Lander University's Study Abroad Program passed a milestone early in May when four students traveled to Spain to begin a special study program for education majors. Their participation in the trip raises to more than 100 the number of Lander students to have enrolled in a college or university abroad for a semester or a summer study term since the current program began in the spring of 2005.
Dr. DeWitt Stone Jr., director of Study Abroad, said Dr. Carlos Mentley, associate professor of Spanish in Lander's Department of English and Foreign Languages, arranged the study program working with the Tandem Institute in Madrid where it will be held.
The four students at Tandem are: Allyson Areheart, of West Columbia; Jennifer Harrison, of Moncks Corner; Chelsie Hastings, of Greenwood; and Mary Robinson, of West Union.
Two additional Lander students: Alexandria Beebe, of Clover, and Jennifer Lovvorn, of Hodges, are scheduled to fly to Cuzco, Peru, where they will enroll at the University of San Ignacio de Loyola.
Eleven students have been selected for fall 2012 semesters at colleges and universities in Cortona, Italy; Winchester, England; Alicante and Sevilla, Spain, and Incheon, Korea.
Joseph Sagara, of Simpsonville, will spend one full academic year at Kwansei Gakuin University, in Osaka, Japan. Sagara, who is majoring in business with an accounting emphasis, will be the first Lander student to spend a year studying abroad.
Stone said the interest in study abroad can be traced back to the mid-1980s when Larry Jackson was Lander's president. "He initiated the original Honors International Program that required each student to spend a semester at the University of Plymouth, in England."
From 1995 until 2004, the program was inactive until a new Honors International Program was introduced requiring a semester or summer study abroad experience.
In addition to those who have completed Study Abroad, another 210 Lander students have participated in 25 short-term study tours at international schools led by 30 Lander faculty members. Four study tour groups composed of 21 students will visit Amsterdam, Honduras, China and Korea this summer.