This program focuses on commerce, environment, comparative cultures, creative expression, the arts, science and technology, and language. Students study critical perspectives of ethical responsibility, humanistic values, and awareness associated with "global citizenship." Global Citizenship Intersession Trips typically have non-traditional countries as their target destinations, are led by expert Lehigh faculty, and last 10-12 days.
Outcomes: Prepares students for engaged living in a culturally diverse and rapidly changing world. Emphasizes critical analysis and value reflection. Learn to negotiate international boundaries and develop a sense of personal, social, and corporate responsibility to the global community.
Contact: Whitney Szmodis
Global Studies is interdisciplinary, with professors from anthropology, journalism, sociology, modern languages and literature, religion studies, political science, history, international relations, and others. In particular, students engage in international travel, the study of world cultures, and the acquisition of foreign language expertise as tools for understanding and meeting the global economic, social and ecological challenges.
Outcomes: Promote critical perspectives on the social, political, economic and cultural processes associated with globalization. Harness critical and methodological approaches from a range of humanities and social sciences. Lead to a deeper understanding of particular nations and regions of the world. Emphasize critical thinking, analytical reading and writing skills, and the ability to develop a holistic perspective.
Contact: Kelly Austin
College of Arts & Sciences
Sustainable Development and The Natural History of Costa Rica are 20-day courses taught simultaneously during winter break. SusDev investigates sustainable agriculture and energy, ecotourism, land use planning and management, and the issue of biodiversity vs. resource exploitation in forests in Costa Rica. The Natural History course exposes students to the unique interaction of ecology, geology, and climate that has shaped the natural history of the country.
Outcomes: Experience working in multidisciplinary teams to analyze and interpret information and solve problems. Investigate the philosophy of and approaches to sustainable development. Learn about the characteristics of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Investigate the role of soil and climate in determining community structure, productivity, and diversity.
Contact: Brian Wasserman
This program offers students the opportunity to visit Cuba and use journalism and sports as a means to study and report upon the many changes in Cuban social, political, economic and cultural life. Through historical study, site visits, presentations by leading experts, and interviews with Cuban people from all walks of life, students will gain and share unique perspectives into Cuba.
Outcomes: Describe the role of journalism and sports in Cuban social and political life. critical thinking skills in the areas of cultural analysis and intercultural understanding. Apply an understanding of Cuban society including its politics, economy, society, history, identity and culture through the creation and design of multimedia presentations and exhibits.
Contact: Katy Rene
This traveling seminar on the modern history and architecture of Bavaria is designed to give students a deep insight into the relationship between technology and historic circumstances that form the built environment in one of the most environmentally progressive regions of the world. Case studies and field trips will offer the opportunity to study and experience built examples of sustainable design.
Outcomes: Learn about different building technologies, techniques and materials. Experience alternative models of urban planning and mixed-use developments. Study and utilize various forms of public space, private and public transport, and sustainable planning and design.
Contact: Brian Wasserman
This program is interdisciplinary and incorporates readings in sociology and social history, anthropology, religious studies, architecture, ancient literary, and other material culture. Additionally, it centers upon daily visits to ancient sites in/around Rome and students will be expected to develop a detailed understanding of ancient Rome.
Outcomes: Cross-cultural experience. A deep understanding of the history of Rome and the social, political, and economic inner-working of ancient Rome. Learn interdisciplinary approaches.
Contact: Jodeen Gemmel
This 4-week field-based course fosters engagement with globalization and health processes in Ghana. Students will trace the history of health interventions through cultural immersion, including tours, university campus visits, and interactions with health service providers in Ghana's capital city, Accra, and nearby towns and villages. Students can choose to focus on: 1) globalization, 2) health, 3) the intersection between history, culture, religious faith healing and Western medicine or 4) explore the linkages between globalization, history and health.
Outcomes: Understand the pivotal position Ghana plays in increasing globalization. Examine history and the slavery and how it has affected the modern healthcare system. Cross-cultural experience. Learn interdisciplinary approaches to complex problems.
Contact: Katy Rene
Students travel to The National University of Ireland, Galway for a 6 week summer experience. During this time students complete a research practicum for 3 credits and take an Irish Studies course for 3 credits. Galway has medieval streets, waterways, an extensive range of shopping facilities, a wealth of music sessions and other cultural events that make it the perfect place for a summer abroad for Lehigh students. Joint program with the College of Business & Economics
Outcomes: Cultivate a deep understanding of Irish history, cultural, and the study of one particular aspect of Irish life. Cross-cultural experience. Practical research experience in the student's field of interest. Personal and professional growth.
