Graduate Students Gain Global Experience Through Unique Study Abroad Opportunities
Studying abroad is a unique academic experience that isn’t just limited to undergraduates. Syracuse Abroad offers a wide range of short-term and longer-length programs that often can be worked into even the most high-intensity graduate school schedule.
Nomar Diaz G’25 combined a months-long internship as a systems analyst for ML Systems Integrator Pte Ltd. in Singapore with Syracuse Abroad’s 18-day Euro Tech program. In addition to his time in Singapore, he visited tech innovation firms in seven countries and business and cultural centers in 10 cities.
Diaz, who is pursuing concurrent master’s degree programs in information systems and applied data science at the School of Information Studies, is open to a career in another country. He’d like to do sales engineering or be a solutions engineer at a computing solutions or information consulting firm in the United Kingdom, Singapore or Spain. As a former global ambassador for Syracuse Abroad, Diaz tells students not to second-guess their interest in studying abroad. “If you feel the hunch, just go for it,” he says. “You won’t regret it.”
Bennie Guzman G’25 is a master’s student studying art therapy in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, and he works full-time at La Casita Cultural Center. His goal is to be a licensed creative arts therapist. “My dream would be to connect what I’m doing here with international places that do similar work and expand our outreach beyond Syracuse,” Guzman says.
Guzman says the short-term Mexico’s History, Culture and Security program was exactly the right program for him. “Mexico is the place for Latin American art and indigenous studies. I wanted to see how international communities think about art, culture and community health and tie those things together,” says Guzman, whose experience helped him formulate his thesis on how Latino/Latin American communities use art and culture for community well-being.
Martin J. Whitman School of Management M.B.A. student Jude Azai G’25 used a summer abroad program to fine-tune his leadership capabilities in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. That interest developed during his bachelor’s degree program in pharmacy at the University of Jos in Nigeria and has continued throughout his work in business and healthcare.
The Business in East Asia program, which is offered by the Whitman School of Management, helped Azai with valuable insights into healthcare and broader leadership structure in countries such as Singapore. He wanted to understand how such nations become global powerhouses and learn how innovation and effective governance can drive economic growth. He also discovered that leadership is not overly complex. “Leadership is about creating the right vision, following through with openness and honesty and bringing people along. When leaders do this, miracles in nation-building can happen,” Azai says.
Krister Samuelson G’25 is pursuing a master’s degree in information systems in the iSchool and sees a future as an analyst or security engineer in information security. His EuroTech experience provided quality time with like-minded people, he says. He attended the short-term program along with recent iSchool graduate Emmy Naw G’24. She says the program allowed her to engage with professionals in the field while seeing firsthand how business operations integrate technology. “I learned in real-world settings, broadened my understanding of global business strategies and enhanced my ability to think critically about how to apply technological solutions to complex business challenges,” Naw says.
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs public administration graduate student Troy Patrick G’25 interned with the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and participated in the Religion, Law and Human Rights in a Comparative Perspective program. He has studied peacebuilding and human rights and wants to work in the humanitarian field, perhaps one day at the United Nations secretariat, he says.
Patrick used the summer term to maximize his work experience. For his Council of Europe internship in the Department of Political Affairs and External Relations, he was assigned high-level tasks such as running meetings with international leaders and creating talking points for leader visits. The work provided real-world training and helped him better understand how religion, religiously affiliated states and religious groups impact how advocacy actions are formulated to deal with human rights and legal issues.
Learn More
Students can learn more about the University’s wide range of study abroad programs during Syracuse Abroad Week, which started Monday and runs through Sept. 20. They can also visit the Syracuse Abroad website at suabroad.syr.edu.
