• Location: Kyushu, Japan
• Dates:
  • Virtual orientation: May 18th - 22nd, 2026
  • Trip to Japan: May 25th - June 11th, 2026 
• Instructors: Prof. Susan Furukawa, Japanese, Prof. James Rougvie, Geology
• Credit: 1.0 unit, with 0.5 unit Global Experience Seminar reflection companion course (total 1.5 units)

Course Description:  This Global Experience Seminar explores the cultural heritage and geological heritage of the Island of Kyushu in southwestern Japan. Students will gain first-hand experience in the ways local organizations and governments in Japan leverage natural and cultural resources to facilitate conservation, education and sustainable development and promote community resilience and sustainability. They will compare these efforts at sites, including UNESCO World Heritage and UNESCO Global Geopark localities, in both urban settings and rural areas in which cultural, geographical, and biological diversity can be interdependent. Localities include Hirado, Nagasaki, Shimabara Peninsula/Unzen Volcanic Area and Aso Global Geopark.

See full program brochure here. 

Location: Dakar & Saint-Louis, Senegal

Dates: May 11 - June 1, 2026 (tentative)

Instructors: Prof. Joseph Derosier, French, and Christa Story, Academic Curator of the Wright Museum 

Course Description: Dakar, the capital of Senegal, is a thriving art center that has long hosted art festivals that promoted African art in the wake of decolonization. In this class, students encounter and engage with art, artists, and arts institutions in Dakar and its environs. Students are expected to think about the geopolitics of an art biennale in Dakar and how a transnational arts festival builds solidarity, reclaims national identities, promotes social change, and facilitates art becoming enmeshed in the social fabric of urban life. The goals of this course are for students to understand decolonization, post-colonial Africa, and the role of art in social change. This course aims to de-center Western notions of art and understand how Dakar operates as a global city and a global center for art that critiques Eurocentric and Americanist notions of art. In collaboration with local students, partners, and institutions, students develop global self-awareness and understand cultural and linguistic diversity, explore personal and social responsibility, and understand global systems.

See full program brochure here.

Dates: mid-May - early June, 2027

Location: Northern Ireland (UK) and Republic of Ireland

Instructor: Prof. Joe Bookman, Media Studies

Course Description: This intensive 3-week summer course explores environmental media production and sustainability efforts in Northern Island. The first week takes place on Beloit’s college campus. Weeks 2 and 3 will occur in Northern Ireland. The course blends classroom learning with experiential and reflective assignments. Through regular engagement with individuals, institutions and organizations in and around Belfast and Derry whose work centers on environmental media and sustainability, the course offers students opportunities to engage directly with local artists, practitioners, educators and media professionals. Students also have opportunities to take a series of day trips, allowing them to witness first hand some of the environmental challenges facing the region. Throughout the course, students explore ways that environmental media influence policy and public opinion in Northern Ireland. They also learn various journalistic and creative strategies for producing environmental media themselves. The course culminates in students’ developing their own original environmental media productions.