Short-term study-abroad programs coupled with short-term community-oriented internships abroad have rarely been an object of scholarly study. The goal for K.E. von Wittelsbach’s Faculty Fellowship in Engaged Scholarship is to contribute to this little-explored area by examining the best (and worst) practices in the short-term study-abroad program that she co-founded and directed in Turin, Italy. Her aim is to help colleagues engaged in similar projects by providing them with a set of guidelines for successfully bringing together the theoretical and practical elements of undergraduate student learning abroad.

K.E. von Wittelsbach is cofounder and director of the Cornell in Turin program, in which students study of the impact of the most recent immigration from Africa and Asia on Italian electoral politics and its economic social policies. Parallel to the theoretical explorations of these issues in lectures, students have the opportunity to visit relevant political institutions and community centers. Students also regularly visit community centers for new migrants and asylum-seekers from Africa, Asia and South America, and have an opportunity to hear about the migrants’ experiences first-hand.

Since 2014, students have also had the opportunity to take short, unpaid internships in a number of community centers that serve new immigrants. As an Engaged Faculty Fellow, von Wittelsbach is exploring how to ensure students from all socioeconomic backgrounds can participate in the program and internships, revising curricula so students are even better prepared for the community-engaged internships and more.