2024-25: Six local-global opportunities - fully funded!
EnCompass is for students who are less likely to study abroad!
Eligibility: EnCompass students are usually within their first two years of study and represent one or more of the following categories: first generation, African-American, Latinx, student-athlete, STEM major, male students. However, all University of Richmond students are eligible to apply. Note: students graduating in May 2025 are not eligible for Maymester programs.
Each EnCompass program will be led by two UR faculty or staff and include a small cohort of UR students. The group will meet several times during a 0.5 unit course the semester prior to departure to prepare for international travel and explore the course topic as it relates to Richmond, VA. As part of the fully funded experience, students will receive a passport (if needed), roundtrip airfare, meals, accommodations, travel expenses and coverage under the International Travel, Accident, and Sickness Insurance. Each group will converge at a regional US airport prior and travel together to their program destination.
The 2024-25 EnCompass offerings include:
- One January program
- One program over Spring Break
- Four Maymester Programs following the spring semester
Submit just one application for all EnCompass experiences and select your first-choice program. January programs will include a fall course while spring break and May programs will include a course during the spring semester.
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January - New Zealand
December 27, 2024 – January 11, 2025
Janelle Peifer and Kylie Korsnack
“Introduction to Community-Engaged Work in Richmond and New Zealand”
How can academic research directly impact local and global communities? How do researchers identify, establish, and maintain intentional, participatory, and reciprocal partnerships with community-based organizations? This course will introduce students to theoretical, ethical, and practical considerations for community-engaged research. By working directly with community partners in the Richmond metropolitan area and Aotearoa/New Zealand, students will get hands-on experience working in partnership with community organizations. Through this experiential learning process, we will learn best practices for community engaged work, build foundational skills for practicing effective research, and hopefully, establish the beginnings of a mutually supportive relationship with both local and global community partners.
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Spring Break - Cuba
March 8 – 15, 2025
Mariella Mendez and Patricia Herrera
“Politics, Culture & Creative Expression”
By examining historical and contemporary artistic expression both in Cuba and in the Cuban diaspora, we’ll collectively gain insight into how art captures the essence of societies—their triumphs, struggles, and shortcomings— and offers poignant commentary on the world around us. Join us as we uncover the profound impact of creative expression inspiring activism and driving social change, both locally and internationally. From the streets of Richmond, Virginia to the vibrant setting of Cuba we’ll immerse ourselves in firsthand experiences of how creative expression serves as a potent force for challenging norms, sparking dialogue, and advocating for change—both within our communities and beyond.
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Maymester - Denmark
May 16 – 25, 2025
Jessie Fillerup and Bert Ashe
“Sound, Space, and the Social”
When you walk into a space, do you pay attention to the sound? If there is music playing, what do you notice about it? Music and sound help provide social and emotional cues for our social interactions, even if we don’t realize it. This course explores how the things we hear shape our experiences in a range of immersive environments, from amusement parks and concert halls to museums and jazz clubs.
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Maymester - Mexico
May 12 – 19, 2025
Miguel Diaz-Barriga and Margaret Dorsey
“Food and Culture: Oaxaca, Mexico”
This course focuses on transformations in food, farming, and culinary traditions as restauranteurs and activists advocate for food biodiversity and expanded farm to table foodways. Our case study is Oaxaca, Mexico which has become an international destination for “foodies” as well as a site for indigenous food production and activism. The 1994 signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), wiped out small-scale farming in Mexico in favor of food imports from the United States and the expansion of agrobusiness in Mexico. In the last twenty years, Mexican restauranters have sought to rejuvenate small-scale indigenous farming as well as advocate for food biodiversity. Indigenous communities, such as the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, have organized around the importance of small-scale farming for economically maintaining their villages, keeping people healthy and expressing their cultural identities. Through a half-credit course students will learn about these food movements in Mexico as well as Mexican cuisine. This class will prepare students for a one week visit to Oaxaca (through the Encompass program) that will allow students to learn firsthand about farm to table restaurants, indigenous people’s organizing around food, and the possibilities for maintaining small-scale farming. The program includes day trips to indigenous villages, guided tours of markets, and restaurant experiences.
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Maymester - New Zealand
May 9 – May 25, 2025
Kristine Grayson and Jon Dattelbaum
“Conservation and Restoration: From the River City to Aotearoa New Zealand”
This experiential course will examine the conservation of biodiversity, restoration of wildlife and the environment, and the role of culture and community in Richmond, VA (the River City) and New Zealand (Aotearoa in the Māori language). In Richmond, students will explore environmental management practices on our campus (the eco-corridor) and the James River. In New Zealand, students will travel across the North and South Islands to experience the linkages between biodiversity, culture, and restoration.
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Maymester - Senegal
May 13 – 25, 2025
Olivier Delers and Jillean McCommons
“Migration, Resilience, and Storytelling in West Africa”
In this program, you will meet artists, journalists, NGO workers, and academics to learn more about Senegal, an African nation “between Islam and the West” comprised of several ethnic groups speaking more than thirty languages. We will examine how Senegalese culture, while retaining most of its traditional African roots, has been influenced by the history of slavery, by French rule during the colonial period, and by France’s linguistic and economic influence since the country achieved independence in 1960. We will explore how local communities adapt to global economic forces and imagine post-colonial identities both rooted in tradition and transformed by strong diasporic connections in Europe and North America. We will collect facts and observations and think about how telling and listening to stories from multiple perspectives can help us build a more complex and intimate understanding of West African culture.