Guilford College

Study Away (Domestic USA)

Ghost Ranch Experience. 4 credits. Graded. 50001 GST 250 001.
Location: Abiquiu, New Mexico
Austin College faculty onsite.

Journey to this famous education and retreat center near Sante Fe, New Mexico, with its unique combination of natural beauty, paleontology, geology, archaeology, history and art. Students select their top choice and 2 backups from a range of class options: Silversmithing, Pottery, Weaving, Native American cultures, Creative Writing, and Painting. Experience wide-open spaces, starry skies, mountains, mesas and red rock formations in the multicultural nature and stunning landscape of a 21,000-acre working ranch, a rustic setting renowned for creativity and self-exploration. Includes formal reflection that makes deliberate connections between the disciplinary focus and the natural environment. Offered in partnership with Austin College. TENTATIVE DATES: January 2-25.

Estimated cost: $2500-$2800 plus travel. Non-refundable $250 deposit required. APPLY for this experience.

Photography and a Sense of Place. 4 credits. Graded. 50002 ART 250 001/50003 PPS 250 001
Location: 6 days on campus, 14 away
Faculty leader: Maia Dery

A place-based, interdisciplinary, experiential course exploring the bottom of the Cape Fear River Basin (Guilford College is near the headwaters, at the top of the same basin). After 3 preparatory days on campus, students will spend 2 weeks at the Barrier Island Study Center on Bald Head Island. Students will share and photograph this exceptional place with the year-round residents, including American alligators, red foxes, and loggerhead turtles, kayaking through salt marshes, while learning about barrier island and beach ecology. PPS will fund guest lectures in Natural Sciences and Humanities to complement the primary theme of the course, documenting and creating a culture of place as defined by water. For the last three days, students return to campus to finish an independent project including a portfolio of images or video and text documenting their experiences and understanding of the place. Fulfills the Arts requirement. 

Estimated cost: $1597.50 APPLY for this experience.

Wolves and Northwoods Carnivores: Predatory Ecology. 4 credits. Graded. 50004 BIOL 250 001
Location: Northwoods, Ely and the North Shore of Lake Superior, Minnesota
No Guilford faculty presence

The Audubon Center of the Northwoods sponsors this project that covers a broad range of topics related to wildlife with a focus on the gray wolf, lynx and the white-tailed deer, and other predators, plus many of the animals directly or indirectly associated with or affected by these predators as prey. The course is field-oriented and includes opportunities for back country travel, wildlife observation and tracking, as well as an introduction to habitats, how wildlife respond to natural and artificial disturbance, and human factors. Additional topics include wildlife research techniques, data acquisition and analysis, as well as management practices. Includes visits to the Wildlife Science Center, the North American Bear Center, the International Wolf Center, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. DATES: January 1-19, 2014. Estimated cost: $1699 plus travel to/from the site and transcript fee. $100 deposit required. APPLY for this experience.