Off-Campus Studies Programs

74% of Carleton students participate in off-campus programs during their years at Carleton. To meet the needs of individual students, Carleton offers and supports a wide variety of off-campus study programs: Carleton seminars and winter break programs in the United States and abroad, led by Carlton faculty; Carleton co-sponsored programs, and other non-Carleton programs. Students expecting credit for participation in an off-campus program, whether in the United States or abroad, during the academic year or the summer, should check with the Off-Campus Studies Office, Leighton 119, for procedures, required forms, applications, and deadlines.

Carleton offers a changing selection of seminars and winter or spring break programs every year. These programs offer a related group of courses designed and led by Carleton faculty for Carleton students, using the resources of a site other than the Northfield campus. Students are selected by application two to three terms preceding the actual program. Students pay the Carleton comprehensive fee, which covers room, board, tuition, plus excursions and social events at the program site. Transportation to the site, books, and personal expenses are the responsibility of each student. Financial aid applies to these programs. During the 2014-2015 academic year, the following programs will be part of the Carlton curriculum. A brochure for each program is available in Leighton 119, as well as on the OCS website, Applications are online and found at the OCS website.

Seminar Cancellation Policy

Carleton College shall have the right, at its option and without liability, to make cancellations, changes, or substitutions in cases of emergency or changed conditions or in the interest of the program.

Economics Seminar in Cambridge, summer term, 18 credits 

Residing at Hughes Hall of Cambridge University, students will study British Economics, past and present. Numerous excursions, including London, sites near Cambridge in East Anglia, and the Midlands will expand the classroom study.

Director: Nathan Grawe, Professor of Economics

Courses:

ECON 221 Contemporary British Economy, 6 credits

ECON 222 The Industrial Revolution in Britain, 5 credits

ECON 223 The Great Economists of Cambridge, 4 credits, S/CR/NC

ECON 224 The Economics of Inequality in Britain, 3 credits

Chinese Studies Seminar in China, fall term, 18 credits

Chinese language and culture program based at Tongji University in Shanghai, one of the most dynamic cities in the world. Language study, Chinese civilization, society, and culture including art, Taichi, and/or other martial arts. Modern accommodations in an international dormitory will provide ample opportunity to speak Chinese and experience Chinese culture.

Director: Qiguang Zhao, Professor of Chinese

Courses:

CHIN 207/307 Chinese Language, 9 credits

CHIN 212 Chinese Culture, 3 credits, S/CR/NC

CHIN 282 Chinese Civilization, 6 credits

Cross- Cultural Psychology Seminar in Prague, fall term, 18 credits

Students live and study in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. To help experience the culture and history of the region firsthand, students will participate in lectures, discussions, cultural events, walking tours, and out-of-town trips, including Krakow and the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Poprad and the High Tatra mountains in Slovakia, and the medieval towns of Karlovy Vary and Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic.

Director: Ken Abrams, Associate Professor of Psychology

Courses:

PSYC 358 Cross-Cultural Psychopathology, 6 credits

EUST 279 Nationalism, Minorities, and Migration, 6 credits

PSYC 290 Directed Reading, 2 credits, S/CR/NC

PSYC 400 Senior Psychology Comps, 4 credits, S/CR/NC

Electives:

LCST 101 Elementary Czech, 4 credits, S/CR/NC or

ARTH 215 Prague Art and Architecture, 4 credits, S/CR/NC

Spanish Seminar in Madrid, fall term, 18 credits 

Spanish language program for advanced students, based in Madrid’s Colegio Mayor Universitario Chaminade. Course work focuses on providing a comprehensive view of Spanish literature, history and art. Home stays, group excursions, and participation in lecture series, theater programs, music and art seminars.

Director: Humberto Huergo, Professor of Spanish

Courses:

SPAN 221 Filming Madrid, 2 credits

SPAN 229 Current Issues in Spanish Politics, 4 credits

SPAN 247 Spanish Art Live, 6 credits

SPAN 349 Theory and Practice of Urban Life, 6 credits

Ecology Seminar in Australia, winter term, 18 credits

The main goal of the program is to explore ecological features of coastal environments in order to understand how natural and anthropogenic disturbances are impacting these systems. Fieldwork is the essential part of the program. Shorelines, rocky intertidal areas, the Great Barrier Reef, and the rain forests will be the classroom. Variety of lodging at research stations, dorms, hostels, and camping.

