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Home > McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives > Learning Abroad > Study Abroad > Programs > MHC in Costa Rica
New! Spring semester in Monteverde, Costa Rica
Global-Local Challenges to Sustainability: The Costa Rica Experience
Experience the power of place-based learning and independent research informed by the needs of the community.This 15- week interdisciplinary program is offered each spring by Mount Holyoke and Goucher Colleges at the Monteverde Institute (MVI). Established in 1986 as a nonprofit educational association by Monteverde residents, the MVI blends international study and applied research with community development assistance to Monteverde area communities.
Lynn Morgan, Professor of Anthropology at Mount Holyoke College, and Director of the Five College Program in Culture, Health, and Science, will be the faculty director in Spring 2009. Since her first visit to Costa Rica in 1979, Prof. Morgan has returned dozens of times, and she has written a book and several articles about the Costa Rican health system. She will teach Topics in Social Science: Field Methods in Community Health.
The application deadline for all students has been moved up to March 31, 2008, as we expect this program to be popular, and spaces are limited.
Monteverde and the Monteverde Institute
Academic Program
Courses
Housing
Fees
Admission and Financial Aid
Monteverde and the Monteverde Instititute
Nestled in the Tilaran mountain range of Costa Rica, Monteverde is located approximately 80km northwest of San José, Costa Rica’s capital. It is home to dairy farmers and coffee producers, including the agricultural cooperative Finca La Bella (“the beautiful farm”). Monteverde’s beauty and exceptional biodiversity make it a destination for both ecotourists and research biologists.
MVI Faculty and Staff
The MVI occupies 42 acres in the center of Monteverde. It is bordered by the renowned Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, which offers some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world and numerous hiking trails for research and recreation. MVI facilities include classrooms, wet and dry laboratories, studio spaces, a research library, and a high-speed, wireless computing network.
Academic Program
The semesterlong program is open to all majors. It offers students a wealth of opportunities to analyze the challenges of sustainability and to search for solutions within the specific context of Costa Rica and of Monteverde. How has Costa Rica’s development path been shaped by both global and national forces, and how have these, in turn, affected the development of Monteverde and its unique cloud forest environment? What does “sustainability” mean in light of rapidly growing ecotourism and disappearing species? With an emphasis on place-based learning, the program examines not only the theoretical underpinnings of sustainability, but also how these theories play out with real people, organizations, and localities.
During the first week of the program, students travel throughout Costa Rica to get an overview of the country’s historic, geographic, political, and economic contexts. Sites include the capital city of San José, the tropical rain forests of central Costa Rica, and the Arenal volcano region. In each location students meet with representatives from institutions and groups working on issues relevant to topics covered in the program, including the Arias Foundation, the National Museum, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, biological stations, banana and pineapple plantations, and women’s organizations. Midway through the semester, students travel to Nicaragua, spending several days in the colonial city of Granada and neighboring towns, to observe and learn from the particular experience of Nicaragua. Students have the option of remaining on their own in Nicaragua during the semester break.
Classes throughout the semester include overnight field trips, site visits, and guest lectures by local grassroots activists as well as world-renowned scientists. Students conduct their own independent research, in the social or natural sciences, and may also have the opportunity to volunteer with a local organization. Site visits and trips may include a women’s cooperative, a defunct goldmine converted to a hot springs resort, a hike and overnight stay in a remote field station, an afternoon with a farmer’s cooperative, or a day trip to the provincial capital of Puntarenas.
Courses
Students will enroll in four 4-credit courses, including three core courses plus applied research in tropical ecology or the social sciences. Courses are taught by Monteverde Institute faculty and are conducted in English, except for Spanish Language and Culture. Students are strongly urged to have at least one semester of Spanish before joining the program.
A faculty member from Mount Holyoke or Goucher serves as the resident director and team teaches, in collaboration with MVI faculty, Field Methods in Tropical Ecology or Topics in the Social Sciences. As part of either the Topics course or the Field Ecology course, students complete an independent research project, the topic for which is selected from a range of issues and concerns identified by the community residents. At the conclusion of the semester, program participants meet with community residents to present and discuss their research findings.
- Spanish Language and Culture
This course emphasizes language acquisition through conversation, grammar, and contextualized vocabulary acquisition with an emphasis on Costa Rican and Latin American culture. Students will be assessed and placed according to their level; advanced placement emphasizes Latin American literature, translation, and writing. Additionally, students will receive assistance in developing research tools in Spanish and in translating their own writings. 
- Environmental Sustainability
Students examine and analyze concepts of sustainability and their global and local interpretations and meanings as framed by global-local issues: climate change, ecotourism and economic development, environmentalism, human health, conservation and biodiversity. Emphasis is placed on contextualized examples of environmental, economic, social, political, and cultural tensions related to sustainability, and will include field visits, exercises, and guest lectures by local scientists and activists.
- Development and Social Change in Costa Rica
This course examines the particular development path and processes of social change in Costa Rica with an emphasis on the post-WorldWar II paradigm that gave rise to the social-democratic structure of Costa Rican society. Drawing on the body of literature from Latin American theorists, students explore notions of exceptionalism, myth making and myth breaking, conservation and the “Green Republic,” and the rise of ecotourism in Costa Rica.
- Topics in Social Science
Targeting social science majors, the topics in this course reflect MVI’s thematic foci of water, ecotourism, land use planning and development, community health, and tropical ecology and biodiversity. In addition, students learn social science research methodologies applicable to their research projects.
Spring 2009: Lynn Morgan, faculty director, will teach Topics in Social Science: Field Methods in Community Health. This course will teach social science methodologies (including community mapping, interviewing skills, oral history, participant-observation, and survey design) using a "participatory action-research" approach to investigating and solving problems in community health and development.
- Field Methods in Tropical Ecology
Targeting natural/biological science majors, this course explores topics of tropical ecology (biodiversity, cloud forest ecosystems and others) in greater depth, with emphasis placed on learning research methodologies that can be used in field-based or laboratory research.
Fees
The program fee for Spring 2009 will be $12,600, covering tuition, room and board, program travel, and field trips. Students will be responsible for the cost of airfare, books, and personal expenses.
Housing
While in Monteverde, students stay with host families. All meals are provided by the host family unless other arrangements are made. During field trips students stay in triple or quadruple occupancy lodging, with all meals included.
Admission and Financial Aid
Students must meet Mount Holyoke’s general requirements for academic leave of absence, including a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.7, good academic standing, and approval of their major department. At least one semester of Spanish is strongly recommended.
Mount Holyoke and Goucher College students will receive priority in admission to the program, but Five College students and others are welcome to apply. Laurel Fellowships are guaranteed to Mount Holyoke students who are eligible for need-based financial aid. Application Deadlines for Spring 2009:
The application deadline for all students has been moved up to March 31, 2008. We will consider late applications, on a space-available basis, up until October 1, 2008 (students applying for Laurel Fellowships must meet the March 31 deadline).
Mount Holyoke faculty and staff at a program development meeting at the MVI
For More Information
If you’d like to speak with someone about Global-Local Challenges to Sustainability: The Costa Rican Experience, please contact:
Joanne M. Picard, Dean of International Studies
Telephone: 413-538-2072
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