Cuba

The program is sponsored by the Department of Geography's Urban and Regional Planning Program (http://www.ssc.msu.edu/~urp/)in the College of Social Science and will offer students from any MSU majors the opportunity to earn ISS (social science integrative studies), geography, and/or independent study credits.

The program is directed by two geography professors, René Hinojosa and Robert N. Thomas, who deserve the lion's share of credit for making the program a reality. Here at MSU, they worked with individuals and offices at many levels, including their department and college, the Office of Study Abroad (OSA) (http://studyabroad.msu.edu/), and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) (http://www.isp.msu.edu/CLACS/). They also worked with colleagues and officials at the University of Havana (http://www.uh.cu/), the hosting institution, to establish the institutional linkage, arrange a series of guest lecturers, and work out the logistics of housing, meals, facilities, and travel that the program will entail. In June 2001, the pair spent a week in Havana on an OSA planning grant doing face-to-face planning. Their tenacity paid off when the program was given final approval in November 2001, upon notification from the State Department that the MSU Institutional License for Academic Activities in Cuba had been granted. (See related article.)

Interest in establishing MSU study abroad in Cuba (and other MSU-Cuba connections) has been growing for several years, mirroring a gradual relaxing of tensions between Cuba and the United States. While the U.S. trade embargo and travel restrictions, imposed after U.S.-Cuban diplomatic ties were broken in 1961, are still officially in force, more exceptions are being allowed. Trips by U.S. lawmakers and business people have become increasingly frequent. MSU joins a small but growing list of universities offering study abroad opportunities in Cuba, including American University, Connecticut, Duke, Florida International, North Carolina, NYU, at least two SUNY schools, Tulane, and Virginia Tech.

Dozens of interested students visited the Cuba program table at the January 2002 Study Abroad Fair, and as this article goes to press, the 20 spaces are filled and a waiting list has been established. MSU psychology major Simeon Climo, who is registered for the program, heard about it from two MSU friends, Jake Spencer (international relations) and Alex Knott (finance), who are also going. Climo jumped at the chance to spend time in Cuba. "It's such a unique opportunity," he said. "Why wouldn't anybody want to go?" Having previously spent a year studying in Israel, he is interested in comparing the socialist system of Cuba with the Israeli kibbutz system. He is also curious about how the portrayal of Cuban life in U.S. media may differ from the reality experienced by the Cuban people.

As explained in the program brochure, "the program will use Havana and its surroundings as laboratories and will place particular emphasis on understanding the interaction between human and physical aspects of development focusing on the role of tourism in the region. . . . Through classroom presentations and field experiences, students will study Cuba in the context of general Latin American development and urbanization trends. These discussions will focus on the relationships among tourism and population growth issues, rural to urban migration and the internal structure of Havana."

While in Havana, students will be housed in a hotel a few blocks from the campus. Intensive class sessions will take place on campus Monday through Thursday, with organized field trips on Fridays and Saturdays complementing the lectures. Field experiences will take place in Havana as well as Pinar del Río (a tobacco-producing area near the west end of the island), Cienfuegos (a sugar-producing area southeast of Havana) and nearby Bahía de Cochinos ("Bay of Pigs"), and Varadero (a major coastal resort development area east of Havana).

As is the case with all MSU study abroad programs, participants are expected to return to MSU having experienced a new culture as well as having engaged in a novel academic experience. In the case of this particular program, says Professor Thomas, "It will [also] give Cuban students an opportunity to share ideas and to . . . find out what life is like at MSU."