Examples of Good Practice from Washington & Jefferson College

Magellan Project

Washington & Jefferson College offers opportunities for all students, regardless of socio-economic status or academic field of study, to travel both within the United States and globally in order to learn about different national and ethnic groups as well as different professional cultures. The Magellan Project provides an opportunity for all students who submit an acceptable proposal for an internship or rigorous study/travel project to receive finding to pursue their dream and explore. This funding can be used for transportation costs, housing, or per diem.

In summer 2008, students are traveling, studying, and learning around the globe. For example, students are doing cancer research at The Pasteur Institute in Paris, marketing perfume in Geneva, publishing bi-lingual children’s books in Costa Rica, studying the economic impact of the Olympics in China, examining public health care delivery in the politically divided society of Cyprus, studying the Holocaust in Poland and Germany, interning on Capitol Hill, working with Native American schoolchildren, and studying sports management in South Carolina.

The Magellan Project allows our students to dream and to explore while integrating their liberal arts educations with their lives outside of the classroom. We believe that this kind of cross-cultural experience sharpens their understanding of political ideologies (including various forms of democracy), culture, and the relationships of citizens to their countries and their neighbors.

This page is part of a series of Examples of Good Practice.