Exeter
A SEMESTER LIVING, LEARNING AND RESEARCHING IN
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N THE SPRING OF 2020, 15 Honors students travelled to the University of Exeter for a semester abroad with Judy Genshaft Honors College Associate Dean, Dr. Lindy Davidson and Honors instructor, Dr. Adam Davidson. Located approximately three hours west of London, the university was founded in 1855 and is ranked among the top 10 universities in Europe. It is also a member of the Russell Group, a consortium of elite universities in the United Kingdom, similar to the American Association of Universities (AAU). While in Exeter, the USF students took courses with both their Honors instructors and with Exeter faculty. This allowed them to bond with their cohort while also experiencing British campus life and forging friendships with scholars from all over the world. They joined “guilds” (i.e. clubs), played on the university’s sports teams, and participated fully in the campus and city communities. Although their time abroad was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the students were able to make important connections while in country and complete the semester virtually.
Photos: Right, Cultural Pathways class in Topsham. Opposite page: Top, The Quay; bottom left, along the bridleways; bottom right, the train to Topsham.
22 UNIVERSITY of SOUTH FLORIDA
Partners at the University of Exeter were impressed by the Honors students in both the 2019 and 2020 trip cohorts and formed additional partnership opportunities through their Wellcome Center. The Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health is a research group at the University of Exeter in England comprising graduate students, research fellows, and faculty. Focusing on an interdisciplinary, communityoriented view of health and wellness, the Wellcome Centre engages in research combining physical, mental, social, cultural, and policy-related aspects of health. The Centre is sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, a charitable foundation focused on health research and based in London. During the 2020 Semester in Exeter exchange program, Dr. Lindy Davidson initiated a collaboration between the Wellcome Centre and the students of her “Creative Community Collaborations in Health: Interdisciplinary Research in Medical Humanities” class. After the first gathering of the two groups, many Honors students identified research topics of interest and began their own partnerships with
