Study Abroad
Study Abroad Spotlight: Ayana N. Murray
Ms. Ayana Murray Receives Prestigious Funding Awards to Study Abroad—Twice
Ayana Murray is a Junior Elementary Education major from Beaufort County, South Carolina. She has attended two study abroad trips through Albany State University. The first trip being a three-week summer trip to Ghana with Dr. Anthony Owusu-Ansah in 2023, which was supported through the Student Affairs Study Abroad Travel Stipend. The second trip, also in 2023, was to Puerto Rico with Dr. Erica DeCuir and the Aspiring Teachers Academy.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to study abroad not only once, but twice. I really enjoyed studying abroad because not only is traveling fun, but as a future teacher, it is important for me to be culturally responsive."
"Study abroad helped me view and understand cultures that are different from my own. Going forward in my teaching career I am not opposed to teaching abroad, and I hope an opportunity to do so arises. I am very grateful for these opportunities and how it will affect me as a teacher. Special shoutout to Dr. Owusu-Ansah for all he did during our trip to Ghana. Also, thank you to the Office of International Education for these opportunities that they provide for us to expand, experience, and explore."
Ayana Murray—another great ASU Golden Ram!
Spring Break in London and Paris
Dr. Matthew E. Stanley, Program coordinator- France-Paris
Spring Break Study Abroad Program in London and Paris as a component of History 1112 research class:
This study abroad experience and corresponding course is designed to offer students
the opportunity to travel a foreign country and connect on-site learning and the public
history experience to their coursework. As such, students had time to engage in on-site
learning and examine public history sites, as well as experience London and Paris
as tourists. In leaving their comfort zones and partaking in education not only as
representatives of Albany State, but as global citizens, students had an opportunity
to broaden their personal and academic perspectives through new levels of cultural
appreciation and to better prepare themselves to participate in an increasingly global
society.
Travel improves student skills in processing information, spatial awareness, critical thinking, logical reasoning, clarifying, articulating, summarizing, synthesizing and listening. Travel with an emphasis on learning about the past also teaches students to articulate the interrelatedness of historical themes to other disciplines especially in the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and fine arts. Most importantly, this study abroad experience is designed to broaden student horizons, integrate on-site, public history experience into the History course and engage students as intellects and as global citizens. I feel my study abroad participants mostly met and sometimes exceeded these objectives.
We began our first full day in London with a guided tour that focused on London during World War Two. This tour culminated with a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was not only one of the architectural wonders of Early Modern Europe, but also a victim of the German Blitz. One of my students, Jasmine Sparks, is writing her HIST 1002 research paper over this topic.
We traveled via the Eurostar to Paris, France. There we toured Notre Dame Cathedral, saw some sites associated with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, including the Conciergerie and the Louvre, and, finally, visited the Eiffel Tower.
Next we toured both the Tower of London and the British Museum. I asked my students to think about the origins of these priceless artifacts, whether the Crown Jewels or from objects from Antiquity, as part of the relationship between the British Empire and slavery and colonialism.
In addition to these sites, at various times throughout the week we visited and toured Windsor Castle, London’s Roman ruins, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. We also saw a musical in London’s famed West End.