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The U.S. Department of State’s IDEAS Program has awarded Lycoming College an IDEAS grant for $34,955 under the 2025 grant competition to support efforts to expand opportunities for more American students to study abroad and gain skills that are critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity. The IDEAS Program is a federal initiative that helps U.S. colleges and universities build and expand capacity for student study abroad. The award is based on the recommendations of review panels composed of representatives from a range of U.S. colleges, universities, and international education organizations. Among the initial 231 proposals reviewed, 95 semi-finalist proposals were selected, and 32 finalists received funding.
This IDEAS grant will provide funds necessary to build Lycoming College’s capacity to offer short-term study abroad programs by supporting the development of a field school in Popayán, Colombia, in collaboration with the Universidad del Cauca, a trusted regional partner with strong community ties. Through this partnership, faculty will develop interdisciplinary courses grounded in storytelling that can serve as models for future study abroad initiatives.
Funds will support course development, faculty training, partnership building, and curriculum integration. In collaboration with the Humanities Research Center and Office of Global Education, Lycoming will support promotion, academic reflection, course alignment, and career-readiness programming that connects global learning to professional pathways. This initiative will serve as a model for expanding accessible, high-impact global learning opportunities across the College.
The proposed field school will initiate with two courses, “Narrating the Struggle for Democracy” and “Narrating Natural Resources,” which focus on developing research questions, learning from local perspectives, and communicating across languages and disciplines. Drawing on the successful experiences of field schools in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, this initiative will strengthen student recruitment and create connections across majors and interdisciplinary programs, including political science, biology, environmental science, environmental studies, creative writing, Spanish, legal studies, and Latin American studies. By bringing together the humanities, social sciences, and STEM disciplines, the courses offered at the field school in Colombia will encourage students to examine complex global issues through multiple academic lenses and collaborative approaches. Broadening Lycoming's experiential learning opportunities, the initiative increases access through federal funding while enhancing the curricular relevance of study abroad experiences.
Susan Achury, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science, and Rubén Varona, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish and chair of the department of modern languages, are developing a field school along with Mary Kate O’Donnell, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, and Phoebe Wagner, Ph.D., assistant professor of English. The activities include seminars on campus so that other Lycoming faculty can eventually replicate curricula tailored to their own areas of interest.
The strength of a field school is that each visit can build on the relationships and knowledge developed before it,” said Achury. “Our partnership with Universidad del Cauca creates opportunities for faculty to develop research together and for students to contribute as those projects take shape. Students will connect classroom learning with local perspectives while learning to ask thoughtful questions, interpret evidence, and communicate across languages and disciplines. We are building an experience that faculty across the College can adapt, opening more pathways for students to make international learning part of their education. We anticipate launching the first student field school in May Term 2028.
“Building a bilingual, interdisciplinary program is key, and this funding validates and demonstrates the importance of educating cross-culturally,” added Varona. “Working across Spanish and English alongside our partners at Universidad del Cauca will challenge students to listen closely, consider different perspectives, and find thoughtful ways to share what they learn. For faculty at both institutions, that exchange can inspire new approaches to teaching and collaborative creative work.”
“The Office of Interinstitutional and International Relations (ORII) of our institution has the mission of facilitating internationalization and collaboration experiences that enrich the education of students and faculty, as well as promoting exchange and cooperation with national and international institutions,” commented Deibar René Hurtado Herrera, president of the Universidad del Cauca. “Within this framework, the agreement with Lycoming College allows us to project our academic strengths onto global stages, build interinstitutional trust, and consolidate a long-term cooperative relationship.”
“This agreement opens a horizon for projecting the Universidad del Cauca onto international stages, while always keeping alive the roots that give it identity and purpose. It is an invitation to grow from within our territory, drawing strength from its history and a deep commitment to its people,” said Maria Alejandra Rivera Burbano, ORII director. “At the same time, it calls us to imagine and build new ways of engaging with the world, to cross bridges of dialogue and cooperation that broaden perspectives and enrich university life. This step reaffirms that education, when opened to the world, becomes a transformative journey, one that honors our roots and turns dreams into shared realities.”
The Universidad del Cauca is a public research institution located in Colombia. Founded in 1827, it continues to be an educational and cultural project committed to comprehensive education, the production of knowledge, and social transformation. The Universidad del Cauca currently offers 43 undergraduate programs and 48 postgraduate programs.
The IDEAS Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government, administered by World Learning.