Lasting Impact of the Moldovan Study Abroad Course, a few examples from USF

I have been working with my colleague from ULIM, Larisa, on an article "Cultivating Global Citizenship in Higher Education: Civic Engagement and Service Learning in Joint Study Abroad Courses."

Since it has been 2 years since we taught the joint Study Abroad course (in which USF students traveled to Moldova to study with students from ULIM in Chisinau) we can see the long-term impact of the course on its participants.

USF Examples:

Jared:

Jared returned to Chisina as intern in the US Embassy in Chisinau.  He worked in the Political/Economic section of the Embassy where he learned a great deal about the Moldovan government and US foreign policy.   Following his work in Moldova, Jared interned with the US Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is now working at the State Department in Washington, DC. He hopes to embark on a career in the foreign service.

On an excursion to Moscow.

At the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg on a "casual Friday"

(more pics from Moldova to come)

Lauren participated in the Moldova Study Abroad course as a Political Science graduate student. While in the MA program at USF Lauren was a Fulbrighter in Serbia for a year. Her MA Thesis -- "Key Ingredients in the Rule of Law Recipe: The Role of Judicial Independence in the Effective Establishment of the Rule of Law" -- included a chapter analyzing case studies of rule of law initiatives in Serbia and Moldova.  Lauren was able to incorporate her research and data gathered while in Moldova on Moldova's Justice Sector Reform in that chapter.  (I enjoyed continuing to work with Lauren as a member of her Thesis committee. She did an outstanding job!)  Lauren is currently attending law school at Notre Dame and plans a career in international law.

Lauren defending her MA thesis on rule of law initiatives in Serbia and Moldova

Marissa was an undergraduate at the time of the Joint Course. The course sparked her interests in Moldovan's European ambitions and how the frozen Transnistrian conflict is affecting prospects for EU accession. She is now an MA student finishing up her thesis "Stabilizing De Facto States in the Post-Soviet Space: The Role of the EU in Conflict Resolution in Moldova."  I am proud to say I am chairing her Thesis committee and that she is doing a stellar job as a Graduate Assistant.  She is applying to PhD programs in Political Science and hopes to teach European politics at the university level.

Marissa at the domestic violence shelter we visited in Chisianu