None of us can change the past, but we can empower students to shape a better future – especially by learning from the world’s darkest periods in history. That’s the message behind UBC Associate Professor Bozena Karwowska’s “Witnessing Auschwitz,” a UBC Global Seminar on offer this summer. Dr. Karwowska is Advisor and Chair of Modern European Studies.
Go Global, a unit of the university’s Office of the Vice-Provost International, has just started accepting proposals from faculty on both UBC campuses interested in running a Global Seminar and the deadline for applications is June 30. Moving outside the traditional classroom realm, these seminars deepen student learning, broaden the experience and put learning into context.
UBC Global Seminars are accredited courses, taught off-campus, either as a full course or part of a course. Typically two to six weeks during the summer term, these are either exclusively in the field, a combination of both on- and off-campus, or virtual. Go Global gives faculty customized, full-service support, including planning, student services and financial management. So far, some 50 UBC faculty members have participated in 24 countries since the program’s inception in 2012, with topics ranging from “Regional Sustainability in Iceland” to “The History of Chinese Migration,” and “Studying Spanish in Quito, Ecuador” to “Urban Forestry in China.”
Faculty lead the seminars, often with support from academic partners, industry and learning institutions. In the case of “Witnessing Auschwitz,” for example, Dr. Karwowska is collaborating with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, exploring how to effectively educate about Nazi crimes when there are no survivors left to share their stories. For the course, students can join online lectures, seminars and workshops in Poland, gaining direct access to historical archives, museums and leading Holocaust studies experts focused on the notorious concentration camp and extermination facility.
Says Dr. Karwowska: “Whether in person or virtually, accompanying students on their onsite studies of Auschwitz and the Holocaust is an unparalleled honour – and also a journey of learning to teach young people about the importance of academic research, community engagement and civic education.”
UBC Vancouver faculty: find more info on UBC’s Global Seminars.
UBC Okanagan faculty: find more info on UBC's Global Seminars.