Sewanee Summer Programs

The Island Ecology Program is an interdisciplinary summer field school. Following a seminar during the spring semester (Environmental Studies 140, a half course), students study geology, hydrology, soils, plant communities, land use, coastal marine biology, invertebrate zoology, vertebrate ecology and animal behavior for five weeks on St. Catherines Island, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia. The experience emphasizes the interdependence of these disciplines by exploring how the island ecosystem functions.

Sewanee's Domain and the Southern Appalachians host a fantastic variety of geological sites, but by exploring the West, students can experience landscapes and geologic features absent in our particular neighborhood and round out their education as geo- and environmental scientists. In Geology of the Western United States, we will visit landscapes bounded by active tectonics and shaped by desert processes. We will investigate emergent coastlines and volcanoes, young mountains and old growth forests. The sites we visit will be contextualized with readings and discussion of scientific literature and current issues, and works of cultural importance. Students will collect and analyze field data in some locations. Intended to be for more than just geology majors, Western Geology can open new perspectives on the physical environment of the United States to any students interested in earth or environmental science.

The “Summer in Berlin” program consists of a three-week language course at the DiD German language institute in Berlin where students take language classes along with other international students. The DiD institute places Sewanee students into courses according to their languages skills. The accompanying Sewanee faculty member is responsible for cultural instruction and area excursions. Students are placed in homes with German host families. 

‌Sewanee Summer in Spain is an intensive study of the medieval art and literature associated with the thousand-year-old pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James in western Spain. We dedicate an initial 10 days in Sewanee to exploring the literature of the Camino de Santiago; two weeks in Madrid living with Spanish families and studying art history at Spain’s premier Universidad Complutense, in the world-class museums of the Spanish capital, and on excursions to medieval towns, monasteries, and castles; and three weeks of hiking the medieval Camino de Santiago across northern Spain from the Pyrenees in the east to Santiago de Compostela, near the Atlantic coast.

Using the Prague Quadrennial Festival as a touchstone, students will experience groundbreaking experimental performances from around the world, with an emphasis in innovative design. Explore the future of the art by attending contemporary, cutting edge performances by global artists at the festival, while grounded in the historic roots of Central European theatre by touring historic theatres to study their architecture, innovative stage engineering, and leading visionary practitioners. Workshops and attending live performances will enhance understanding of both historic and contemporary performance practices.

In partnership with Sewanee, this Rhodes-led four-week study abroad program gives students of all majors the opportunity to learn about British literature, history, art (and more!) from prehistoric through contemporary times as we explore British sites, history and culture. Highlighted excursions include famous London sites such as the British Museum, Hampton Court Place, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and many more, plus trips outside of London to Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, and Oxford.

Course offerings include two British Lit. courses (incl. “The Bawdy Politic: Literature and Culture of the English Restoration,” taught by Sewanee's Dr. Kelly Malone), “Music and Art in Contemporary Britain,” and “Class, Identity, and Art in Britain” (an interdisciplinary Humanities course).

Sewanee offers students the opportunity to study the Dynamics of Asian Business, during the Spring semester 2023, and then travel to India for the Faculty-led course for May - June. Students earn 2 credits for the Spring course, and a total of 2 academic credits on this study away program.

Alongside Professor Jim Crawford and Professor Chris McDonough this six-week summer program allows students to earn eight credit hours while studying in England. We'll spend the first 16 days in Sewanee, followed by 10 days in London, 3 days in York, and 9 days in Chester. The program will include trips to museums, historic sites, several theatre productions, and day trips to Bath, Liverpool, Manchester, and Stratford-upon-Avon.  

This interdisciplinary program will explore the intersection of various cultures, empires, and trade blocks in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus ranging from the medieval period to the present. Classes will be held primarily in Riga, Latvia, and in Tbilisi, Georgia, two former Soviet republics known for the natural beauty of their surroundings and the many traces of the past still visible in them. The program will include side visits to Tallinn, Estonia, the Black Sea, Kakhetia (the oldest grape and wine culture on earth), and possibly Yerevan, Armenia. Students will take a six-week intensive Russian language course, and INGS 326, a course on the imperial and economic influences, from the East and West, that swept through these two former Soviet republics, and this whole region, from ancient times, up to before, during, and after the Soviet period.