MORNING COURSES
Drawing (LD)
Professor Jessica Burke- Georgia Southern University
With sketchbook in hand, experience Ireland’s history-rich cities and towns, its legendary landscapes, and its spectacular coasts! Join our drawing class as we capture the rivers and mountains, meadows and gardens, castles and churches, and people and wildlife of Erin. This course gives students a basic foundation in a variety of drawing mediums as we record Irish images, traveling to multiple and varied sites. All students, including beginners, are welcome; and a higher-level version of the course—Advanced Drawing: Irish Landscapes and Townscapes—is also available, should you need that type of instruction. (For details, please email Jessica Burke:
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).
Introduction to Film (LD)
Professor John Countryman- Berry College
Screening film clips and visiting sites associated with movie-making, this course introduces students to the appreciation and critical analysis of film. Among other things, its classroom and field-trip explorations cover the historical development of film production and film form. Course materials draw primarily from Irish cinema, with some emphasis on adaptations of dramatic literature to film. Irish directors covered include Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan, while Maureen O’Hara and Colin Farrell are but two of the actors that the course considers. A highlight of the semester is a class outing to the Irish Film Institute in Dublin’s trendy Temple Bar district.
Cultures and Interpersonal Relationships (UD)
Professor Tsu-Ming Chiang- Georgia College & State University
Interpersonal relationships are profoundly influenced by cultural contexts and ethnic heritages. Such influences are difficult to detect unless we contrast relationships across cultures. Through fascinating readings and high-value field trips, this course examines how individuals’ personalities, home circumstances, and larger economic and cultural contexts affect a range of interpersonal behaviors, especially parent-child and family dynamics, friendships, and romantic bonds. Students analyze individual relationships and learn to appreciate the cultural construction of perceiving principles and norm behaviors. The course provides a valuable cross-cultural perspective in understanding how cultural contexts contribute to social interactions and relationship-formation in our increasingly connected world.
Contemporary International Politics (LD)
Professor Susan Raines- Kennesaw State University
Why has the U.S. been fighting in Iraq but leaving Syria, Somalia, and Sudan to fend for themselves? What can individual citizens do to influence U.S. foreign policy? Why do people in Ireland and Europe have such strong objections to some U.S. foreign policy actions? This course aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the workings of the world’s political and economic system: its structures, institutions, controversies, challenges, and limitations. We discuss current events with an emphasis on Ireland as a case study. Students learn how they can impact U.S. foreign policy directions and change.
Principles of Marketing (UD)
Professor Linda Mullen- Georgia Southern University
Marketing is a dynamic and exciting field, and it is a key tool in confronting the challenges that global enterprises are facing at home and abroad in today’s rapidly changing business environment. In contrast to the common view that marketing only focuses on advertising and sales, students in this course learn about the full nature and scope of marketing management. In addition to comparing Irish and American marketing plans, the course also examines the current turmoil within the European Union—particularly in relation to U.S. products. Field trip opportunities include a visit with the Director of Marketing at Waterford Crystal, one of earth’s iconic luxury brands.
World Literature II
Professor Nick Norwood- Columbus State University
This course studies selected literary masterpieces from the Renaissance to the present with a special emphasis on Irish writing. Covering major movements in world literature, it includes works by authors from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. Voltaire, Kafka, and Akhmatova are among the European authors covered. With respect to Irish literature, the course explores writings by Swift, Yeats, Synge, Joyce, Beckett, and Heaney, and it pays particular attention to writers of the Irish Nationalist movement. Field trips to sites associated with Irish texts and authors help the course materials come alive. Did you know that the United Nations has designated Dublin an international City of Literature, or that the “noir” detective-fiction writer Raymond Chandler (associated with L.A.) grew up in Waterford?
AFTERNOON COURSES
Art in Life: Ireland (LD)
Professor Jessica Burke- Georgia Southern University
Exciting field trips are a signature feature of our study of the visual arts in Ireland. While traveling through some of Europe’s most spectacular countryside and exploring the vibrant yet historic cities of Dublin and Cork, we visit and learn about important prehistoric monuments, medieval castles, gothic churches, stately houses, and planned gardens. From stunning architecture to world-class museums devoted to art and culture, let the visual arts come alive for you in heritage-rich Ireland—and, in addition, gain an understanding of how the Emerald Isle fits into the larger story of art and life in Europe.