Contact: Katy Rene
Lehigh in Paris is devoted to discovering the history and culture of the city of Paris, taught entirely in English. During the month of July, students live together in Paris and participate in excursions and outings four days per week. Classes take place around the city as students discover famous monuments, museums and neighborhoods while studying their origins and significance. The program offers six Lehigh Humanities credits.
Outcomes: Get to know real neighborhoods and the city through the small streets and great boulevards. Understand how the layers of the city were formed over time from the Middle Ages to the present day. Cross-cultural experience. Personal and professional growth. Appreciation of France's social, political, and economic history.
Contact: Katie Radande
Students will meet in Edinburgh, Scotland for a week of touring Viking sites and museums in the city before venturing out to the Hebrides Islands off the western coast of Scotland. Students on this project will be joining up with a professor and students from the University of Cardiff in Wales to help on this summer's dig! Because of erosion on the islands, a lot of the Viking sites are starting to be unearthed and the group will be working together to dig up and preserve those relics and remains.
Outcomes: Understanding Scotland's Viking heritage. Mastering the basic skills needed to execute an archaeological dig and to preserve historic relics. Cross-cutlural experience. Experience working in multidisciplinary teams. Understanding of interdisciplinary approaches to complete a project.
Contact: Katie Radande
The program focuses on Chinese culture and working in Chinese business culture. While at internship placements, students will be working in various types of organizations, including multinationals, joint ventures, state-owned companies, foreign-owned companies, hospitals, NGOs, schools, or government offices. The internship experience offers students an eye-opening experience to the cultural and business environments. Joint program with the College of Business & Economics
Outcomes: Professional experience in a global setting. Language immersion and proficiency. Being aware of cultural differences when working abroad. Cross-cultural experience. Relationship-building across cultures. Professional and Personal growth.
Contact: Brian Wasserman
The program will explore the regional characteristics of The Veneto cities of Padua, Venice, Vicenza, and Verona with an architectural focus on the work of the 20th century Venetian architect, Carlo Scarpa. The students will reside in the centrally located city of Vicenza. The town is described as an architectural paradise. There will be lectures and walking tours of the architecture and villas in Vicenza.
Outcomes: Cross-cultural experience. Explore the thematic principles behind Scarpa’s work and their origins. Utilize different architectural drawing techniques to study aspects of architecture in detail. Understanding how Italians use their public spaces and as a way of seeing the Italian urban landscape. Personal and professional growth.
Contact: Jodeen Gemmel
Microfinance provides financial services for the economically active poor. It aims to meet the global demand for small-scale loans, savings accounts, and other financial services.This program is a 10-day travel experience visiting microfinance institutions in different global regions. Faculty and students have traveled to Honduras, Peru, Ghana, and Cambodia.
Outcomes: Foster and promote understanding of the development and impact of microfinance locally and globally. Collaborate on an innovative technology development project in partnership with a microfinance institution abroad. Assist local microentrepreneurs in growing their business. Cross-cultural experience.
Contact: Rosemary Krauss
College of Business & Economics
Microfinance provides financial services for the economically active poor. It aims to meet the global demand for small-scale loans, savings accounts, and other financial services.This program is a 10-day travel experience visiting microfinance institutions in different global regions. Faculty and students have traveled to Honduras, Peru, Ghana, and Cambodia.
Outcomes: Foster and promote understanding of the development and impact of microfinance locally and globally. Collaborate on an innovative technology development project in partnership with a microfinance institution abroad. Assist local microentrepreneurs in growing their business. Cross-cultural experience.
Contact: Rosemary Krauss
The Martindale Student Associates Honors Program has enabled a select group of Lehigh juniors and seniors to actively explore global business and economic issues. The travel experience extends the scope of learning beyond the pages of textbooks and journals through travel to organizations around the world, and interviews and meetings with decision makers, distinguished executives, and scholars.
Outcomes: Explore a particular topic about a country outside the U.S. Gain first-hand experience of the society under study. Cross-cultural experience. Understanding societal, economic, and political contexts and how they affect financials services in different parts of the world. Professional and personal growth
Contact: Janice Johnston Howie
This successful program takes advantage of Belgium’s unique and pivotal role in the political, economic, and cultural development of modern Europe. It enables students to experience first-hand insights from members of the European Parliament, as well as the rich artistic offerings of a major international city. Students enrolling in the program are required to register for 6 credits.
