EMU: El Salvador Program

Application deadline: March 24, 2008. Apply today: Application

El Salvador:

Poverty, Human Rights, and Health

El Salvador Youth

Village girl in El Salvador, SHARE image

Program Overview:

Known as “the little thumb of Central America,” El Salvador is struggling to heal the rifts in society and rebuild a viable political system after the 1980-92 civil war.

This field study program is the second part of a 2-course interdisciplinary sequence in Political Science and Health Administration. Students who take PLSC/HLAD 390 (Poverty, Human Rights, and Health) as an on-campus course in Summer 2008 (3 credits) can choose to follow up with this field course, PLSC/HLAD 391 (an additional 3 credits). The travel course consists of 8 full days in El Salvador, including home stays and visits to rural villages. Local arrangements are organized by the SHARE Foundation, a grassroots non-profit dedicated to promoting understanding of the root causes of poverty and community organizing to address underlying issues of social injustice.

The course is designed to meet the 100 hours of the internship requirements in HLAD as well as the comparative/international group requirements for the PLSC major, and the General Education “Global Awareness” requirements.

Program at a glance:

Dates:	August 13-22 , 2008 (proposed dates)
Length:	8 days in El Salvador
Program Fee:	$1350*
Credits: 3	PLSC or HLAD 391 (in addition to the 3 credit hours for the prerequisite on-campus course, PLSC/HLAD 390, Summer 2008)

*Our program fees are based on currency exchange rates in effect at the time of budget planning. Further weakening of the U.S. Dollar against world currencies may require a surcharge to cover unexpected costs resulting from unfavorable exchange rates. We will do everything possible to limit program costs as we monitor economic conditions beyond our control.

Academics/Prerequisites:

This field study program is the second part of a 2-course interdisciplinary sequence in Political Science and Health Administration. Students who take PLSC/HLAD 390 (Poverty, Human Rights, and Health) as an on-campus course in Summer 2008 (3 credits) can choose to follow up with this field course, PLSC/HLAD 391 (an additional 3 credits). The course is designed to meet the internship requirements in HLAD as well as the comparative/international group requirements for the PLSC major, and the General Education “Global Awareness” requirements.

Faculty:

The course sequence is taught by Professors Judith Kullberg and Richard Stahler-Sholk (Political Science) and Richard Douglass (Health Administraton).

Dr. Kullberg is a specialist in comparative and international politics. Her research interests include civil society, democratization, and foreign policy, and she has extensive experience studying these issues in Russia.
Dr. Stahler-Sholk focuses on Latin American and comparative politics, social movements, and revolution. He lived in Nicaragua for five years and has been doing research and human rights work in Mexico since 1994.
Dr. Douglass has been studying public policy in developing countries since his junior year in Ethiopia in the 1960s. He has been working on the challenge of health care delivery in remote villages in Ghana.

Lesson in Salvadoran Agriculture
Farmer in El Salvador explaining how to plant fruit trees on volcanic hillsides

Costs

*Program fee does not include round-trip airfare or EMU tuition and fees. Our program fees are based on currency exchange rates in effect at the time of budget planning. Further weakening of the U.S. Dollar against world currencies may require a surcharge to cover unexpected costs resulting from unfavorable exchange rates. We will do everything possible to limit program costs as we monitor economic conditions beyond our control.

Program Price:$1350

Program fee includes:
• Lodging
• Museum and site admissions
• Lectures and guided tours
• Most meals and beverages
• International Student ID Card (EMU students)
• Health insurance (EMU students)

Program fee does not include:
• Round-trip international airfare
• EMU tuition and fees
• Some meals
• Personal expenses

U.S. delegation planting fruit trees on volcanic hillsided in El Salvador

Travel requirements

All participants must have a valid passport. If you have not yet applied for a passport, please do so immediately. Passports may take ten weeks or more to process. Applications can be obtained at any county court house, passport agency or designated post office. The expiration date of your passport must be at least six months after the tour ends. For complete passport information, including printable application forms, visit the State Department website at http://travel.state.gov/passport/index.html Participants who are NON-U.S. citizens may be required to have additional visas, depending on citizenship and are responsible for securing the necessary visas. The Office of Academic Programs Abroad at Eastern Michigan University will inform non-U.S. citizens about which steps to take to receive visas for countries on the itinerary. The Office of Academic Programs Abroad cannot be responsible for delays, detainments or losses incurred by non-U.S. citizens due to visa problems arising from their citizenships.

Health Requirements

No specific vaccinations are required for entry into El Salvador. Information on vaccinations and other health considerations, such as safe food and water precautions and insect bite protection, may be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s hotline for international travelers at 1-877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747) or via the CDC’s Internet site at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/default.aspx. For information about outbreaks of infectious diseases abroad consult the World Health Organization’s (WHO) web site at http://www.who.int/en. Further health information for travelers is available at http://www.who.int/ith.

All EMU students enrolled in this program will be covered by CMI Study Abroad Health Insurance. For additional health resources in the area, visit our Health and Safety pages online.

Folk Art from El Salvador
Painting that portrays the horrors and hopes derived from the civil war
14 years ago in El Salvador

Application:www.emich.edu/abroad/application.html

Early deadline: February 15, 2008



: Or contact:
Academic Programs Abroad
Eastern Michigan University
103 Boone Hall
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Voice: 734/487-2424 or 800/777-3541
FAX: 734/487-4377
Email:programs.abroad@emich.edu

Que Viva! SHARE staff.
SHARE Foundation Staff in San Salvador

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Academic Programs Abroad
Eastern Michigan University
103 Boone Hall
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Voice: 734.487.2424 or toll free 1.800.777.3541
FAX: 734.487.4377
E-mail : Programs Abroad