Developing Individuals Across Cultures (LD)
Professor Tsu-Ming Chiang- Georgia College & State University
This is an introductory course in child development, offering an overview of the principles and theories of human growth and development. Taking advantage of our location, it emphasizes cultural application and analysis. Students explore various theoretical perspectives on human development, and they identify cultural differences in relation to those perspectives. In-class discussions grow out of trips to local schools, community centers, museums, and places of recreation, where we observe children and their family interactions. By providing opportunities for students to contrast American and Irish family dynamics and education systems, the course builds understanding of how culture influences human development.
Irish Drama in Performance (UD)
Professor John Countryman- Berry College
This course studies the most significant modern and contemporary Irish dramatists and theater practitioners. In particular, it assesses their influence on the country’s culture, society, and politics, and it also considers how they’ve impacted the international theater scene. A special focus during Summer 2013 is drama related to “The Troubles,” the 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland that ended in 1998. Over our weeks in Ireland, students read scripts, perform scenes from numerous plays, and visit theaters to see productions and tour facilities. In-depth interactive visits with recognized professional playwrights are also possible.
Introduction to Business (LD)
Professor Linda Mullen- Georgia Southern University
This survey course acquaints beginning college students with major institutions and practices in the business world. Especially by means of field trips, it uses a variety of Irish businesses in Waterford, Dublin, and other urban and rural locations to look at basic business concepts and present a view of career opportunities in business. Ireland is among earth’s most globalized economies, providing the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) base for multiple major corporations, not least Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Seven of the planet’s pharmaceutical blockbusters are produced in Ireland, and the country ranks first in the world for availability of skilled labor; workforce flexibility and adaptability; investment incentives; and attitudes towards globalization.
World Peace in Film and Literature (Ireland Focus) (UD)
Professor Susan Raines- Kennesaw State University
With Ireland as a focus, this course considers films and novels that provide stories of conflict and peacemaking. We discuss appropriate roles for citizens and leaders in the struggle for peace and stability, including an examination of specific peacemaking efforts in Ireland and elsewhere. Students meet “terrorists” turned peacemakers; hear first-hand accounts of how the Northern Irish “Troubles” (1968-1998) impacted regular people; and learn from those who have lived through the transition from violence to peace. We compare the struggle for civil and human rights in Ireland to similar efforts in the U.S. and worldwide while learning how to become change agents.
**MANDATORY COURSE FOR ALL PARTIPANTS**
Introduction to Irish Culture (Mandatory 1-Credit LD)
(Wed. 4-5:30pm)
Faculty Experts, Waterford Institute of Technology
In its geography, history, culture, and politics, Ireland is a diverse, complex land, shaped by waves of immigrants—from medieval Vikings to modern-day Eastern Europeans, Nigerians Brazilians, and others. It boasts Europe’s oldest vernacular epic (the Táin), not to mention four 20th-century Nobel Prize-winners in literature. Sometimes motivated by famine, millions of Irish have left the Emerald Isle. The Irish and Scots-Irish diasporas (popularly known as the Fifth Province) have made huge contributions to the US, Canada, Australia, Argentina and other nations. In the current century, Ireland has been described as earth’s "most global economy." Its young, well-educated workforce is a world-leader in such fields as information technology and pharmaceuticals. Bringing several guest lecturers into the classroom, this course helps students build their knowledge and appreciation of Ireland.
Registration
Council institutions will identify courses and course numbers of their own that are comparable to the courses being offered by faculty members from other institutions. This will enable most students to register for courses through their home institutions. Students from non-member institutions, or from institutions that do not permit registration for certain courses, should contact the European Council Office at Valdosta State University for assistance. For students at institutions actively involved in the European Council, the first step in registration is meeting with the campus representative.
Courses are 3-hour courses, except for the mandatory 1-hour Introduction to Irish Culture course. The exact course numbers assigned to classes differ from institution to institution. Check at the school where you plan to register to find out the numbers for the courses you wish to take. To find out more about any course, contact the European Council office.
Note that the program package cost does NOT include tuition fees. Tuition is paid directly to the college or university where you are registering.