Outcomes: Provide a more in-depth study of European marketing systems. Work with client firms to develop individual or team projects. Develop professional skills in market research, strategy development, sales management, and promotion management. First-hand practical experience in a global setting.
Contact: Jodeen Gemmel
Students travel to The National University of Ireland, Galway for a 6 week summer experience. During this time students complete a research practicum for 3 credits and take an Irish Studies course for 3 credits. Galway has medieval streets, waterways, an extensive range of shopping facilities, a wealth of music sessions and other cultural events that make it the perfect place for a summer abroad for Lehigh students. Joint program with the College of Arts & Sciences
Outcomes: Cultivate a deep understanding of Irish history, cultural, and the study of one particular aspect of Irish life. Cross-cultural experience. Practical research experience in the student's field of interest. Personal and professional growth.
Contact: Katy Rene
This month-long study abroad program allows students to study international business and technology in the centrally located European city of Prague in the Czech Republic. This program draws upon and integrates several disciplines including accounting, finance, economics, law, technology, and ethics. Students will also explore the types and manner in which various technologies can improve business performance.
Outcomes: Analyze micro- and macro-economic, institution and political dimensions of various economic systems. Explore the role of computers, the Internet, and technology in changing the standard of living, work environments, and society. Discover opportunities to apply technology in business. Practical understanding of the responsibilities of corporations and their managers.
Contact: Jodeen Gemmel
The program focuses on Chinese culture and working in Chinese business culture. While at internship placements, students will be working in various types of organizations, including multinationals, joint ventures, state-owned companies, foreign-owned companies, hospitals, NGOs, schools, or government offices. The internship experience offers students an eye-opening experience to the cultural and business environments. Joint program with the College of Arts & Sciences
Outcomes: Professional experience in a global setting. Language immersion and proficiency. Being aware of cultural differences when working abroad. Cross-cultural experience. Relationship-building across cultures. Professional and Personal growth.
Contact: Brian Wasserman
Students have the opportunity to travel and learn about business in two dynamic countries. Over the course of 2 weeks, students will interact with individuals such as key business stakeholders, business owners, business executives, and government officials in Vietnam and Singapore.
Outcomes: Integrate global academic concepts from the MGT 301 Strategic Management in a Global Environment course with the realities and functioning of business in Vietnam and Singapore. The trip will provide an invaluable opportunity for students to gain global experience in two contrasting yet innovative, dynamic markets.
Contact: Douglas Mahoney
Tauck Scholars Program provides unique educational & cultural opportunities for selected business students to participate in an international summer internship in a cultural setting that is “new and foreign to them." Recipients of this award may select the type of international internship program they wish to pursue based on interest; qualifications & career goals.
Outcomes: The experience allows scholars to work and live full-time in a different cultural setting, while encouraging the development of a wide array of practical professional skills for their future careers. Scholars also serve as goodwill ambassadors to Lehigh University and develop their mentorship skills, by helping prospective scholars prepare for their internships.
Contact: Sarah Wing
P. C. Rossin College of Engineering
EWB is an international, non-profit, humanitarian organization that works together with communities in need to provide basic necessities in a responsible manner. Lehigh's chapter works toward the same goal: to make clean water, education, sanitation, and renewable energy available by focusing on low cost, high impact projects. TWe work closely with host communities during design and implementation so that each community can manage their complete system autonomously.
Outcomes: Direct impact on the Nicaraguan community in which the EWB projects occur. Students who travel are able to learn by doing and see the impacts in a local community. They are able to network with professional engineers around the Lehigh Valley and hone their professional skills and competencies for a global context.
Contact: Rick Wiseman
Engineers Made In Germany is a close-knit personal summer program at the internationally recognized Pforzheim University. EMIG combines high quality education and a wide cultural program with various company visits and excursions to places in Germany and Europe. Come visit Pforzheim and the many prominent automotive plants and component suppliers located nearby.
Outcomes: Discover a new culture. Tour famous automotive production facilites. Explore Berlin, Munich, Strasbourg and Heidelberg. Discover trade-offs between product design, custom orientation, logistics, and production. Understand a holistic process model with particular focus on technology innovation. Provide an insight into the basic principles of programming and computer science.
