Chapter on Goshen's Study-Service Term included in study abroad book

GOSHEN, Ind. – Each year, thousands of students from faith-based universities across the United States venture, through study abroad programs, to the edge of the world.

Goshen College's unique Study-Service Term (SST) is included in the newly released book "Transformations at the Edge of the World: Forming Global Christians through the Study Abroad Experience," (May 2010, Abilene Christian University Press) edited by Ronald J. Morgan and Cynthia Toms Smedley. Goshen College's Director of International Education Tom Meyers wrote the final chapter in the book on "The Study Service Term: An Alignment of a Religious Tradition with an Academic Program."

For the editors of this volume, "the edge of the world" is not a place of physical remoteness where cell phone coverage runs out, nor is it a region of economic marginality. Instead, it is a place of personal transformation, the point of convergence between students' spiritual development and their commitment to global engagement. To help students arrive in such a place, faculty and staff seek holistic approaches to education. In the study abroad context, holistic education emphasizes formation of personal ethics, cultivation of empathy, the creation of deep communities and commitment to social responsibility.

This collection of essays is characterized by the diversity of its voices. The contributors represent a broad range of faith-based institutions and a wide array of academic disciplines. The study abroad programs they describe, scattered across five continents, reflect a variety of models. Gathered into this pioneering collection are essays that theorize about the conjunction of spiritual formation and global engagement, share practices that are currently bearing fruit, and identify potential areas of growth and improvement.

Morgan is associate professor of history and director of Abilene Christian University in Oxford (England). Smedleyserves as the director of educational immersions at the University of Notre Dame's Center for Social Concerns.

Since the first SST units went to Costa Rica, Jamaica and Guadeloupe in 1968 and began one of the country's unique international education programs, more than 7,100 students and 230 faculty leaders have traveled to 22 countries; the college currently organizes SST units to study and serve in China, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Senegal, Peru, Jamaica, Cambodia, Egypt and Northern Indiana (in the Latino community). The program's uncommon combination of cultural education and service-learning remains a core part of the general education program, and has earned citations for excellence from U.S. News & World Report, Peterson's Study Abroad and Smart Parents Guide to College, the John Templeton Foundation and American Council on Education. To learn more about SST, visit: www.goshen.edu/sst.

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, "Colleges of Distinction," "Making a Difference College Guide" and U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.