Africa Initiative
College of DuPage’s (COD) Africa Initiative, in partnership with EDU Africa, integrated service learning into a sustainable model for interdisciplinary study abroad highlighting nontraditional disciplines. COD faculty led two simultaneous groups to Brackenhurst, Kenya, in courses from two different disciplines, while a lead faculty member drew together the individual courses through a common theme in an umbrella course for all students. The pilot included faculty and students from environmental biology and architecture programs and focused on addressing the U.S. foreign policy goals of natural resources/sustainable agriculture and infrastructure, respectively. The overarching humanities course focused on human rights issues while studying the history, culture, and faith traditions of Kenya. The goal of the pilot was to create and test a model that can be replicated in other underrepresented study abroad disciplines and new destinations.
Innovators
- Shamili Ajgaonkar, Professor, Biology
- Julia diLiberti, Professor, Humanities
- Susan Kerby, Coordinator, Study Abroad
- Maren McKellin, Manager, Field and Experiential Learning