Contact: Brian Wasserman
Office of International Affairs
Global Village is an intensive, five-week program at Lehigh University that teaches adult professionals business, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills while preparing them to thrive in a global community. Villagers are a mix of undergraduate students, graduate students, young entrepreneurs and professionals from around the world. Approximately 75 candidates are accepted to the program each year from 35-40 countries.
Outcomes: Form business partnerships with an alumni network of 2,100+ leaders from 139 countries. Develop your teamwork and entrepreneurship skills. Increase global business knowledge and cultural understanding levels. Focus your career path while working with program staff to map an experience-based plan for success.
Contact: Mary-Frances Schurtz-Leon
Internship opportunities range from experiences combining academic and formal work components; international research; or teams of Lehigh students working on faculty-led projects, sometimes with peers from another country, to address a common problem in an organization. Students gain practical, career-related experience and an enhanced global perspective.
Outcomes: Provides career coaching and cultural training before students leave and opportunities for reflection and mentorship during the internship. Interns learn how to navigate a new environment, meet professional expectations and communicate with people from varied backgrounds.
3. GlobaLehigh
GlobaLehigh is a pre-orientation program for first-year Lehigh students. Take a virtual three-day trip around the world as you immerse yourself in culture, cuisine and all things global. This journey will be led by current students highly involved with all things Global at Lehigh. See for yourself why Lehigh University is truly a Global community!
Outcomes: Take a behind the scenes tour of the United Nations headquarters and meet with a diplomat. Eat your way around the world. Network with Lehigh alumni working in international careers. Explore the many different views of globalization.
Contact: Jenny Hyest
4. Study Abroad
We’re dedicated to providing all Lehigh students with high quality international academic opportunities. With more than 250 study abroad programs in over 60 countries, from shorter programs led by Lehigh faculty or staff to semester or year-long programs offered by our partners, there's something for every student.
Outcomes: You'll come home more self-aware, adaptable and confident, all of which can help you succeed back at Lehigh and after graduation. By living and learning in a different culture, you'll broaden your understanding of the world and even gain a different perspective on your own country.
Contact: Katie Radande
The Office of Fellowship Advising helps Lehigh students and recent graduates apply for nationally competitive fellowships and scholarships. Our office supports students and recent graduates through all phases of the application process through one-on-one appointments, informational sessions and workshops.
Outcomes: Our ultimate goal is to help Lehigh’s most accomplished students receive awards that will take them toward the future they desire. Students must also commit to a journey of personal and intellectual self-reflection and analysis that results in a refined understanding of who they are as a student and who they aspire to be in the future.
Contact: Bill Hunter
6. UN Programs
Lehigh matches UN-accredited NGOs with high-achieving undergraduate and graduate students who serve as that NGO’s voice at the United Nations. Lehigh students meet with global decision makers, participate in international conferences, and moderate briefings broadcast worldwide on UN TV.
Outcomes: Immerse yourself in the global economy by getting first-hand experience with the United Nations and its partner organizations. Draw attention to you particular cause from LGBTQ rights, to environmental concerns, to global health, and many more. Gain professional experience and build lasting relationships that will help you further your career.
Contact: Bill Hunter
Independent Programs
The Center for Community Engagement assists Lehigh’s faculty, staff, and students who are involved with service-learning classes or community-based research projects globally and locally, mobilizes university-community partnerships to address societal challenges, promotes knowledge and research for the common good, and helps cultivate engaged citizens.
Outcomes: Support collaborative partnerships built on trust and reciprocity. Promote, conduct, and disseminate research of new knowledge/best practices of community-engaged research. Connect the knowledge and expertise that exists within Lehigh and the world. Value diverse perspectives.
Contact: Center for Community Engagement
Students participate on a team with other students, are mentored by faculty members, and guided by an internal and external advisory board made up of subject matter experts on a project that typically has a 3-5 year time horizon with a global or international focus. Students enroll in CINQ 397 for 3 credits, and can repeat for credit as many semesters as they want, or participate for one semester and then pass the baton to the next semester's team.
Outcomes: Gain cultural competencies, research experience, portfolio elements, and the mindsets that an interdisciplinary, team-based journey can instill. Enhance personal and professional networks, learn new methodologies and important subject matter insights, and experience experiential-based learning.
Contact: Bill Whitney