Cleared for Journey – Journal

This spring, Kenya Barnes spent her free time exploring Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Prague with mates from Germany, Britain, and Austria. In the course of the week, when she was not engaged on her analysis at Europe’s most innovative university, she would bicycle round her adopted hometown of Leuven, Belgium. “I needed to see every part,” stated Barnes, a junior from Pensacola, Florida, who’s majoring in neuroscience at UAB.

Barnes is a part of the primary group of Blazers to go overseas since UAB reopened for worldwide journey in January 2022. Even with no pandemic, nevertheless, she had questioned whether or not her academically demanding main would enable her to spend a semester away from UAB. Barnes plans to go to medical college and change into a surgeon. “I used to be at all times concerned with examine overseas; however if you end up pre-med, there aren’t quite a lot of choices,” she stated. “Most medical colleges wish to see home programs in your transcript, so I wasn’t certain I’d get the chance.”

The chance got here by way of NeuroScholars, a brand new program particularly for college kids in UAB’s Undergraduate Neuroscience Program. Barnes and one different scholar had been this system’s pioneers within the spring 2022 semester. Developed by UNP program co-director Cristin Gavin, Ph.D., and Ashley Neyer, director of UAB Education Abroad, NeuroScholars provides college students the prospect to work in a neuroscience lab in certainly one of a number of European nations.

Up to now few years, the Training Overseas workplace has “added choices in order that 95 % of our majors” can benefit from the life-changing expertise of examine overseas, Neyer stated. “There are applications that we now have to work creatively with, however one thing is obtainable for each scholar.”

For Barnes, the expertise was transformative. “It undoubtedly modified me,” she stated. “It made me notice how a lot greater the world is and made me stronger. It gave me the boldness that I can go anyplace and achieve success, throughout a continent or throughout the globe.”

Main progress, pre- and post-pandemic

Within the 5 years earlier than the pandemic halted worldwide journey in spring 2020, Training Overseas had elevated the annual variety of collaborating college students by 59 % — from 158 within the 2014-2015 tutorial yr to 252 in 2019-2020. In the course of the pandemic, “we nonetheless did worldwide actions, particularly distant internships,” Neyer stated. Now that journey has resumed, “we’re actually again to regular,” she stated. “We’re advising extra college students than we now have ever had. And we’re specializing in progress post-closure.”

Development means each rising the general variety of Blazers making the most of examine overseas alternatives and rising participation from underrepresented teams. Nationally, Black college students made up 13.3 % of U.S. postsecondary enrollment within the 2019-2020 tutorial yr, however solely 5.5 % of U.S. college students studying abroad. At UAB, the place Black college students made up 20.9 % of enrollment in that very same interval, they accounted for 19 % of scholars finding out overseas.

“One can by no means underestimate the worth and significance of cross-cultural studying,” stated Majd Zayzafoon, M.D., Ph.D., affiliate provost for International Education and assistant dean of International Medical Education within the Heersink Faculty of Drugs. “UAB acknowledges that the alternatives overseas will ceaselessly influence college students’ lives and make a distinction in our international neighborhood. That’s the reason the prioritization of diversified applications and cost-affordable avenues that Training Overseas has created are so vital. When the world is a scholar’s classroom, they’ll acquire an unparalleled schooling.”

Though the applications provided by Training Overseas are continuously being evaluated and improved, “proper earlier than the pandemic, we had began on an in depth portfolio evaluation,” Neyer stated. “In 2020, all our applications underwent an evaluation to verify they had been assembly totally different wants and views.”

That evaluation concerned three overarching questions, Neyer stated: “Are the programs accessible — that’s, are we assembly all majors on campus? Is the expertise accessible financially, to fulfill college students in any respect monetary ranges? And is it accessible by way of identification — are we ensuring that each one college students really feel secure and represented?”

The analysis led to a number of new applications and the enlargement of initiatives begun earlier than the pandemic. Neyer highlights 5 ways in which Training Overseas and its campus companions are reaching a bigger, extra various scholar viewers than ever.

1. New applications for particular audiences

The NeuroScholars program that took Barnes to Belgium is one instance of what Neyer calls “signature applications.” These are “concerted efforts to develop applications for particular audiences,” she stated. “We’re continuously on the lookout for how we will meet these totally different segments of campus.”

