitment to AEA.”

A student in the Brazilian Ecosystems program untangles a bird from a mist net

As an Antioch College faculty member in History, Abrams took on the college’s challenge to enable every student to study abroad. In 1957, he led the European Urban Term, proving that a semester-long, thematic program abroad could demonstrate academic rigor. He published countless articles on international education, and became a leading authority on the history of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Spier led international education efforts for Antioch students, and opened AEA programs to students from colleges and universities around the country in 1972. She was a formative, active member of the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), and the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), who awarded her the “Leo R. Dowling Award of Excellence” in 1990, after her formal retirement in 1985.

Eligibility
Undergraduate students in good academic standing currently enrolled in a U.S. college or university may apply for the scholarship towards an AEA study abroad program. Multiple scholarships will be awarded each year, and may range from $1,500 to $4,000.

For an application, and details on how to apply, visit: www.antioch.edu/aeascholarship
Or contact us at: (800)874-7986 / aea@antioch.edu

A student learning from his mentor as part of the Arts and Culture in West Africa program

About Antioch Education Abroad:Since the 1950s Antioch Education Abroad has been a pioneer in global education offering rigorous academic programs with cultural immersion abroad. Two of AEA’s co-founders, Irwin Abrams and Paula L. Spier, were instrumental in helping to shape the field of international education nationwide.

In 2012, one-third of all students participating in AEA programs came from the top 25 colleges or universities in the United States, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, including Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Carleton, Carnegie Mellon, Colby, Columbia, Harvard, Middlebury, Northwestern, Smith, Swarthmore, Vassar, and Wesleyan.

AEA students are directly engaged in their fields internationally and gain invaluable, relevant, real world experience. The top-notch academic quality of Antioch’s study abroad programs includes the unique integrating of academic study with practical, hands-on learning through internships, service learning, and independent field research.

More information is available at: antioch.edu/aea/

Media Contact:
Matt Cookson
Communications Advisor
University Communications
mcookson@antioch.edu
937-769-1358

Antioch Education Abroad congratulates recent Fulbright awardees, who are student alumni from our Buddhist Studies in India program!

Sara Chalfin, who was a participant in the 2008 Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya, recently graduated from Earlham College, and has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship grant. She will be teaching English in Sri Lanka during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Taylor Haney, a participant in the 2010 Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya, recently graduated from Amherst College, and has been awarded a Fulbright Student Research grant. He will study the impact of the Tibetan diaspora on the musical traditions of Tibetan refugees at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala.

Alexa Russo, who was also a participant in the 2010 Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya, recently graduated from Amherst College, and has been awarded a Fulbright Student Research grant. She will be working with microcredit groups within the organization Seva Mandir in Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Find out more about our Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya, India, here.

Highlights from Brian’s lecture tour include:

1. April 26, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Great Britain,   “Zen Terrorism in 1930s Japan: Lessons for Today.”
2. May 1,   Bristol University, Bristol, Great Britain,   “Violence-enabling Mechanisms in Buddhism.”
3. May 8, University of Oslo, Humanitarian Faculty, “Zen as a Cult of Death.”
4. May 9, University of Oslo, Theological Faculty, “Universal Characteristics of Holy War.”
5. May 14, 2012, University of Hamburg, Hamburg Germany, “Zen, D.T. Suzuki and the Nazis.”
6. May 29, 2012, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, “Zen, D.T. Suzuki and Nazis.”
7. June 13, 2012, Keynote address at the Conference of the World Federation of Buddhists in Seoul,   South Korea, “Buddhism and Violence.”

Brian will return to Yellow Springs in early July to continue preparing for the fall 2012 Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions program. You may contact Brian through the AEA Office: aea@antioch.edu; (800) 874-7986.

NEW category – Facebook Fave Foto:

Quinn Wilson

Western Washington University

Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions

A masked shinto priest performs a dance in front of the famous floating Tori gate of  Itsukushima shrine, on the island  of Miyajima, which we visited after our pilgrimage on the island of Shikoku. At high tide, the gate and the entire temple complex appear to be floating on the water.

Exceptional Artistic / Technical Quality:

Lisa Charron
Goucher College
Buddhist Studies in India

“Archer”
Just outside of Delhi, there lays the remnants of a once holy site.   Kings fought over which faith the buildings would represent, so at sometimes they were Hindu temples and at others they were Muslim mosques.

