Study Abroad Program Takes Students to Italy, France
Visit a beautiful location, a museum full of the world’s greatest works of art, and some of the world’s most famous buildings. No, this isn’t a vacation: this is your trip while studying abroad. Through its Study Abroad program, RCC continues to provide opportunities for college students and sometimes faculty members, to see other parts of the world. The study abroad program offers long-term and short-term options. The long term consist of a trip that lasts for whole term, while the short-termoption last for about six weeks. Currently, Rogue Community College is offering three trips that cover four different locations. Students can spend a term in Paris, France or in Florence, Italy as a part of a long-term program or stay four weeks in Costa Rica and another two in Mexico at a location not yet decided. All of these programs are designed by RCC to utilize your surroundings abroad to best help you learn and understand the cultures you will be living in and experiencing. You will earn credits based on what you do while abroad, including language credits. The Paris program is starting this spring but those wishing to go will need to start planning now for next year’s spring trip. The Florence trip will be this fall, and a trip to Costa Rica is also planned for this summer. These trips can be costly on a student budget, with the price to go to Florence being $7,381 for example. However, money you receive through financial aid can be used toward the Study Abroad program. Scholarship money for travel abroad programs may also be available through the Benjamin A. Gilman award. Application information can be found at their website: http://www.iie.org//programs/gilman/iie.org//programs/gilman/index.html.
The RCC Study Abroad Program is part of the Oregon International Consortium, a group of community colleges in Oregon that travel together as a group, on these trips. It is important to apply early for these trips to be sure to get an available spot. People on the trips will stay with a host family, however, in the past other arrangements have been made Humanities and Foreign Language Faculty member, Dorcas Herr, manages the RCC study abroad program. She says that during these trips people gain much more than an education from the host families. “The students get the most out of the trip with the host families. They get to learn about the culture of the places where they stay and develop long-lasting international friendships.” Some participants have returned to the locations theyvisited as Study Abroad students, to visit their host families. For information about applying for a study abroad program, contact Dorcas Herr at (541) 245-7543.
Higher Education Center Under Construction at RCC
By Ray Boyd
Rogue Community College and Southern Oregon University are partners in the Higher Education Center that is currently under construction in downtown Medford on 8 th St. and Bartlett. Production began in the spring of 2007 and the center is scheduled to open fall of 2008. In May of 2007, Jackson County Voters passed Measure 15-75. This measured helped fund the remodel of RCCʼs Table Rock Campus and the construction of the Higher Education Center. The Higher Education Center will provide additional classroom space, enhance the cultural development in the Medford area and help introduce Medford-based students to a post-secondary education, according to Riverside Campus Dean, Galyn Carlile. Upon completion of the Higher Education Center, RCC will close Buildings D, E and F, and those classes will be moved into the new center. SOU and RCC each contributed 11.1 million dollars. SOU classes will primarily be in the evening while RCC classes will be morning/mid-day, and both colleges may offer weekend classes. Some of SOU/RCCʼs new courses will include a business center, seminars, leadership training and basic support of local businesses. The building itself is 68,700 square-feet and construction continues daily. The center is designed to break the barrier between two- and four-year schools, making transitions easier, and school administrators forsee that this will increase enrollment. Carlile says the relationship between SOU and RCC was built on a good foundation, and that the building is progressing “extremely well”.
CNN on The Byline...