Director: Annie Bosacker, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology

Courses:

BIOL 212 Ecological Field Research, 6 credits

BIOL 250 Marine Ecology, 6 credits

BIOL 255 Learning Country: Culture and Environment in Australia, 6 credits

English Theater and Literature Seminar in London, spring term, 18 credits

The goal of the London program is to immerse the students in the best and most varied performance the city has to offer, and to make use of local museums and other cultural sites to enhance the study of British literature.  The group will attend productions of classical and contemporary plays in London and will travel to Stratford-on-Avon to see Royal Shakespeare Company productions.

Director: Susan Jaret McKinstry, Professor of English

Courses:

ENGL 277 Urban Arts, 3 credits, S/CR/NC

ENGL 279 Urban Field Studies, 3 credits, S/CR/NC

ENGL 281 Framing Empire, 6 credits

ENGL 282 London Theater, 6 credits

Political Economy and Ecology of Southeast Asia, winter term, 18 credits

This seminar emphasizes understanding and linking theories and practices of political economy and ecology of Southeast Asia. Students will gain a fundamental and first-hand understanding of conceptual issues, empirical evidence, and theoretical puzzles that resonate in Southeast Asian politics and development but are also relevant to many other regions of the world. Variety of lodging, including apartments, hotels, and homestays.

Director: Tun Myint, Associate Professor of Political Science

Courses:

POSC 378 Social Changes in Southeast Asia, 6 credits

POSC 379 Diversity of Social Ecological Systems in Southeast Asia, 6 credits

POSC 392 Field Research Experiences and Methods, 6 credits

Studio Art Seminar in the South Pacific, winter term, 18 credits

The goal of this program is to bring together studio art practice with the challenges and advantages of off-campus study—drawing from nature in a new environment, studying social issues in the context of a foreign setting, and producing narrative work in response to travel. In the first half of the seminar students will study Polynesian culture, the Coromandel Peninsula, and the Tongariro National Park. The second half of the seminar will include a few weeks in Sydney, Australia, a trip to the rain forest of Lamington, and a visit to the Great Barrier Reef.

Director: Fred Hagstrom, Professor of Studio Art

Courses:

ARTS 212 Mixed Media Drawing, 6 credits

ARTS 274 Printmaking, 6 credits

ARTS 275 The Physical and Cultural Environment of Australia and New Zealand, 6 credits, S/CR/NC

PE 136 Independent Activity—Snorkeling, Diving, and Hiking (Optional)

French Studies Seminar in Paris, spring term, 18 credits

The program makes extensive use of local resources, both in Paris and in Morocco, providing students with a unique opportunity for language immersion, cultural analysis, and personal growth. In addition to classes and excursions, students may pursue activities such as sports, dance, music lessons, etc. There will also be an opportunity to volunteer in a school in a disadvantaged neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris.

Director: Cathy Yandell, Professor of French

Courses: (students enroll in three of the four courses for a total of 18 credits):

FREN 208 Cultural Themes, 6 credits

FREN 249/349 Hybrid Paris, 6 credits

FREN 246 City of Wonders: Paris in the Arts, 6 credits

FREN 248 Representations of Islam in France, 6 credits

History, Religion and Urban Change in Rome, winter term, 18 credits

Centered in Rome, this program will provide students with opportunities to study the people, identity, politics, urban landscape, and religion of the historically rich city, during Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and beyond. Students will experience and explore the city and environs in depth, and learn how to investigate this experiential knowledge through the examination of texts, images, sites, and landscapes. Each course will have many site visits inside and outside Rome, as well as assignments that require independent exploration.

Director: Victoria Morse, Associate Professor of History and William North, Associate Professor of History

Courses:

HIST 201 Community and Communication in Medieval Italy CE 300-1150, 6 credits

HIST 206 The Eternal City in Time: Structure, Change, and Identity, 6 credits

HIST 207 Roman Journal: The Traveler as Witness, 3 credits

LCST 101 Italian Language, 3 credits

New Media in Japan, spring term, 18 credits

This program will explore Japanese culture and media, particularly Japanese cinema, photography, and popular media. The program will begin with a three-day Introduction to Japanese Culture and Customs in Tokyo, followed by a nine-week residence in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. Classes will take place at Doshisha University in the heart of Kyoto, directly across from the Imperial Palace. Classes will include lectures with Japanese professors and artists from Doshisha University, as well as course work with Professor Schott.

