Colorado Mesa University (CMU) is working with the University of Córdoba (UCO) in Andalusia, Spain, to establish an exchange program between the two schools.
This new program isn’t the first agreement CMU has with a foreign-language university, but it is the first Spanish-language school that CMU can exchange professors and students with.
The first CMU-UCO exchange program will last five weeks in Summer 2022, from May 27 to July 2. The program will consist of students having homestays and going to classes during the week.
The first informational meetings for students for the trip will be held on February 1 and 2 in Escalante Hall 302, at 2 p.m and noon, respectively. Further detailed meetings will be held on February 8 and 9.
“I lived in [Córdoba] when I was a teenager, doing a study abroad program. It’s a dream of mine to have other people experience this great place, where I got started speaking the language,” CMU Professor of Spanish Thomas Acker said.
Languages professor at the University of Córdoba Víctor Pavón Vázquez helped the program get started with the help of Professor Acker and CMU Professor of Spanish Tyler Anderson.
“This agreement enables us to share staff. So, [Anderson] or I or any of our faculty could go over there and teach, and they can come here and teach according to this agreement, as well as students exchanging,” Professor Acker said.
The process to set up the partnership has been in the works since 2019, and the trip was intended to be earlier but delayed because of the pandemic.
A Mav Milestone during the trip is available for students who want to finish that credit during the exchange; the Milestone is tentatively a dual discipline that looks at Spain’s history through art, though it is still being set up.
“When people think of bullfights, flamenco dancers, certain types of wines, etc, that’s Andalusia,” Professor Acker said.
Although the five week trip has students in the classroom during the week, there will be plenty of exploring to do.
“Córdoba is close enough to the larger cities that we’re going to be able to do some trips to Madrid, go to Seville, and then there’s Granada,” Professor Anderson said. “[…] The students will have weekends that they’ll be able to go do their thing, if they want to just travel or stick around.”
The trip asks that students know at least a little Spanish, although the trip is open to any students.
“It’s always a challenge to immerse yourself. That’s part of the experience. So that’s part of the reason [Professor Anderson] and I are going to be there, it’s not a complete immersion, which is jolting,” Professor Acker said. “In this case, you’ll have feedback, you’ll have somebody to come to if you have an issue. We’ll always be meeting with students and finding out if they’re doing well.”