With NeuroScholars, “Dr. Gavin needed a analysis alternative for our neuroscience college students” that might enable them to fulfill the UNP’s lab-experience requirement whereas having the chance to spend time overseas, Neyer stated. “That may be a massive uncertainty for all college students contemplating examine overseas: how a course will switch again. College students in UNP now have a gateway to place this of their four-year plan.”

The primary signature program from Training Overseas was UAB in Wales, which permits college students to spend the spring semester at Aberystwyth College on the west coast of the UK. Greater than 150 programs from Aberystwyth’s course catalog are pre-approved to hold over for UAB credit score, and a UAB consultant accompanies the group to Wales. “That is distinctive — a hybrid between faculty-led applications and a semester overseas,” Neyer stated. The fee contains housing and a three-day tour in London. Recognizing the significance of an reasonably priced expertise and the sturdy connection between Birmingham, Alabama, and Wales, Worldwide Medical Training established a scholarship fund for UAB in Wales members — providing $55,000 every year for 3 years. Awards vary from $3,000-$5,000 and construct upon monetary support and different scholarships college students could obtain for finding out overseas.

Photograph: Arielle Griffin.

Arielle Griffin, a biomedical engineering main from Boone, North Carolina, spent the spring semester of her sophomore yr at Aberystwyth. She prolonged her time overseas with an Worldwide Analysis Expertise for College students journey to Łódź, Poland, led by Division of Physics Professor Andrei Stanishevsky, Ph.D., in June, the place she did nanofiber analysis.

“I’ve needed to do examine overseas since I used to be in highschool; however with shifting after which the COVID pandemic, I couldn’t go my first yr at UAB, and afterward I figured I in all probability wouldn’t be capable to examine overseas in any respect,” Griffin stated. “However then I noticed the UAB in Wales program marketed within the undergraduate analysis publication and thought it seemed like an awesome alternative, and I knew for sure that I’d be capable to really go overseas.”

Griffin took courses in linear algebra, immunology and German at Aberystwyth, and loved spending fairly a little bit of time on the town, alongside the seaside (the college is positioned on the Irish Beach), and exploring in Wales and throughout the English border. “I loved exploring being overseas and the truth that I may keep on monitor with my research,” she stated. “It was a extremely nice expertise. I’ve change into extra unbiased since I’ve been overseas. I modified extra as an individual in these few months than in a yr at house.”

One other signature program is being developed in collaboration with UAB’s TRIO Tutorial Providers program. TRIO gives intensive assist to college students, together with tutoring and enrichment. This system will alternate semesters in Spain and Costa Rica and embody house stays and cultural immersion journeys. A UAB TRIO Tutorial Providers group member will accompany college students for the primary week of this system to help with program adjustment. “That is a global expertise that’s cost-affordable, language-immersive and designed to maximise scholarship success for our TRIO college students,” Neyer stated.

2. Expanded funding

Scholarship funding is a important side to decreasing limitations to review overseas. In 2018, UAB President Ray Watts issued a match problem to donors, leading to $90,000 in scholarship funding within the 2019-2020 college yr. “We’re on the right track for $95,000 this tutorial yr,” Neyer stated. Funds can be found for graduate college students, who aren’t eligible for a lot of exterior scholarships for examine overseas, she says.

One donor is Lydia C. Cheney, who earned a grasp’s diploma in well being schooling from UAB and was a college workers member for 19 years. She skilled the life-changing prospects of journey throughout her personal examine overseas journey to France as an undergraduate at Birmingham-Southern School in 1970. “The journey modified quite a lot of lives,” Cheney stated in a UAB article. “To at the present time, seven or eight of the core group of scholars keep in contact. One scholar who went on the journey named his little one after the historical past professor who led the group.” Cheney’s present created the Lydia C. Cheney Endowed Help Fund for Training Overseas, which gives as much as $1,000 towards tuition and costs for undergraduates.

To assist college students maximize their possibilities of discovering and successful exterior assist, Training Overseas has partnered with Michelle Prepare dinner, Ph.D., director of the UAB Workplace of Nationwide and Worldwide Fellowships and Scholarships. “We now have labored together with her to foster a relationship that helps college students by way of the Benjamin A. Gilman Worldwide Scholarship Program,” Neyer stated. Gilman scholarships, awarded by the U.S. Division of State, assist undergraduates from various backgrounds with as much as $5,000 towards examine overseas prices. In September 2022, nine UAB students were selected, the most important cohort of recipients from UAB in a single utility cycle. UAB was recognized by the Department of State as one of many U.S. faculties and universities that despatched essentially the most students overseas by way of the Gilman program throughout tutorial yr 2020-21.

