Study Away Resources for Faculty

• Academic purpose: Why does the destination materially advance course learning outcomes?
• Leadership: What experience do you have supervising groups and responding to unexpected situations?
• Capacity: Can you participate in recruitment, meetings, deadlines, reporting, and student preparation across the academic year?
• Travel and student support: Can you work with a Support Person, respond to concerns, and follow emergency protocols?
• Access: How will cost, accessibility, scheduling, and other barriers be considered?

Use the Study Away Faculty Readiness & Program Development Self-Assessment (currently a working draft) to reflect on both program quality and leadership preparedness. Consult CHIE or the Study Away Faculty Liaison about areas for growth.

• Participate in onboarding, sign applicable agreements, and maintain a 12-month action plan.
• Attend required meetings; complete progress reports; respond to CHIE and provider communications on time.
• Actively recruit students and monitor applications and enrollment against established milestones.
• Coordinate academic activities, course materials, student orientation, and destination-specific preparation.
• Work with CHIE, the Support Person, providers, and College offices on budgets, travel logistics, accessibility, documentation, and risk management.
• Complete required training and travel authorizations; follow emergency communication and incident-reporting procedures.
• Lead instruction and student activities during travel; complete assessments, debriefing, reporting, and financial closeout afterward.

Program operation remains subject to sufficient enrollment, financial viability, destination conditions, required approvals, and institutional authorization. CHIE will work with faculty to review risks and next steps when milestones are not met.

Faculty Eligibility

• The Faculty Leader (full and part time) must meet the qualifications to teach the course.
• The Faculty Leader and Support Person must be able to demonstrate their ability to effectively coordinate and lead students on a significant travel experience.  (see Support Person responsibilities).
  • Evidence of coordinating a successful class and/or field trip.
  • Evidence of financial oversight, student consultation and overall risk management.
  • Evidence of effectively following college policies and procedures.
  • Previous travel experience, ideally to those destinations being traveled and could be considered a content expert and very knowledgeable about the proposed travel location(s).
  • Familiar with collaborating with a travel provider.
  • Flight travel experience.
  • Familiar with culture, laws and customs of the travel destination(s).
  • Familiar with accommodations practices (physical, mental, dietary, etc.)
• The Faculty Leader may submit up to two full proposals, however only one will be approved.
• The Faculty Leader and Support Person must have a smartphone and use it to communicate with students and the college during the travel experience.

Curricular Standards

• The course being proposed is either part of a program and/or meets a general education requirement. Search "general education" in the latest version of the catalog.
• All instruction and travel are within the confines of the official course start and end dates.
• Contact Hours are appropriately distributed before, during, and after the trip.
• The academic components of the course are outlined and demonstrate the following:
  • clear curricular benefits of teaching the course in the desired location(s)
  • academic rigor is evident through assignments, itinerary activities and assessments
  • there are clear attempts for cultural connections and opportunities for reflection
• The course has an updated course document.
• The syllabus being used is in the approved College template.
• All study away experiences will be offered in the Summer semester, unless prior approval. 

Travel Location Standards

• Any location being considered for travel and identified as a "Level 3 or Level 4" by the US State Department will not be considered.   
• When traveling internationally, all travel is within a single country.  In some cases, travel may be permitted between two countries.
• All travel must be within the confinement of two weeks. 

Student Support Standards

• The Faculty Leader will provide a plan to prepare students for the travel experience to address the following:
  • How payments are made.
  • The physical and mental demands.   
  • Laws, cultural norms and overall safety.

Collaboration Standards

• Ability to effectively collaborate with the Center for High-Impact Experiences, travel providers, and internal departments  including but not limited to:
  • Be responsive to email
  • Attend meetings
  • Monitoring spreadsheets
  • Participate in marketing and recruitment initiatives
  • Maintain communication during travel
  • Post trip debrief and financial reconciliation

GRCC approves study away experiences through an annual proposal process.

Step 1: Submit the Study Away Pre-Proposal

Submit by Nov. 1  

In this step, faculty will email their pre-proposal to their Department Head or Program Director (DH/PD) requesting for their feedback and support. This review ensures alignment to the faculty and curricular standards described above. Using the Pre-Proposal Rubric, the DH/PD will identify areas of concern/improvement. The DH/PD may consult other faculty, DH/PD’s, the Study Away Liaison, etc. Once you’ve received support from your DH/PD, faculty will then email their pre-proposal to their Dean requesting their feedback and support. 

Once you’ve received support from your Dean, faculty will then email their pre-proposal along with the rubric scores and feedback to the Director of the Center for High-Impact Experiences by Dec. 1.  

Please note: Faculty are strongly encouraged to create a meeting with their Department Head or Program Director and Dean within two weeks of submission to capture feedback and allow time to make revisions.

Step 2: Submit the Study Away Full Proposal 

Submit by March 1

In this step, faculty will submit the Full Proposal fleshing out the entire travel experience (travel logistics, itinerary, budget, etc.) and prepare for a brief presentation to the Study Away Review Team. The full proposal is emailed to the Executive Director of the Center for High-Impact Experiences by March 1. 

Step 3: Proposal Review

In this step, all materials submitted as part of the Full Proposal are shared, reviewed and scored by members of the Study Away Review Team. Faculty are provided an opportunity to present at the final review team meeting to give a general overview of their proposal and answer questions. The Team will then make final recommendations to the Associate Provost, Instructional Support and Institutional Planning.

Proposals are scored under the following categories:

1. Pre- and post-trip planning
2. Program itinerary
3. Health, safety, and security
4. Accommodating students
5. Laws and customs
6. 12-month action plan
7. Budget  

Additional contributing factors include:

• Overall strength to the rubric
• A new experience that has never been offered
• Likelihood of the trip to recruit students
• Direct impact on student's careers and professional practice
• The number of trips going to the same county
• The number of trips being offered in the same discipline
• Is the trip/course available to all students?
• It describes creative ways to reduce the cost to students
• Successful facilitation of student group travel experiences

The pre- and full proposals are combined into the below Google template. Simply copy the template and create your own Google doc.

• Study Away Pre/Full Proposal
• Pre-Proposal Rubric (used by academic leadership)
• Full Proposal Rubric (used by the Study Away Review Team)
• Example Proposal  (HU 274 - American Cinema Genres/Scotland/The Cinematic World of Harry Potter)

Faculty are best prepared when they have met with a consultant from the Center for High-Impact Experiences and/or have attended a one-hour orientation session. As part of our consultation, you’ll learn:

• How GRCC defines study away
• What makes a trip successful (with a real example)
• Faculty expectations and responsibilities
• Common faculty questions and concerns
• Preparing a study away proposal
• Working with a third party provider
• Preparing students for study away
• Minimizing risk during study away
• What support is available to you

If you’d like to get started or need support, please contact Dan Sullivan, Study Away Faculty Liaison, danielsullivan@grcc.edu.