Students from the College of Art and Design are enhancing their education by taking advantage of international studies programs offered by the University – much more so than students in other colleges on campus.

According to the Office of Academic Programs Abroad, students from the College of Art and Design accounted for nearly 20% of all students studying abroad last year, even though they comprise just 3% of the University’s overall student body.

“We encourage our students to study abroad and take advantage of trips overseas and to Latin America because it opens so many doors for them and gives them a much richer and deeper perspective, especially in the design fields” says Dean David Cronrath. “It’s heartening to see data that reflects the success we’re having in that arena.”

During the 2008‐2009 academic year, LSU Academic Programs Abroad had 541 students who went overseas. Of those, 104 were students from the College of Art and Design. Most went on short‐term excursions, though a few went on study‐ abroad programs of one semester or longer.

The trips and programs took students to a variety of countries and continents.

• Twenty seven (27) students took a 10‐day spring break study trip to Mexico with Landscape Architecture Professors Bruce Sharky and Max Conrad, where they visited Monterrey, Zacatecas, and Mexico City, among other places.
• Forty three (43) architecture students took a summer trip to Mexico City organized by the School of Architecture.
• Fourteen (14) students took an intersession program in London ‐‐ Footsteps in London ‐‐ with Architecture Professor Michael Desmond.
• Seven (7) CoAD students did the LSU in Italy program, two (2) did LSU in Paris, three went on non‐LSU summer programs to Italy, and two (2) studied for one semester each in Scotland and New Zealand.
• Six (6) graduate students spent a summer in Ireland.

“This is very impressive,” says Harald Leder, director of Academic Programs Abroad, adding that numerous students from the College do internships abroad.

Because studying abroad is so beneficial, Leder would like to see greater cooperation between LSU and universities in other countries so that even more students can take advantage of the opportunities, which are surprisingly affordable.

“If we could create a more permanent administrative structure in the form of official partnerships in which we can then tell students when they would be able to go overseas and what courses will transfer back to LSU, I am sure that we would be able to expand the number of students who go abroad considerably,” Leder says.