“Dr. Prepare dinner is wonderful in serving to college students craft their essays and mentoring them all through the applying course of,” Neyer stated.

3. Reaching extra school

In 2019, Training Overseas began the School Fellows program, which gives an avenue for school to design a brand new course or to switch an present course to incorporate a faculty-led schooling overseas element. (In UAB’s new Blazer Core curriculum, programs that embody a examine overseas element obtain a flag that designates them as a high-impact follow.) This system features a $1,500 stipend for members, and is supported through an IDEAS grant to UAB from the Division of State.

“Research overseas is so vital to greater schooling going ahead, as a result of it provides the chance to have interaction our college students as international residents,” stated Mary Ann Bodine Al-Sharif, Ph.D., assistant professor within the Faculty of Training, who was a member of the 2021-2022 cohort of School Fellows. Bodine Al-Sharif, who serves as program coordinator for UAB’s online master’s program in Higher Education Administration, developed an progressive solution to enable on-line college students to learn from examine overseas: UAB’s first formal digital faculty-led program. This fall, college students could have the chance to take Global Perspectives in Higher Education Leadership in collaboration with the Institute of Research Overseas Eire. “Many establishments are creating sister establishments overseas for analysis and schooling partnerships,” Bodine Al-Sharif stated. “Our college students will find out about that course of and the significance of these kinds of partnerships to the way forward for greater schooling.”

4. Tapping into worldwide internships

“Worldwide internships have been probably the most widespread progress areas” amongst college students, significantly within the School of Arts and Sciences and Collat Faculty of Enterprise, Neyer stated. These internships are usually unpaid due to visa necessities, however typically carry the potential for tutorial credit score and are eligible for monetary support. Training Overseas has labored with the UAB Profession Middle to let college students find out about these alternatives and embody them within the Profession Middle’s coaching modules.

“We provided worldwide internships earlier than the pandemic, after which they went digital,” Neyer stated. In spring 2021, felony justice main April Alvarez was certainly one of a number of UAB college students who worked virtually with staff at Clinica Verde in Boaco, Nicaragua. The clinic gives psychological well being interventions and well being schooling. Along with interacting with clinic workers, Alvarez labored on a community-driven venture to assist growth of the clinic’s providers. The partnership was established by way of Majd Zayzafoon’s work with Clinica Verde through the years. Worldwide Medical Training supported this initiative with funding that diminished program charges to tuition solely, with the objective of making a sustainable, long-term partnership with Clinica Verde.

Along with Nicaragua, college students accomplished distant internships in Spain, the Dominican Republic and Kenya through the pandemic. Since journey has resumed, “we’re in a position to supply worldwide internships in particular person or just about with corporations worldwide,” Neyer stated. “They’re custom-made for every scholar primarily based on the scholar’s skilled targets, after which we discover a firm that matches these targets.”

5. Passport applications

This spring, UAB obtained a grant from the Institute of Worldwide Training’s American Passport Mission that may pay for the full cost of passports — together with photograph — for 120 Pell-eligible U.S. college students. The present prices for a passport, following an increase in charges in late 2021, is $165, plus $12.99 for the image, Neyer says.

“The passport is the very first thing {that a} scholar wants, six to eight months upfront of going overseas due to visa necessities,” Neyer stated. “However these prices can’t be wrapped into monetary support for the examine overseas semester. That’s the place this grant can actually assist college students in accessing a global expertise.”

In two earlier passport applications, UAB has enabled 75 college students to get their passports. “Within the first cohort, there have been 50 college students, and 23 % studied overseas the subsequent semester,” Neyer stated. “It actually confirmed us that, if we will take away that burden, we will open up alternatives for every scholar.”

Prime abroad locations, 2019-2020

• United Kingdom
• Spain
• Italy
• Japan
• South Africa
• Ecuador
• Denmark
• Bahamas
• Costa Rica
• Guatemala

Prime majors finding out overseas, 2019-2020

• Public Well being
• Psychology
• Occupational Remedy
• Worldwide Research
• Biology
• Neuroscience
• Accounting
• English
• Well being Care Administration
• Political Science
• Overseas Languages
• Social Work
• Biomedical Sciences
• Industrial Distribution

School perspective: Mary Ann Bodine Al-Sharif, Ph.D.

