Three Tusculum College students head to Salzburg, Austria, to participate in global seminar

Three students from Tusculum College will be heading to Salzburg, Austria, just after the first of the year to participate in the Mellon Fellow Community Initiative Student Session on Global Citizenship, part of the Salzburg Seminar program.

Sam Underwood, a sophomore business major from Muncie, Ind., Mitchell Taylor, a sophomore business major from Kodak, Tenn., and Altoine Wilson, a sophomore broadcasting major from Covington, Ga., will head to Austria on January 2 as Tusculum College’s representatives for the program.

The three were nominated by members of the faculty and then selected and approved by the Advisory Council of the Center for Global Studies. “We are pleased to have three such outstanding students who will represent the college well,” said Dr. Geir Bergvin, director of the college’s Center for Global Studies and associate professor of marketing.

Because the college has participated in the Salzburg Seminar program for the past two years while working to expand the global studies program at Tusculum College, the institution was given the opportunity to send student participants to the session being held this January. Students will be gone from January 3-10, returning back just in time to begin the spring semester at Tusculum.

The Mellon Fellow Community Initiative Student Session provides an intensive international experience for participants to explore issues of worldwide concern and to view them from a perspective both literally and figuratively outside the borders of the United States. Students will be helped to develop the tools to be more discerning in their assessment of information pertaining to world affairs and to understand what it means to be a “global citizen.”

And, with the exception of Taylor who has been out of the country on a trip to Nicaragua, this will be a first-time global experience for the others.

“I think it will be a great experience to advance our global awareness and come up with ways to get Tusculum more globalized,” said Underwood.

Taylor added, “We are expecting to learn a lot, and I’m looking forward to the small group sessions and participating with students from other colleges.”

Each of the students also received a $500 travel scholarship to help with expenses that they incur on their trip.

And while they will be working and learning, there are also excursions planned and several opportunities for them to learn more about Salzburg and its culture.

“I’m looking for a culture explosion,” said Wilson. “It will be a real experience to see a whole other nation and way of life.”

According to Bergvin, in addition to participating in the program, the three students will be preparing a presentation to share with the campus community upon their return.

Anyone interested in more information on the Salzburg Seminar program or who would like to find out about Tusculum College’s Center for Global Studies should contact Bergvin at 423-636-7300.