Study-abroad programs build cultural, scientific bridges

Biotechnology studies in Poland

Summer academic opportunities in Poland and reconnections in Ireland are in the news as study-abroad programs available to College of Agriculture and Life Sciences students.

After Dr. Hanna Gracz left Poland in 1984 to gain postdoctoral experience in the United States, she turned regret over leaving her home into a determination to build bridges between scientists and students in her new home and her native country.

A summer study-abroad program is helping to do just that, linking N.C. State University students and faculty members with those at Adam Mickiewicz University, one of Poland's largest academic centers.

Gracz, a research professor of biochemistry, started the program last summer with colleagues Drs. Paul Mozdziak of the Department of Poultry Science and Alvin M. Fountain, a scholar of late 19th and early 20th century Polish history. Mozdziak is a second-generation American of Polish descent.

This year's program will run May 23 to June 17. Sponsored by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, it is designed for students interested in biotechnology.

Studying at a university with modern biotechnology facilities, students can earn six credit hours by taking two of three offered courses: Fountain's "Agriculture in the History of Poland and East Central Europe"; Mozdziak's "Animal Cell Culture Techniques"; and Gracz's "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Structural Genomics and Proteomics."

The courses are open to students from both N.C. State and Adam Mickiewicz University, giving them a chance to interact and learn from each other's perspective, Mozdziak said.

N.C. State students will also have a chance learn more about Polish culture and history. Adam Mickiewicz University is located in Poznan, an important center of Polish trade, industry and culture with several universities, scientific organizations, opera and dance centers and numerous theaters.

Students also will have two weekend excursions: One is to Krakow, where students will visit a city center preserved since Medieval times, the Rynek-Market Square and the Aushwitz concentration camp. The other is to Warsaw, where the composer Fryderyk Chopin spent his childhood and early adult years and where students can visit Belvedere Palace and the Wilanow Museum Palace.

The Poland trip is among several short study-abroad trips sponsored by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in recent years. Dr. Larry Nelson, assistant dean for international programs, said the trips are designed to open new learning opportunities to students.

For Gracz, the program is an opportunity to share the rich history and culture of a country often overshadowed by its European neighbors.

"Poland is somewhat sandwiched between larger countries and somewhat overlooked. It tends to be considered an in-between land," Gracz said. "Through this program, we hope to teach a new generation of students about central Europe, its history and the importance of peace in that area of the world."

Agribusiness in Ireland

When Mary Beam signed up for a short study-abroad course similar to the Poland program to be offered this summer, she had no idea that it would open opportunities for more international travel - much less that it would cause her to rethink her career plans.

Beam spent two weeks in 2003 studying the farms, agribusinesses and cultural sites of Ireland and Scotland with poultry and animal science students and Dr. Sam Pardue of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Department of Poultry Science.

Among the people she met on the trip was Thomas McCracken, who has a 200-head herd of Holsteins on a large farm near Port Stewart in Northern Ireland. When McCracken mentioned that he often hosted international students for summer internships, she made a mental note.

With Pardue's encouragement, she followed up a few months later and landed a loft on McCracken's farm for the following summer.

"I really love Ireland, the people and the place," said Beam, whose grandmother lived in Ireland before moving to the United States as the bride of a World War II veteran. "To go and work on a farm, to do something that was related to my major was a bonus.

"After a month, I didn't feel like I was working there. I felt like I was part of the family," she said. "And I didn't feel like a foreigner any more. I was able to see things close up and in a different way."

The experience also rekindled an interest in veterinary medicine that Beam had developed during her childhood on a Cleveland County dairy farm. After her father's death, her family scaled back its dairy operations, and she lost the day-to-day experience of working with cattle.

Her experience on McCracken's farm brought it all back.

"I had forgotten the passion I had for research and medication," said Beam, who earned her bachelor's degree in May and is now a master's degree student in dairy nutrition at the University of California-Davis. "After being in Ireland, being on the farm, I realized that I really do like the veterinary side. The experience really helped me understand myself more, and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

-Dee Shore