Assistant professor, Division of Human Research, program coordinator of M.S. in Larger Training Administration program

How can on-line applications lengthen the advantages of examine overseas to their college students? Bodine Al-Sharif created an progressive reply to that query as a member of the 2021-2022 cohort of School Fellows in Training Overseas. “My college students aren’t simply in Birmingham — they’re in Arizona, Florida, Tennessee and past, working in mid-level roles as skilled practitioners and school with household duties,” she stated. “I needed to create a possibility for them to have a examine away expertise and nonetheless preserve their full-time work positions with out having to take trip or spend time away from household.”

Bodine Al-Sharif is collaborating with Niamh Hamill, Ph.D., director of the Institute of Research Overseas Eire, for a fall 2022 course that parallels the Irish civil rights motion with the U.S. civil rights motion and the influence felt by greater schooling administration in each nations. “Our program has a robust social justice focus,” Bodine Al-Sharif stated. “College students will go on tour in several areas and locations by way of their work with the Irish institute, studying about Irish tradition, folklore and custom. They are going to examine and distinction the civil rights motion in the USA with the civil rights marketing campaign in Eire, which seemed to the U.S. as a mannequin. We can even examine international tutorial revolutions and the historic function of girls in greater schooling in Eire, in addition to the educational buildings that maintain energy and affect decision-making within the nation.”

Bodine Al-Sharif is utilizing her School Fellows stipend to cut back the price of attendance for college kids. “Proper now, they are going to get this expertise for a similar price as enrolling in an everyday on-line course,” she stated. And that have ought to show invaluable to their future careers, she provides.

Pupil perspective: Tanner Caton

Tanner Caton posing for a photograph.

Caton, a junior majoring in neuroscience and Spanish, traveled to Alicante, Spain, in spring 2022 for a language immersion program on the College of Alicante.

What was your program like?

“I stayed with a household. All of us who had house households had very distinctive experiences. I actually appreciated it, however you should remember that you’re staying with somebody with totally different customs and expectations.

“I took a sequence of Spanish courses on the College of Alicante. I rode the practice to highschool every day — a 20-minute journey. I used to be the one UAB scholar there. In each of my courses, I used to be both the one American or certainly one of two People. There have been Japanese college students, Russians, Canadians — folks from throughout.”

Did you do any touring throughout your examine overseas semester?

“We went to Madrid and Valencia; however my favourite locations to go to had been the smaller cities round Alicante, locations like La Vila Joiosa. I needed to talk Spanish on a regular basis. In massive cities like Valencia, once I would say one thing in Spanish, folks would typically reply me in English, as a result of they had been used to vacationers. Within the little cities, they had been excited to get a customer and I may follow my Spanish.”

Do you could have any recommendation for college kids finding out overseas?

“Know what you wish to get out of it. That applies to every part, however particularly examine overseas. You also needs to know you will a unique tradition. I didn’t notice how a lot tradition I had, being from the South. I by no means considered it that method, however the folks I met weren’t as open and talkative. That was a giant shock. It’s good to remember that issues are going to be totally different, regardless of how laborious you studied earlier than you left. There might be frustrations, however you may get previous them.”

Have been you interested by medication first, or Spanish?

“Spanish got here first. I used to be concerned with Spanish in highschool and thought I needed to be a lawyer — I like public talking. However then I began occupied with medication, and I learn a stat that caught with me: Solely 7 % of physicians converse Spanish, which may be very low in comparison with what number of Spanish audio system there are in the USA.”

Do you’re feeling that examine overseas modified you?

“Sure, I believe so. I’m a lot extra comfy in new settings now. This summer season, I’m taking courses [at UAB] and all my mates are gone. That’s one thing that would have been anxiety-producing earlier than, however I’m making new mates. I actually do really feel that’s one thing from Spain.

“A bit little bit of doubt creeps in if you end up away out of your research. I had some doubts about my pre-med monitor. It’s OK to have doubt. New experiences convey on new questions on your self. I ended up extra certain of my choice to do pre-med, but it surely has helped me to be extra conscious of why I’m doing it.”

Pupil perspective: Kenya Barnes

Kenya Barnes with pal.

Kenya Barnes, a junior majoring in neuroscience, was a NeuroScholar at KU (Katholieke Universiteit) Leuven in Leuven, Belgium, from February-June 2022. She labored with a analysis group led by Professor Astrid van Wieringen, Ph.D., that has developed an app that helps folks with listening to impairment practice their listening and communication expertise in a course of referred to as auditory rehabilitation. There are at present greater than 430 million folks worldwide with disabling listening to loss worldwide, a quantity that’s estimated to develop to greater than 700 million by 2050.

