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Apply now for study abroad trip to South Africa

The UNC School of Social Work is leading our eighth summer school abroad course to South Africa. Scheduled for May 24 – June 9, 2012, the course is entitled “Transformations Within the New South Africa.”

This course will examine social issues, development strategies, and health programs in the new South Africa.  We will explore how the country’s fledgling democracy and its people are redesigning organizations and interventions to respond to the needs of all South Africans.  Our stays in Johannesburg and Cape Town will include visits to townships, local and national governmental and non-governmental agencies, health and medical facilities, cultural and tourist landmarks, and universities. Lectures and discussions on social development, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, political transitions, and racial and cultural issues in South Africa will accompany this experience, allowing opportunity for analysis, reflection and collective learning. We will engage with people working in townships such as Soweto, visit a medical facility treating persons with HIV/AIDS and cultural centers and museums. We will also meet with South African students and with UNC SSW graduates teaching and practicing social work in South Africa.

This course is open to all MSW graduate students, as well as practitioners, administrators, and educators in social work who want to learn more about social issues and culture in southern Africa. Friends and family members of participants are also welcome; however, priority will be given to students and social work educators and practitioners. There are no prerequisites for this course. Students taking the course for credit will earn three credit hours.

The program leaders for this trip are faculty from the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work and include Gina Chowa, MSW, PhD, Assistant Professor; Dan Hudgins, MSW, Clinical Assistant Professor; and Sharon Holmes Thomas, MSW, Clinical Assistant Professor, Director of Recruitment, Admissions & Financial Aid.

The application deadline has been extended to March 16.

For questions, contact Dan Hudgins at danhudgins@unc.edu.