Since 1998, faculty and students from the University of Missouri-Rolla have had the opportunity to teach and study abroad through the Maastricht Center for Transatlantic Studies Consortium in Holland.

Formed at Central Missouri State University with UMR’s assistance, this consortium attracted national and international attention recently when it received an Andrew Heiskell Award for innovation in international education from the Institute of International Education (IIE). "Since UMR is part of this consortium, it is an award we are proud of as well," says Sue Kellems, executive director for the program and administrative assistant in UMR’s department of arts, languages and philosophy.

Based at Teikyo University in Holland, each year the Maastricht Center offers two semester-length programs for studying abroad, as well as a one-month program in the summer. Staff and students from institutions in the consortium form an interactive, international learning committee, making the program the first to provide an international educational body gathered in one location.

"A semester in Maastricht results in a totally unique academic experience as UMR students live and socialize with students from around the world," says Dr. Wayne Bledsoe, director of the program and professor emeritus of history and political science at UMR. "The classes, which are taught by international scholars, are structured in a fashion that affords students the opportunity to visit some of the most historic sites in Europe on a weekly basis. The foreign travel invariably results in lifetime bonds of friendship being forged between the students."

For more information on the Maastricht Center for Transatlantic Studies Consortium contact Kellems at (573) 341-4869.