Firsthand Focus

Jarett C. Bies, AgBio Communications

ABS 482/582 - West Africa, 2007

ABS Students Travel the Globe to Study the World

More students in the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at SDSU are adding passports to their backpacks. They are taking advantage of classes such as ABS 482/582, titled International Experience, and are traveling to such locales as South America, Africa, and Europe.

For example, junior Chad Jessen, Redfield, traveled to South America over his 2007 Christmas break. Jessen said the experience was worthwhile. “It was exciting, and I learned a lot about the differences between their systems of production and the ones here,” he said. “It was much more than just a trip to South America.”

Eric Mousel, SDSU Extension range livestock specialist, was one of the faculty members who accompanied Jessen and 31 other students on the equator-crossing Christmas journey. He said international trips are invaluable for students in agriculture disciplines because of the opportunity to apply lessons learned in labs and classes.

“This kind of trip is really a little fodder for students, so they can understand the operations in other parts of the world,” Mousel said. “They can safely step out of their comfort zone and focus on learning.”

During 2008/2009, SDSU students and faculty will travel to Asia, Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Europe. Students will apply agronomy, range science, agricultural business, and other agriculture-related disciplines in real-world settings.

SDSU Director of International Affairs Karl Schmidt said the majority of university students who travel abroad choose short-term trips.

“The increase in the number of trips, and the number of students taking them, shows the desire for the shorter duration,” Schmidt said. “(Offering short trips) opens international study to students who might not go for a full semester.”

International Experience classes meet long before heading to the airport. Faculty plan the class and itinerary to correspond with the fields of study of the traveling students. As ABS faculty ready students, they keep agriculture at the forefront.

However, Zeno Wicks III, professor of plant science and statistics and coordinator for ABS 482/582, said International Experience is more than just an agriculture class. A frequent international traveler, Wicks said a student trip he led to West Africa in 2007 is typical. He said as they traveled he saw students focus more on their discipline and less on where they were sleeping and eating. They grew as both humans and scholars, Wicks said.

“The experience changes everything,” said Wicks. “When you sit down and ask students where they want to go, they might have ideas. But when you ask them to look at how they’d apply their discipline there, and tie that tightly to the destination, it makes a difference.”

Evert Van der Sluis, professor of economics, and Nels Granholm, distinguished professor of biology, took students on a Spring Break 2008 International Experience to Europe. That class was notable, in part, because it involved a partnership between SDSU and CHS, an energy, grains, and food company. One of the goals of the partnership, which is known as the CHS Agribusiness Globalization Education Program, is to enable more students to participate in international travel by providing partial funding for classes such as ABS 482/582.

“Companies like CHS are very interested in developing leaders of tomorrow who have international experience,” said Van der Sluis. “Both students and their potential future employers realize the value.”

The 2008 trip wasn’t Van der Sluis’ first International Experience in Europe—together with Anne Fennel, professor of horticulture, forestry, landscape and parks, he accompanied students there in 2003. That time, the students met with European producers and business owners who specialized in value-added agriculture—producers seeking to increase the consumer appeal and value of certain commodities.

Van der Sluis said that as they dashed from one dynamic location to another—a flower auction in the Netherlands, an EU Parliament meeting on ag policy, a bio-fuel production facility in Germany—the students knew they weren’t just sightseeing, they were being immersed in the business of agriculture.

Van der Sluis said the experience is intense and valuable. “Based on the feedback from one past trip, I believe some students made life-changing observations during their travels,” he said. “I think that happened again, during our recent international experience.”

Because employers seek the experience and students want to go, SDSU is increasing both the number of trips abroad and the number of students taking part. In doing so, SDSU is fine-tuning the process with experienced faculty and improved approaches that focus on the details, not the destination.

Don Marshall, associate dean for academic programs in the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, said he has seen a lot of interest from students.

“We’ve sought to align student interests and the strengths of the industry in countries we visit,” Marshall said. “These trips give students a chance to broaden their thinking. We certainly have employers—both multi-nationals and smaller companies—that are interested in students with a global perspective or travel experience.”

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