Admission into the Worrell Honors Program for Studies Abroad is competitive and open to students with a 3.0 G.P.A. or better. Substantial financial aid is available.
Established in 1990 and endowed by Mr. T. Eugene and Dr. Anne R. Worrell, ’39, the Worrell Honors Program for Studies Abroad has been centered in Germany since 1991, and in Panama beginning in 2001. Each program comprises three interdependent constituents: an on-campus spring semester preparatory course, a May term sequence abroad and optional independent study projects.
The European Program - Regensburg/Munich, May term - consists of two semi-integrated and yet independent segments: 1) the political science/international environmental law track, strongly recommended for history/political science and paralegal studies majors but also open to all qualified students; and 2) the education track, available exclusively to students working toward teacher licensure.
The Program constitutes a distinctive educational experience in terms of quality, sensitivity to global issues and unique structure. Its components are custom-tailored for Virginia Intermont students by the Virginia Intermont faculty and by the faculties of the University of Regensburg and the University of Munich and by the faculty of the Luitpold Gymnasium. The results of this cooperative effort are then integrated into an exceptional academic product available solely to the Virginia Intermont student body.
The political science/international environmental law track is a bi-scoped endeavor in tune with current realities and patterned to respond to some of the major questions presently of interest to higher education. It avails itself of traditional academic services rendered as seminars and classes, and non-traditional Program accoutrements, here referred to as special sessions. All track components are designed to offer an understanding of comparative governing at the national, state and local levels, of contemporary western-world geopolitical and economic events, and of the legislative politics and national policies of global environmentalism. Selected Virginia Intermont College faculty contributes at the preparatory level and at the sequence abroad level. In Germany, the faculties of the Institut fur Politikwissenschaft of the University of Regensburg and of the Geschwister-Scholl Institut fur Politische Wissenschaft, Lehrstuhl Internationale Politik and the Hochschule fur Politik, of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munchen, join in completing the traditional academic facet of the Program. Classes and seminars couched in the area of political science are complemented by special sessions in the form of colloquia with legislators at the Bayerische Landtag and with members of the governing bodies of the city of Munich and the city of Landshut. Classes and seminars within the environmental scope of the Program are complemented by special sessions offered by BMW's Recycling and Dismantling Center (RDZ) in Lohhof and its Traffic and Environment (Verkehr und Umwelt) center in Munich, and by environmental groups (Green City, Munich) and administrative and technical representatives of facilities operating in the environmental ambit (the nuclear power plant Isar 2, at Essenbach). Field trips to Kozentrationslager Dachau, Rothenburg ob. der. Tauber, Berchtesgaden/Obersalzberg, the Royal Castles of Linderhof and Neuschwanstein and Salzburg add the finishing touch. Supervision and evaluation of Virginia Intermont College students rest jointly with the German faculties and the V.I. faculty.
Students in this track may earn a maximum of 10 upper division hours.
The education track operates under the auspices of a cooperative agreement with the Luitpold Gymnasium, Munich, one of the most prestigious public educational institutions functioning in an enviable national public educational system. The Gymnasium makes it possible for Virginia Intermont College students to teach selected classes in English, to make special presentations, to observe teaching and to participate in seminars designed for German teaching personnel. Supervision and evaluation of Virginia Intermont students rest primarily with the faculty and administration of the Luitpold Gymnasium, with the assistance of VI faculty. As stated above, the education track is semi-integrated into the political science/international environmental law track in that education students are given the opportunity to expand their experience abroad by partaking in activities scheduled for political science/international environmental law students in Munich.
Students in this track may earn a maximum of nine credit hours.
The Central American Program - In 2001, the Worrell Honors Program added the Central American Program in Panama. The Panama Program operated in the summer of 2001 at Boca del Drago station, where the Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation provided academic courses. Students enrolled in coral reef ecology and primate ecology classes and were participants in complementary activities. The Program will be offered in 2002 coinciding with the May term. Supervision and evaluation of Virginia Intermont students rest jointly with the Institute of Tropical Ecology and Conservation and the VI faculty.
Students in the Panama Program may earn a maximum of four credit hours.
The Director of the Worrell Honors Program for Studies Abroad, Dr. Achille Riviello, should be contacted for applications for all programs, and for additional information, at acriveu@vic.edu or 276-466-7987.
