Augustana launches short-term study abroad programs in China
Reagan McDonald and Dr. Xiaowen Zhang in front of a Bruce Lee statue in Hong Kong.
Augustana students meet with Southern University of Science and Technology students in Shenzhen.
Nico Benvenuto, Jacob Brown and Henry Crutcher sample local snacks in Xi’an.
Students bicycling on the Ming Dynasty-era city wall of Xi’an.
Lilly Byers and Chloe Baxter eating hotpot in Xi’an.
Students paint opera masks on the campus of Xi’an Jiaotong University.
Lazlow Ziebel makes a friend on the campus of Xi’an Jiaotong University.
Kay Dix, Kelsey Kownick and Chloe Baxter with children in Tiananmen Square.
Cam Tomko and Luke Exner eating Beijing-style hotpot.
Reagan McDonald, Isabelle Smart, Clara Nguyen, Lili Leatherman, Anna Ramberg, Dr. Elizabeth Lawrence, Aiden Terry, Jacob Brown and Kelsey Kownick hold their final class meeting at Beijing University.
Lili Leatherman, Isabelle Smart, Anna Ramberg, Henry Crutcher, Darius Graves and Lilly Beyers at the Summer Palace, Beijing.
Editor's note: Dr. Elizabeth Lawrence, associate professor of history and co-chair, Asian studies, and Dr. Xiaowen Zhang, professor of political science, recently led a three-week J-term course in China. Dr. Lawrence shares student reflections and the historical significance of Augustana students traveling in China — again.
Physics major Lilly Byers '26 had never flown on an airplane before. But a 14-hour flight to Taipei was a prerequisite for her January term (J-term) course, "China in World Affairs." Along with 21 classmates and two faculty directors, Byers was participating in a short-term study abroad program that would take her to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Xi’an and Beijing over a three-week period.
Jacob Brown, Dr. Elizabeth Lawrence, Kay Dix and Kelsey Kownick in Tiananmen Square.
By the time she boarded her return flight to Chicago O’Hare, she had seen the Terracotta Warriors, toured a Chinese green energy company, hiked the Great Wall, enjoyed hotpot and Beijing duck, and earned general education credit for a political science course.
Byers and her classmates were contributing to a rich Augustana legacy of faculty-led study abroad in Asia. From 1974 to 2016, 16 cohorts of Augustana students — more than 1,000 total students — participated in an innovative East Asia Term, which served as a model for peer institutions.
After the college switched to a semester calendar, East Asia Term ended, but faculty-led courses taught in Asia continued. Augustana students went to Japan in January 2020 and 2024 and to Cambodia in 2020 and 2024. But for various reasons, particularly disruptions caused by COVID, no Augustana faculty-led program returned to China, until last month.
In launching a new era of short-term study abroad programs in China, Augustana and its students are once again blazing a trail. Through the transformational experience of international travel and interpersonal exchange with university students in Shenzhen and Xi’an, participants in the China J-term gained vital insights into a dynamic, complicated and fast-changing country.
History education major Kelsey Kownick '25 was “blown away” by the welcoming reception she encountered almost everywhere she went. She described the J-term as a life-changing experience, adding, “I will forever cherish the memories I have made in China and carry them with me for years to come, and eventually, into my future classrooms.”
The China J-term was designed to be inclusive of a wide range of students. Some had studied Chinese but most had not. The cohort included sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as three students from Vietnam and Italy and three students who were born in China and adopted by American families. Students represented departments ranging from computer science and engineering to history and political science, the home departments of the two faculty directors.
To help cover the program fee, most students used Augie Choice funds, which were recently made available to sophomores.
A number of students also received financial support from the Norm Moline Fund for East Asian Study. Named for Dr. Moline, professor emeritus of geography and veteran East Asia Term director, the fund was created by alumni of the 1989 East Asia Term. It has forged a concrete link between adventurous Augustana students and faculty of the past, present and future.
Students and faculty at Victoria Peak, the tallest hill on Hong Kong Island.