Around the world with Extended Education

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by Kim Watkins

Roaming the streets of Venice, witnessing the overwhelming beauty of the Vatican in Rome, gazing at humpback whales in Nova Scotia, and visiting archeological dig sites in Peru - these adventures are not the normal curricula of college classes.

But through Fresno State's Travel Study Program, these and other trips are available for a reasonable fee - and they offer university credit. Students and other members of the community who participate in the program travel to a foreign country under the guidance of a professor who specializes in that particular area of study.

The spring semester's program will begin this Thursday, Mar. 25, when an entourage of 41 participants departs for England in the London Theatre program.

Dr. Phillip Walker (Theatre Arts) will lead the excursion to London, where students will see eight stage plays, including Copenhagen, A Memory of Water, and When Pigs Fly.

The London Theatre program originated 26 years ago with the Division of Extended Education; that series ends after this year, said Jan Flagel, director of extension and travel study programs.

Approximately 200 people participate each year in travel study offerings on six of the seven continents, Flagel said.

"The program provides our students wonderful opportunities to study a subject right in its own environment and see other places," Flagel said. "It truly broadens the campus to encompass the world."

Another popular trip recently added to the program is "Peru: The Incas and Beyond." With its first trip last year, the program explored many of the major Inca and pre-Inca archaeological sites, as well as the Andean plateaus and the coastal desert.

Under the direction of Dr. James Kus, professor of geography, participants in the program will leave from Fresno on June 19 and spend 17 days exploring Peru.

Kus spent six years in Peru, where he directed archeological projects and served as a visiting professor in archaeology at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica.

"Jim Kus is so knowledgeable about Peru ­ particularly the archaeological sites, which were my primary interest," said Helen Gigliotti, a chemistry professor who went on the first Peru trip last year. She added that Kus's relationship with Peruvian archeologists enabled her to visit current excavations.

The Peru trip costs $3,500 per person and offers four academic credits. An option to stay an extra four days with one more credit is available for an additional $650.

Flagel said most of the other trips are one to two weeks in length and offer one to two units of credit.

Other programs include excursions to Florence and Morocco. Prices vary, depending on location and length of the trip. The range is $1,200 for a one week trip to about $3,600 for a three week trip, including airfare, hotel accommodations, university fees, and, in some cases, meals.

Flagel said that Extended Education is always open to new ideas from faculty interested in directing a travel study program. She said that although faculty members do not get paid a salary for leading the trip, expenses for the faculty may be paid by Extended Education, depending on the number of participants.