Student Engagement in Academic and/or Hands-On Learning abroad:

Mariana Calderon

College of the Atlantic

Brazilian Ecosystems

“Hold Your Breath”

Nicholas Dendeiro carefully detangles a bird from a mist net set up in the Montanha Beija Flor reserve in the Atlantic Coastal Rainforest. While it took the group long minutes to untangle each captured bird, our instructor, and practiced researcher, Andre, could detangle the most hopelessly tangled in less than half a minute.

Cross-Cultural Experience (an observation or interaction with host culture/communities):

Dyer Van Devere

Skidmore College

Buddhist Studies in India

“Woman sitting by ribbons at Mahabodhi”

A Chinese woman sits in private meditation on the north side of the Mahabodhi temple. Her stillness and silence represents both the aura of peace surrounding the temple and the pilgrimages that people from all over the world take to come to Bodhgaya.

Landscape / Architecture:

Quinn Wilson

Western Washington University

Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions

The town of  Tenkawamura is a village in the mountains devoted to Shugendo, a Japanese sect which combines Buddhism and its native Shinto faith. This river divides the area which includes new houses, ancient shrines and temples, hot springs, waterfalls, and a path to one of the religion’s holiest sites.

HONORABLE MENTIONS for outstanding student photographers:

Angie Vitale, Richard Stockton College, Arts and Culture in Mali

Karen Abramson, Skidmore College, Comparative Women’s and Gender Studies in Europe

Jamil Jorge, Connecticut College, Arts and Culture in Mali

Zev Blumenfeld, Emerson College, Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions

Click here to view the entire gallery of Student Photo Contest entries on Facebook!

Integral to the Seminar, students participate in a service learning project in Bariloche. Possible service learning projects include: community/public health; environmental conservation and education with the National Parks Service; education and youth outreach; indigenous rights and preservation of cultural heritages; or community arts.

The program coursework is in Spanish, and includes a pre-semester Spanish language intensive as well as a semester-long Spanish Tutorial focusing on academic writing, reading and oral skills to support their coursework and service learning engagement. In addition, students choose two additional course electives with Argentine students and faculty at the Universidad Fraternidad de Agrupaciones Santo Tomas de Aquino (FASTA), as part of their regular semester course offerings, such as Argentinean History; Political Economy; Contemporary Issues of Indigenous Peoples of Patagonia; and Audiovisual Storytelling. Students live in homestays for full cultural immersion. AEA Assistant Director and Academic Coordinator for the Argentina program, Luisa Bieri Rios, leads the program orientation and team teaches the Seminar with faculty from FASTA.

Read more about Globalization and Community Responses in Argentina here.

For more information regarding curriculum, costs and scholarships, and application materials, please contact AEA.

Given the uncertain future of northern Mali, we have decided to relocate Arts and Culture in Mali 2012 to the city of Kankan, the third largest urban center in the Republic of Guinea, Mali’s neighbor to the southwest. Kankan is the heartland of Mande culture, home to a thriving Mande art and artisan community, as well as Julius Nyerere University, which will provide us with classroom facilities, guest lecturers, and access to library facilities.

Sekou Camara, our Guinean-born Mande culture lecturer and language teacher who has been with the program since 2007, will join Program Director and Lead Faculty Nick Hockin (who did extensive research in Guinea in 2007-08) in coordinating a smooth transition to our new location. All of the current courses listed for the Arts and Culture in Mali program will be offered, including French language. The African language course will be Dioula, a widely spoken language that incorporates aspects of Bamana and Malinké. Dioula, Bamana, and Malinké are mutually intelligible, and Dioula is almost identical to the Bamana spoken in Bamako. Apprenticeships and homestays will function as planned, with local artists, artisans, dancers, and musicians.

Guinea is a country recently emerged from years of single party rule. Alpha Condé was elected president in 2010, and multi-party legislative elections are due in the summer of 2012. The Peace Corps has been operating in Guinea since 1963, and currently has 31 volunteers in the country. The U.S. State Department has a travel warning in place for Guinea, last updated on Nov 4, 2011, citing political unrest surrounding the presidential elections. All indicators point to smooth elections, and we are confident in the democratic stability of the country.

We are taking all the steps necessary to ensure that our students enjoy a safe and secure study abroad experience in West Africa this fall. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Read the March 29 AEA update on Mali here.

Read the March 22 AEA update on coup in Mali here.

For more   information on the Arts and Culture in Mali program, click here.