Director: John Schott, James W. Strong Professor of Liberal Arts

Courses:

CAMS 231 Japanese Cinema, 6 credits

CAMS 280 Digital Photography Workshop, 4 credits

CAMS 291 Directed Reading: Cultural and Technological Perspectives on Place and Location, 2 credits, S/CR/NC

ASST 284 History and Culture of Japan, 6 credits

Society, Culture, and Language in Peru, spring term, 18 credits

Based in Lima, Peru’s capital, students will observe the differing sides and the contradictions and paradoxes of modernization in the developing world. The program’s primary objective is to create conditions for the students to reflect on such reality and the cultural artifacts created by the peoples of Peru.

Director: José Cerna Bazán, Professor of Spanish

Courses:

SPAN 215 Spanish Open Classroom, 3 credits

SPAN 265 Cultures in Transition: The Old and the New in Contemporary Peru, 6 credits

LTAM 382 Conflictive Development: Peru 1980 to Present, 6 credits

LTAM 392 Independent Reading, 3 credits

Cinema and Cultural Change in Chile and Argentina, 12 credits

The program goal in the courses and off-campus study trip is to start an investigation of how these two Latin American countries view cinema from industrial, aesthetic, cultural, and personal contexts. The fall term course offers a broad historical and cultural overview of Chile and Argentina and the December study trip and Winter term course concentrate on examining mainstream, alternative, and independent/marginal cinemas and the cultural movements that seek to enact change in both countries.

Directors: Jay Beck, Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, Cecilia  Cornejo, Visiting  Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies 

Courses:

Students must register for both courses

  • Fall term course:  CAMS 295 Cinema in Chile and Argentina – Representing and Reimagining Identity, 6 credits
  • Winter Break field work and Winter term course:  CAMS 296 Cinema and Cultural Change in Chile and Argentina, 6 credits

Microeconomic Development: Bangladesh the Lab, 12 credits

This program introduces students to the structure, performance, and problems of developing economies from a microeconomic perspective by looking at the historical, cultural, structural, and institutional reasons for underdevelopment in developing countries with special emphasis on Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South-East Asian economies. The two-week field trip to Bangladesh will feature lectures by experts in the fields of economic development, gender studies, rural development, and environmental studies. Included also will be visits to the Grameen Bank, rural development project sites, and an introduction to the history and culture of Bangladesh.

Director: Faress Bhuiyan, Assistant Professor of Economics

Courses:

Students must register for both courses

  • Fall term course:  ECON 240 Microeconomics of Development, 6 credits
  • Winter break field work and Winter term course:  ECON 244 Analysis of Microeconomic Development Models, 6 credits

 

Public Health in Practice, 12 credits

Everyone in the United States is affected in some way by issues of public health. This winter break program will explore the many dimensions of public health within the United States and will provide an introduction to community based work and research. Public health is by nature interdisciplinary, and the program will address local public health issues through the lenses of social, biological, and physical determinants of health.

Director: Debby Walser-Kuntz, Professor of Biology

Courses:

Students must register for both courses:

  • Fall term course:  IDSC 235 Perspectives in Public Health, 3 credits
  • Winter break field work and Winter term course:  Public Health in Practice, 6 credits

 

U.S. Relations with Ghana, 12 credits

This program integrates three kinds of learning: content, intercultural, and experiential. Content learning occurs in gathering and recording information to complete history or social science projects initiated in the Fall Term preparation course. Intercultural learning happens during structured and serendipitous opportunities as an outsider negotiating public spaces in three distinctively different historic Ghanaian cities. Core experiential learning comes about during a short stay with local families. The three kinds of liberal arts learning in Ghana will provide an international context for students to grow personally, emotionally, and intellectually.

Director: Harry Williams, Laird Bell Professor of History

Courses:

Students must register for both courses:

  • Fall term course:  HIST 381 U.S. Relations with Ghana, 6 credits
  • Winter break field work and Winter term course:  HIST 382 U.S. Relations with Ghana: The Field Trip and Beyond, 6 credits

 

Programs Co-Sponsored by Carleton

 

For specialized areas of study, Carleton has combined with other colleges to develop off-campus study programs. For each of these programs, Carleton representatives participate in the management, Carleton faculty often serve as instructors and directors, and Carleton students participate along with others from the member colleges and universities.

