Custom Student Programs

For more information please contact: Pat Mulvihill, Director of Operations Email: [email protected] Telephone: 651/ 287-3306

HECUA specializes in an experiential, learner-centered
approach that connects students, faculty and institutions
of higher education with communities.

HECUA provides student programming in our domestic and international sites on a contract basis. HECUA program faculty are available to co-develop curriculum around a variety of topics to suit a diverse range of campus curricular needs. Program structure range from one-week comparative studies to short-term immersions in January, May, or summer terms. In addition to credit-baring coursework, HECUA also provides workshops and training around student extracurricular activities. Examples include student leadership and service-learning, urban poverty and social justice, and public art.

Consider the following range of creative programming:

• leadership training
• one to two week immersion components at our sites as part of a campus course
• complete short-term programs for January, May or summer term

Below we answer WHERE and WHY we have currently have program sites and WHAT topics can be studied there...

BANGLADESH: South Asian country, ranks among the world¹s poorest. It is a predominantly Muslim nation state and has been the test site of most models of international development, most recently micro credit and micro lending. Offers the opportunity to witness the moderate practice of Islam and understand how poverty can offer an opportunity for dialogue, not violence.

Topics: Islam and other religions, geography, social movements, participatory fieldwork, international development, gender and human rights.

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ECUADOR: South American country with a large indigenous population that is slowly gaining political power, a diverse natural environment (Galapagos), and a history of community participation. Recently strongly affected by war in Colombia
and politics of oil.

Topics: Community participation, social movements, gender issues, globalization, indigenous peoples¹ movements, Afro-Ecuadorian communities, international development, education, environmental justice and human rights.

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MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL: Urban community with a history of progressive and liberal politics including support for community organizing, the arts, and environmental issues. Home to a vibrant arts community as well as some of the largest communities of Asian, African, and Latino immigrants in the United States. The region¹s vitality and emerging diversity make it an ideal context for the study of issues facing our nation¹s urban centers.

Topics: Experiential pedagogy, design of learner-centered programs, civic engagement, organizing and advocacy, human rights, gender issues, ethnicity, education, the arts, the environment, tools for conflict transformation, and community building for communities of color, immigrant communities and people in poverty.

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NORTHERN IRELAND: European country with a history of violent conflict which is attempting to overcome centuries of religious division to build a sustainable democracy.

Topics: Conflict transformation, education system, social movements, human rights, gender issues, national identity and community building.

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SCANDINAVIA: Scandinavian country with a solid tradition of grassroots citizen participation and state support of health care, education, and economic security. Innovative approaches to environmental sustainability and home of the Nobel Prizes.
Since the 1990s, Norway has experienced immigration from countries with starkly different cultures, religion, and race,
notably Pakistan.

Topics: Human rights, gender issues, immigrant identity issues, peace and justice, the welfare state, globalization, environmentalism and social justice.

EXMAPLES of CUSTOMS PROGRAMS DEVELOPED FOR OTHER HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS...

Global Search for Justice Capstone Course
One Week Program Embedded in a Semester Course
College of St. Catherine
The College of St. Catherine offers a field experience at HECUA¹s Ecuador site co-taught by their faculty and HECUA staff. The course enables students to fulfill a core requirement looking at women and work with an international experience embedded in a semester course. Non-traditional students gain a short-term study abroad option that fits with their needs. The college has contracted with HECUA three times using this model and has plans for additional programs.

For more information please contact: Pat Mulvihill, Director of Operations Email: [email protected] Telephone: 651/ 287-3306

Service-Learning Leadership Training University of St. Thomas, Office of Community Partnerships Looking to supplement their leadership curriculum for student leaders of service-learning projects, the Office of Community Partnerships at the University of St. Thomas contracted with HECUA to provide a workshop on systems of inequality in urban areas. HECUA staff provided a one-day training introducing students to the connections between individual agency and social systems. Students were introduced to systems surrounding poverty and strategies for social change.