Interruptions of international travel due to COVID-19 put study abroad programs for the spring 2021 semester on halt. Despite this setback, the creativity and connections of Geneseo staff are spurring plans to give students access to world-wide opportunities, right from the comfort of their own campus.
The abrupt cancellation of spring study abroad programs led to limited student involvement in programs that were offered in the summer and fall. Students still had the opportunity during these terms to work with programs involving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and non-profit organizations in locations such as Nigeria and Uganda.
Director of the Study Abroad Office Samuel Cardamone indicated how the coming spring semester will look for the various study abroad opportunities.
“There's a whole bunch of different programs that we're offering in the spring semester, most of which are what we refer to as 'partner virtual programs,’” Cardamone said.
Through the international connections that Geneseo and the SUNY consortium have made over the years, Geneseo is able to offer many virtual programs that are still accessible to students during the pandemic. These connections allow students to engage in courses on topics such as modern Greek society and culture, as well as Italian language and history of immigration to the United States.
"In our world of study abroad, we're often talking about partnerships, [which] can be easily translated to relationships," Cardamone said. "Long-standing relationships where Geneseo, as a community [and] center for academic and cultural engagement, engages and works closely with a community abroad."
While these connections are what make virtual study abroad programs possible, they are also an integral aspect of the study abroad experience.
"Those [connections] are the ways in which you're plugging into the local community, developing relationships with actual real people,” Adjunct lecturer in English and languages and literatures, Wes Kennison said.
Geneseo is currently working on ways to nuance study abroad programs to allow students access to those international connections and experiences during the pandemic.
"We're also working locally with our Geneseo professors to say, ‘how do you make a virtual study abroad program? What does virtual study abroad look like if it's created by a Geneseo faculty member?’” Cardamone said.
Kennison, among many other Geneseo faculty members, is currently exploring virtual options to bring these international experiences to Geneseo through 3D cameras, virtual access to cultural and artistic spectacles and other technologies; however, this development is a process.
"From semester to semester, students can change and build that out," Kennison said. "Part of the process for me is having a process with the students in the course, exploring and building what's going on here."
Geneseo has also taken the opportunity of the pandemic to develop more than a band-aid solution to getting around COVID-19 policies. Geneseo is focused on creating an experience that will make study abroad accessible for students in the future for those who are unable to study abroad for personal, financial or health-related reasons.
"At Geneseo, I think we started a very different kind of conversation in that we really [think] of necessity being the mother of invention here,” Kennison said. “We really kind of figured out something that I think is going to long outlive the COVID."
Despite the setbacks that COVID-19 has imposed on international travel, Geneseo continues to provide global opportunities that are accessible to students from anywhere in the world.
Cardamone hopes to bring more of the opportunities to Geneseo students in a more affordable and Geneseo-specific way.