 

ASSOCIATED KYOTO PROGRAM (AKP), IN KYOTO, JAPAN, academic year only

Students with background in Japanese live with Kyoto families and enroll at Doshisha University in intensive language classes plus two courses each term conducted by visiting professors from AKP member colleges or Doshisha faculty.

 

HIGHER EDUCATION CONSORTIUM FOR URBAN AFFAIRS (HECUA), fall, and spring semesters

These 15-week programs provide the opportunity to learn from local and international faculty who integrate theory with real-life urban issues. Home stays, internships, community immersion activities, and field research are used throughout the programs, which are open to all majors. Individual program brochures are available in the Off-Campus Studies office, Leighton 119.

 

Community Internships in Latin America (CILA), in Quito, Ecuador, fall and spring semester

Democracy and Social Change in Northern Ireland, fall and spring semester

The New Norway: Globalization, National Identity, and the Politics of Belonging, in Oslo,

Norway, fall semester only

New Zealand Culture and the Environment: A Shared Future, fall semester only

Art for Social Change: Intersections of Art, Identity, and Advocacy, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, spring semester only

Environmental Sustainability: Science, Politics and Public Policy, and Community Action,  in Minnesota, fall semester only

Inequality in America: Policy, Community, and the Politics of Empowerment, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, fall and spring semester

Writing for Social Change: The Personal, the Political, and the Poer of the Written Word, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, fall semester only

INTER-COLLEGIATE SRI LANKA PROGRAM (ISLE), fall semester only

This 15-week program enrolls 15-20 students from eight consortium colleges to study the culture, history, religion, political structure of Sri Lanka. In-depth studies include Buddhist thought and practice, conversational Sinhala, and an independent research project. Students live with host families in Kandy.

 

ASSOCIATED COLLEGES OF THE MIDWEST (ACM)

Programs in the United States and abroad are sponsored by the 13 consortium members of the ACM. A resident director for each program is recurited from member colleges. Courses are conducted by the ACM director and by staff at the program site. Brochures about each program are available in the Off-Campus Studies office and applications are available on line.

ACM Botswana:  Development in Southern Africa, spring semester, adviser: Bereket Haileab

ACM Brazil: Semester Exchange Program, fall semester, spring semester, adviser: Al Montero

ACM Chicago Programs: fall, semester, spring semester, spring trimester, advisers:

      Arts: David Lefkowitz

      Entrepreneurship: Nathan Grawe

      Urban Studies: Adrienne Falcón

ACM China: Mark Hansell

ACM Costa Rica: Community Engagement in Public Health, Education, and the Environment, fall semester, adviser: Yansi Perez

ACM Costa Rica: Field Research in the Environment, Social Sciences, and Humanities, spring semester, spring quarter/trimester, adviser: Mark McKone

ACM Florence, Italy: Arts, Humanities, and Culture, fall semester, winter quarter/trimester, adviser: Ross Elfline

ACM India: Culture, Traditions, and Globalization, fall semester, adviser: Kristin Bloomer

ACM Japan Study, academic year, fall semester, fall semester with cultural practicum, spring semester, adviser: Noboru Tomonari

ACM Jordan: Middle East and Arabic Language Studies, fall semester, adviser: Adeeb Khalid

ACM London and Florence Arts in Context, February-May spring semester; Florence only, winter term; January option for Italian Language, adviser: Constance Walker

ACM Newberry Seminar: Research in the Humanities, in Chicago, fall semester, adviser: Jessica Leiman

ACM Oak Ridge Science Semester, Oak Ridge, National Laboratory, Tennessee, fall semester, adviser: Cindy Blaha

ACM Tanzania: Ecology and Human Origins, fall semester, adviser: Bereket Haileab

ACM Urban Education: Student Teaching in Chicago, fall semester, spring semester, adviser: Deborah Appleman

Other Programs for Off-Campus Study

In addition to the programs above, which Carleton sponsors or co-sponsors, students can select from over 80 additional non-Carleton programs, which the student and her/his academic adviser believe will further the student’s educational goals. Students who plan to participate in a non-Carleton program, which includes the programs co-sponsored by Carleton, must complete an OCS petition and receive approval from the OCS office prior to participation. Students who are approved for off-campus study by the College may earn up to 54 credits (one year’s worth) to be applied to their Carleton degree. Students are encouraged to learn more about off-campus study opportunities and information about specific programs by visiting the Off-Campus Studies office in Leighton 119 and by visiting its website: go.carleton.edu/ocs.