International Experiences

The College of Allied Health prides itself on being a college of helping professions. Helping in the local community just wasn't enough, our service goes global. Students, faculty, staff and even friends of the college participate in six different international experiences throughout the year-- and we keep adding more!

Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders travel to Kingston, Jamaica each year to work with parents, teachers, and children to conduct speech, language, and hearing screenings in local preschools. Students are able to experience Jamaica's exciting culture while learning conducting hands-on research with a diverse population.

This study abroad experience is led by Professor Karla Washington, PhD. Contact Karla with any questions about this international experience: washink2@UCMAIL.UC.EDU

An interprofessional team of students, faculty, and staff from the College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) along with community members and volunteer translators travel annually to Cancun, Mexico, for a service-learning experience in conjunction with the Palace Foundation.

This service-learning experience allows students to gain hands-on experience in their fields while making a difference in the lives of the people of Mexico. The team helps hundreds of individuals from the local community in locations such as the Center for Exceptional Children, local hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and nursing homes. The Palace Foundation provides room, board, and lodging  broad and transportation for the team.

The scope of the service-learning experience has evolved over the last 8 years and today includes physical therapy, audiology and medical laboratory sciences. Current faculty leaders are Brian Earl, Elizabeth Hertenstein and Rose Smith with Beth Bextermueller as the liaison with the Palace Foundation.

If you have questions about the Mexico international service learning experience, please contact Brian Earl, brian.earl@uc.edu

Xan Boone, associate professor in the school of social work, leads study abroad experiences to Costa Rica each year. Contact Xan Boone Xan.Boone@uc.edu for more details. 

Advanced Medical Imaging Technology (AMIT) professional curriculum majors set off to Copenhagen, Denmark where students will be immersed in Danish culture while also engaging in a curriculum that includes both didactic and clinical components set up at the Glostrup University Hospital Functional Imaging Unit.

This experience will enhance participating students' patient care and communication skills, and allow them to grow both on a personal and professional level, by immersing them into a new culture, society, and government-run healthcare system.

The Denmark study abroad experience is led by Barry Southers, PhD. Please contact him with any questions about this experience at: southegb@UCMAIL.UC.EDU

Undergraduates in Communication Sciences and Disorders spent their 2019 spring break testing the hearing of elephants in Bela-Bela, South Africa. This was the second trip that Pete Scheifele, PhD, professor, and executive director of FETCHLAB, has made to Bela-Bela, South Africa as part of a project that is the first to ever test the hearing of African elephants. 

The group did its research at Adventures With Elephants (AWE), a conservation reserve about 45 minutes west of Bela-Bela, which offers a variety of hands-on elephant experiences targeted to tourists.

The research project in Bela-Bela is part of a conservation effort to keep poachers from killing elephants and bringing ivory into other countries illegally, funded in part by the U.S. Army.