UMW Sustainability Issues Abroad

Ireland

Spend your spring break in the Emerald Isle with Dr. Melanie Szulczewski of UMW’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Department. On this cross-country tour, students will have the opportunity to visit:

• Dublin
  • Patrick’s Cathedral and Dublin Castle
  • Guinness Factory
  • Bull Island Nature Reserve
• Waterford
  • Seaweed farming and foraging experience
  • Waterford Crystal & Glass Blowing Factory
• Cork
  • Blarney Castle
  • Windmill Farm
• Galway
  • Connemara Sustainable Oyster tour
  • Cliffs of Moher, Unesco World Heritage Site
  • The Burren karst landscape
  • Aillwee Caves
• Aran Islands
  • Explore the island’s limestone formations, prehistoric fort, worm hole and traditional Irish villages by bike

This program will explore how and why Ireland is one of the most sustainable countries in the world, through both clearly green actions and more subtle sustainable activities (like seaweed farming). By the end of this program, students should be able to understand the contribution of scientific, political, and citizen actions to becoming sustainable; understand many of the environmental and social implications resulting from energy and natural resource management in Ireland; critically evaluate environmental problems and solutions from the perspectives of different stakeholders and disciplines; communicate complex, interdisciplinary issues using formal and informal techniques.

Accommodations

Accommodation in twin, triple or quad-bedded rooms in 3-star hotels or hostels that are centrally located in each city with access to public transportation.

Coursework

In addition to the program travel during Spring Break, students will enroll in the Spring 2024 8-week course EESC 360F: Environmental Exploration for 3 credits.  Attendance and participation in both portions of the course is mandatory.

This course satisfies the Beyond the Classroom general education requirement.

Requirements & Prerequisites

Prerequisite courses: EESC 110 or EESC 120 or GEOL 111 or EESC 230 or Permission of Instructor. Students must maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA in order to participate. This program is open to all UMW students regardless of major or year of study. It is also open to non-UMW students but enrollment in EESC 360F for the Spring 2024 semester is required.

Space is limited and in addition to registering for the program, students need to complete an additional application form.  Contact Dr. Melanie Szulczewski (mszulcze@umw.edu) for details, the application form, and instructions.

*Should a registered student not be accepted onto the program, the $500 deposit will be refunded.

Due to the nature of this program, students must be able and prepared for rigorous hiking and lengthy walks as part of the course expectations. One bicycle tour is also included.

Scholarships

Faculty-Led Program Scholarships are available to UMW students (deadlines apply).

Payment

See the program fees and payment due dates in the right column. Use the Make a Payment button below to pay your deposit and regular program payment. Use the Special Payment option to pay a special amount (such as additional insurance or payment in a different amount as a result of a scholarship award).

Online payees have the choice of either credit card or eCheck (ACH) payment. ACH transactions will be charged a flat fee of $0.50 per transaction. All credit card payments will incur a 2.85% service fee. For credit card payments, a minimum convenience fee of $3.00 will be applied to transactions over $20.00 and under $106.00.

Payments can also be made in-person via cash or check (made out to “UMW”) at the UMW Cashiers Office located on the second floor of Lee Hall. No fees apply with this payment method.