Name: Kathy Reba
Hometown: Sayville, NY
What do you do at Molloy? “I am the Director Of International Education. The purpose of the Office of International Education is to organize international programs for our students to study abroad for a week, a month, a semester,or a year. In our office,students work with Rita O’Rourke and Amanda Albanese to coordinate their international experiences.“
Where does Molloy travel to? “This year students traveled to Scotland, Germany, Italy, Austria, Ireland and Portugal. Each year our programs change, offering a variety of cultural and academic experiences to our students. It is not unusual for a Molloy student to take 4-6 Global Learning programs during their time as a Molloy student.“
What do students do on trips? “Every program tries to identify a particular academic discipline to be part of the learning experience. All programs are interdisciplinary giving our students to travel and make friends across the campus. One of the goals of our program is to choose professional and academic activities that will blend with culture and history and sociology of the destination.“
What does a semester abroad entail? “If a student is interested in studying abroad for a semester, it is suggested that they meet with me early in the school year. At that time we will discuss the destination for travel and what would be available for them to fit into their area of study. We have a small number of schools where we have exchange agreements allowing a Molloy student to study for the same cost as their current tuition at Molloy. Students in the education department can do their student teaching in their last semester in London and earn the same qualifications as if they had stayed here at Molloy.“
How do we sign up for global studies trips? “How do we sign up for global learning trips? After we announce what the trips are going to be for the year, we send out an announcement as to when we will have registration for each separate trip. We give them a few weeks advance notice so that they can get their paperwork etc. together. Then on the morning of the sign-up, because spots are limited, we put a list up so it is first to come first serve. For a registration that begins at …, our students will sometimes sleep over the night before and get in line as early as 10 hours in advance.“
Do you have any funny stories from your travels with Molloy? “There are so many wonderful funny stories when you take fifty twenty-year-olds abroad. If you don’t laugh and have humor, you will never get through it. Sometimes in the evenings our students will go places together as a group and walk into a club with 50 strong and sing karaoke. They think they’re great, but I am sure some of the locals think otherwise. We have gone as a group to football games in Scotland, Dinner cruises on the Thames, High Tea in London, cooking classes in Tuscany and so much more incredible excursions. So suffice it to say, we laugh all day. There are also days when emotions run high and some of the places and things we’ve seen are completely overwhelming. Standing on the beaches of Normandy, praying over concentration camps, realizing the devastation of war and the ramifications of it on so many cultures, is something that you can never learn or comprehend from a textbook.”