Study Abroad

Faculty-led Programs

International Business Latin America

Yucatán, Mexico
EMGT 600 or MGMT 2020
December 26, 2024 – January 11, 2025
Dr. Jesse Beeler

This is an intense course that requires you to travel to and live in Latin America for a two-week period. You are required to assess and understand geographic, environmental, economic, sociocultural, political and legal factors that impact the business environment of Latin America. In addition to the classroom instruction, the course provides experiential learning opportunities through participation in field trips that expose you to the history and culture of the region, as well as to various leaders of business, industry and government.

Writing (in) Place

Yucatán, Mexico
CRWT 3750
December 29, 2024 – January 9, 2025
Professor Liz Egan

This course challenges students to examine place and setting, both in the creative essays, stories, and/or poems they craft, and in the writing strategies and habits they cultivate. The course will include discussion and study of what it means to write in a place as an outsider, as well as from a place to an outsider; text translations and language-meshing; and how to adopt place-based writing strategies for a successful writing practice back home. Appropriate for all creative genres, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Geopolitics and Global Business: East Asia at the Crossroads of Power

GOVT 2760 / ADMN 4750 / BUSI 699
Spring 2026
Frank Neville

This course is an introduction to global business and global security in one of the world’s most dynamic regional business environments and most complex regional security environments. Students will use Japan as a focal point of study to explore global business and security topics. A 7-day study abroad experience will give students an opportunity to develop their cross-cultural understanding and gain first-hand knowledge related to course topics. Students will benefit from a variety of sources – readings, lectures, simulations, guest lectures from outside business and government experts, and in-person experiences during the study abroad portion of the class – to gain a holistic, integrated understanding of global business and global security in present-day East Asia. Finally, the course will focus on the interconnectedness of business and security and will explore how the interplay of these factors influences decisions in business, diplomacy, military affairs, and domestic politics throughout the region and in the United States.

The class will meet for 7 weeks at Millsaps during the spring semester and for 7 days in Japan over spring break.

Traditional Theatre of Japan

Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
THEA 2900
May 11 – May 25
Sam Sparks

In Tokyo and Kyoto, students will explore Japanese culture, history, and art through the study of traditional Japanese theatre forms of kabuki, noh, and bunraku. Standing in contrast to modern western approaches, traditional Japanese theatre emphasizes stylized performances and elaborate costumes. Performances of these traditional forms are rare in the US, so this course offers students the unique experience of seeing these forms in Japan. The techniques and principles of these forms have found there way into modern entertainment and into western theatre theory. By observing and experiencing noh, kabuki, and bunraku, students will gain greater insight and new perspectives into the entertainment they enjoy.

Hybrid Patterns: Visual Identity in Southern Spain

Seville, Cordoba, and Granada, Spain

ARTS 2750/ARTS 2200

May 16 – May 29

Dr. Sue Carrie Drummond

This course will focus on the study of visual pattern as a form of cultural identity in southern Spain. We will visit Seville, Córdoba, and Granada to see how Islamic, Christian, and Jewish traditions intersect in the region’s architecture, textiles, and design. Students will learn how to analyze and interpret visual motifs as carriers of cultural meaning and how to apply these concepts in their own creative practice. Day trips and site visits will deepen our understanding of hybridized patterns (studying tilework, iconography, maps, and movement-based patterns) in order to reflect on a distinctly Andalusian aesthetic/identity.

Humans Shaping Nature in Yucatán: Forests, Seas, and Reefs

Yucatán, Mexico
PHIL 2770/SOAN 2770
May 18 – May 30
Dr. Kristen Golden

This course is about human relationships to ecosystems in the Yucatán. It takes us to colonial-era cities of Valladolid and urban Mérida where we learn how the arrival of Europeans altered habitats. It takes us to the PUUC region town of Oxkutzcab to experience Mayan food, culture and farming. At the eco-site of Kaxil Kiuic, participants will learn about the Kaxil ruins and forest. How did the Maya live here? How is the forest so well? Has it always been so?

18th- and 19th-Century Art in Paris

Paris, France
ARTH 2750

May 18 – May 31
Dr. Sarah Williams

This course will explore the artistic production of the 18th and 19th centuries in Paris. We will look at the Rococo, Neoclassical, Romantic, Realist, Impressionist, and Post-Impressionist movements, visiting buildings and locations that either exemplify artistic trends from the time, hold special significance for artists, or house important artistic collections.

Spanish in Yucatán

Yucatán, Mexico
SPAN 1000-3000 (4 credits)
June 1 – June 30
Dr. Judith Caballero

This program immerses students in the language, culture and history of the Yucatán Peninsula. In collaboration with Marista University and the Yucatán Institute for Language and Culture, students may enroll in courses ranging from introductory Spanish to advanced literature courses. Students will attend classes at Casa Millsaps and practice their conversation skills with Marista University students. Culture classes and weekend excursions to local archaeological sites, historical places and other sites of cultural and historical interest are also part of the curriculum.

Archaeology in the Land of the Inkas

Cusco, Peru
SOAN 3410

June 7 – July 13
Dr. Véronique Bélisle

This course is a hands-on introduction to archaeological excavations, focusing on a pre-Inka settlement in Cusco, Peru. Students will participate in the different tasks involved in archaeological fieldwork, including digging, recovering artifacts, and mapping features. In addition to excavations, students will visit archaeological sites in the region (e.g., Machu Picchu), experience Peruvian culture, and interact with Peruvians on a daily basis.

Great Britain: Culture, Power, and Politics

London, England
HIST 4750/ARTH 4750/GOVT 4750

July 22 – August 6

Dr. Amy Forbes

How has political power been legitimated in Britain? This course explores how myths and images, rituals and symbols, and theater and media have helped represent, create, and sustain different forms of political authority across two millennia of English/British history. From the cult of the Roman emperor to the sacral kingship of the Middle Ages; from Renaissance courts to Revolutionary cities; from the propaganda images of the imperial leader to the tabloid celebrity of the modern princess; we will explore how religious beliefs, architecture, and legends, paintings, plays, statues, movies, revolutionary hymns, and street posters, public, executions, and political advertisements, coronations, processions and festivals have all helped shape and legitimate the exercise of political power in England and Great Britain. We will also explore the arts of resistance that grow up in the shadow of the arts of power: the Renaissance playwrights who identified the hollow crown at the heart of myth of monarchy; the line lets and pornographers who tarnished the images of English kings; and the dissident rock bands and poets who practiced the power of the powerless in the post-war regime. Using the conceptual tools of the historian, this course provides an interdisciplinary approach to the cultural construction of political power, using the complex experiences of the past to throw light on our turbulent present.

International Lessons in Leadership

London, England

MGMT 4750/EMGT 600

July 22 – August 6

Dr. Jesse Beeler

Study international business as practiced in London, focusing on culture, legal and management issues.

Other Study-Abroad Programs

Links

• Foundation for the Advancement of
  Mesoamerican Studies Inc.
  FAMSI provides grants, resources and research forums for studies of Mesoamerican culture.

• Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia
  Mexico’s federal agency devoted to anthropology and history administers museums and archaeological sites.

• Society for American Archaeology
  A forum for archaeologists with resources for both students and professionals.

• The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship
  Are you interested in studying or interning abroad but worried about the cost? The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship provides up to $5,000 for U.S. undergraduate students receiving Pell Grants to help make global experiences more accessible. The application deadline for the next cycle is March 6, 2025, so don’t wait! For more information and assistance with your application, contact Marie Vanderford or visit here today!