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Open to Fall 2024 incoming Freshman and transfer students ONLY. Take your TU New Student Orientation to the next level with the TU Tigers Abroad program to Cuba in July and August 2024! Establish a cohort of your peers to help you succeed during your academic career at TU and beyond. Following your new student orientation on the TU campus, fly to Cuba for a 10-day faculty-led study abroad program where you will explore urban design that fosters civic engagement and the efficacy of public policy in neighborhood revitalization. By participating in this program, you will begin your first semester at TU having already earned 3 credits for MTRO 101 Introduction to Metropolitan Studies, which fulfills the Core 10 curriculum requirement! The in-country portion of the program will begin with travel to Viñales in western side of the country upon arrival in Cuba for an orientation and welcome dinner at a traditional restaurant. The group will visit an organic tobacco farm and engage in conversations with farmers to learn about how this industry has influenced the Cuban economy and trade over time. Then, over the course of five days, participants will get an overview of the history and examination of the opportunities and challenges faced by policymakers and residents in the city of Havana - Cuba's largest city and capital. Participants will learn about the Havana's development as the country's main port and commercial center, as well as its history and relations with the United States. While in Cuba, the group will participate in a service-learning activity with an Afro-Cuban community project. The group will then travel on to Cienfuegos for a night where they will begin a comparative study. Recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the main industrial cities in Cuba, Cienfuegos was well positioned on the sugar trade route between Jamaica and South American cities allowing it to grow boom despite being one of the latest colonial settlements established in Cuba. Cienfuegos is also an ideal setting to explore the topic of urban planning, energy, and nuclear power. Finally, the program will end with two days in Trinidad, a colonial gem and yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site city. An key stop along the way to Trinidad will include a visit to the Valley of the Sugar Mills, an important point of reflection on the use of enslaved labor in the Americas. Academic visits, lectures by industry leaders, service-learning activities, and group discussions will center on issues such as entrepreneurship and innovation, energy and natural resources, closing the skills gap, human rights, economic development, infrastructure, education and public health. Program highlights include visits to the U.S. Embassy and capitol building in Havana, meetings with local teachers and students, a visit to a working tobacco farm, an NGO in the environmental sector, social community center, and additional course-related sites. Cultural highlights will include a visit to the Bay of Pigs and museum, a ride in a classic car, a walking tour of Old Havana, a Cuban cooking class, and a service learning activity in the local community.
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TU Faculty-Led |
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