Pacific Index

Winter term travel courses take students into the culture of new places

Off to Germany

Each year, through Pacific’s Global Scholars program, first-year students are offered the experience to travel internationally as a way to explore global perspectives. Each year, a different country is selected—and this year’s choice, Germany, is a touching one, dating back to two unlikely Pacific roommates in the 1950s.

“There is a scholarship fund for students who want to travel and have international experiences,” explains Jann Purdy, one of the two professors (along with professor Jennifer Hardacker) with who will travel with 17 students to Germany. “It was set up because Everett Stanley was an alum in the mid-1950s and there was an exchange student from Germany; no one wanted to room with him because of the anti-German sentiment after World War II. (But) Everett Stanley said, ‘I’ll room with him,’ and they became lifelong friends.” The German exchange student, Rudolf Walz, and Stanley decided to set up the scholarship fund nearly 20 years ago, along with the help of Stanley’s husband, Rex G. Chase. 

Walz passed several years ago, and Stanley followed him in April 2024. “The course is on friendship and student life, or youth culture,” Purdy continues. “It’s to honor that experience that Everett Stanley sort of availed himself to when he volunteered to room with someone who no one else wanted to room with.” 

The sweet background of this course just makes it all the more intriguing, as students will get to analyze friendship and youth culture through film. Over the two-week course in January, Hardacker and Purdy will take the students to Munich, Berlin, and Salzburg. “We’ll be doing things like walking tours, seeing museums; we’ll be visiting Dachau, which is a concentration camp outside of Munich. We’re going to go to Salzburg and go to the salt mines there,” Purdy details, notes of excitement in her voice. The students will also get to pay a visit to an old Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) who came to Pacific years ago, as well as the daughter of Walz. 

Each student will be responsible for conducting a research project on the trip with the help of Hardacker and Purdy. Both professors expressed great anticipation and excitement for the trip, explaining that the Global Scholars program offers precious opportunities that will immerse students in invaluable experiences. Purdy says she’s most excited to see Germany through the eyes of her students. Hardacker on the other hand spent a year living in Germany back in 1991 and 1992, just after the Berlin wall fell. “I’ll be so excited to go back to Berlin and just see how much it’s changed in that time,” Hardacker said.

The Desert in January  

“Where I’m taking the students is very near and dear to my heart,” shares Registrar Nikol Roubidoux, who will be leading a group of students to Lukachukai, Arizona this winter. This winter travel course takes students to Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the United States. Roubidoux explains that this course used to be a constant, until about ten years ago when the faculty leader retired. Only last year was the program revived. “We’ve resurrected this course, and this is the second group to go down in the past couple of years,” Roubidoux happily shares. 

“We work for the Chapter House; it’s basically the seat of government for this community, and we chop wood for the elderly.” It’s certainly a physically demanding task required from students, but the short course isn’t just about getting in a good workout. “The whole idea is to make students aware of the need for community involvement,” she expresses. The travel course fits under the civic engagement category, so students aren’t only going to experience the lives and culture of the Navajo people but also help the communities there in any way possible. 

To prepare the students for this course, Roubidoux has been instilling the concept of appreciation and recognition of privilege in them. She explains that the prep course required before going on the travel course helps students think about different cultures, consider how to be supportive allies, and think about what civic engagement means. “We know that they’ve [the Navajo tribes] been fighting for hundreds and hundreds of years to get water rights, so what I prepare the students for as well, is you know, being able to shower every day, and drink clean water, and as much of it as you want, is a privilege,” Roubidoux expresses passionately. 

“Traveling to the Navajo Nation, it’s a completely different world,” Roubidoux expresses with some awe. Having grown up near the area, she has a deep history and appreciation for the communities there. “It’s the closest they [students] can get to traveling abroad but staying in the United States.” 

“I want the students to see why civic engagement is so important, and I want them to be able to appreciate different people, different cultures, different landscapes,” Roubidoux elucidates. One of the main lessons that students observe on the course is the value of the elderly. Roubidoux explains that the very first thing the class will do when they enter Lukachukai is greet the elder there, Aunt May. Students will get to hear tales from the elders and learn about their lives, which is one of the very unique and personal parts of this trip. 

“It’s a life changing experience,” Roubidoux raves. “They’re [the Lukachukai] a wonderful, giving community. They love that Pacific comes down to their community and helps.”  

Business in Spain 

Marketing students will also be packing their bags this winter, preparing to fly over to Spain. “It seems like most businesses, if you get in a large business, are international now,” explains Laura McNally, one of the two professors leading the trip. Although a seasoned traveler, this will be McNally’s first time leading a travel course. 

She is joined by professor Christian Calderon, who just recently led his first travel course over the summer. He wasn’t quite expecting to lead another so soon, but is happy for the opportunity. “We were the second choice,” he says, both professors murmuring with good humor. 

“It’s a marketing course, and then neither one of us teach marketing,” McNally clarifies. She goes on to explain that the professor who was supposed to lead the course was unable to do so, which left Calderon and McNally to fill their shoes. 

“We’re going to go to two cities; Madrid and Seville,” Calderon divulges. “And within each city there’s going to be company visits, five company visits. And also, some cultural activities so students get to see what’s good about the city itself.” 

Before they even reach Spain, Calderon and McNally have been doing a lot of work in preparing for the trip, making sure the itinerary matches their learning objectives, and keeping students informed. “To facilitate some of the learning outcomes, we’re going to have them do daily journals, reflections on what they’ve learned in terms of not just marketing, but because this is a travel course, we’ll also need to hit some learning outcomes in terms of intercultural aspects and communication,” Calderon expresses. 

This will be only the third short term travel course offered to undergraduate business students, even though the business program has been alive and running for the past eight years. “The first one was Costa Rica,” Calderon recalls. “That was two plus years ago. And then this last summer was Greece.” Both McNally and Calderon hope that many more travel courses will be available to undergrad business students in the future, opening up the doors to places all over the world. “I teach accounting, and accounting actually originated in Florence, Italy,” McNally details, sharing a location she hopes to go to with a travel course. “I would love to take accounting students to Florence, that would be really cool I think, and I love Florence.” 

Calderon jokes that he’s partial to Spanish speaking countries since he speaks the language, and Spain is where his Peruvian culture originated. “I have a piece of my heart, Spain is there,” he says with a laugh, pointing to his chest. “Going abroad and just experiencing a different culture, a different language, I mean just that in itself, is a great learning experience.”