What was your program like?

“I took one ‘tradition’ course, and the remainder was full-time analysis at KU Leuven. I did a literature overview on the psychology of motivation for folks with listening to impairments. My job was to analysis how folks with disabilities see motivation and how you can enhance motivation to make use of the app.” [Her research noted the potential motivational power of goalsetting, rewards, competition, personalization and testimonials.]

“Due to COVID restrictions, being totally in a lab wasn’t doable. However I used to be in a position to shadow my P.I. [van Wieringen] for a number of days. A variety of what they do may be very unbiased. I received to see the totally different tasks they had been doing and see how in a different way they do medication over there.”

Was this your first expertise with analysis?

“The summer season after my junior yr in highschool, I did analysis within the UAB Division of Surgical procedure by way of the PRISM [Pre-College Research Internship for Students from Minority Backgrounds] program. I labored with Dr. Brenessa Lindeman, an endocrine surgeon, finding out how totally different communities round Birmingham had been knowledgeable about well being care choices accessible at UAB for diabetes, weight problems and renal points. We had been in a position to write a manuscript, and it was revealed within the Journal of Surgical Analysis and I received to be a primary creator. That was a really cool feat in highschool. We additionally received to current our analysis on the Tutorial Surgical Congress. It made me wish to become involved with analysis, and I additionally received to see the tradition that UAB cultivates firsthand. Regardless that I used to be in highschool, Dr. Lindeman and your complete group handled me like I had concepts they believed in. That stated loads concerning the tradition of UAB. To at the present time, I nonetheless discuss to Dr. Lindeman.”

The place did you journey throughout your examine overseas?

“I received to see Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, Brussels, Antwerp — however not as a lot as I needed to. I needed to see every part. The nice factor is that Europe is all related. I took the practice for essentially the most half. I flew to Prague with mates.

“I stayed in a university-run ‘kot’ — that’s what they name a dorm. Primarily there have been worldwide college students on the Erasmus program. I had German, Austrian, British mates. There have been solely two of us UAB college students within the NeuroScholars program — the opposite scholar was at Leiden College within the Netherlands. We offered our analysis halfway by way of this system, and I noticed him there.”

What was your favourite vacation spot?

“I actually loved Amsterdam, and Bruges in Belgium. However Leuven was my favourite. It has a sluggish tempo however the vitality of a college city. You’ll be able to stroll from one aspect to the opposite in 20 minutes. It felt very secure and comfy. I had a motorbike, and I biked in all places.”

Do you’re feeling that examine overseas modified you?

“Undoubtedly. I’d say it made me notice how a lot greater the world is. It made me change into extra adaptable. And it made me stronger, understanding I can go anyplace and achieve success. I used to be in a position to go throughout the continent and internationally.”

Peer Ambassadors

These undergraduates, all alumni of the examine overseas program at UAB, are sometimes the primary factors of contact with college students concerned with going abroad. “Our portfolio is huge,” Neyer stated. “Peer Ambassadors assist college students house in on what’s most vital to them: lecturers, location, program options.” Crucially, the Ambassadors are paired with college students primarily based on their college or main.

Tanner Caton, a junior majoring in neuroscience and Spanish, traveled to Alicante, Spain, in spring 2022 for a language immersion program on the College of Alicante. “Once I had my first assembly with a Peer Ambassador, I used to be so overwhelmed as somebody who’s making an attempt to go to med college and meet these necessities whereas doing a semester overseas,” Caton stated. “I actually appreciated the Peer Ambassador who talked with me, answered quite a lot of questions, eased my nervousness and made it look like this was doable.” Now, Caton is repaying that help by becoming a member of the Peer Ambassadors within the fall 2022 semester. “I cherished my examine overseas expertise and I wish to assist others do this,” she stated.

Kenya Barnes, a junior neuroscience main who spent her spring 2022 semester at KU Leuven in Belgium by way of the NeuroScholars program, can be going to be a Peer Ambassador this fall. “Being in pre-med, having fun with analysis, being Black and feminine, there have been quite a lot of issues I needed to share with different college students about examine overseas,” Barnes stated. “I wish to encourage different college students with how accessible it truly is.”

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