Past SUSI students engage in a workshop during their four-week program. Credit: Courtesy of Heather Harper
The Center for Latin American Studies was awarded a $645,000 grant by the U.S. Department of State to fund a cultural exchange program that will host a cohort of 20 students from Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic at Ohio State.
The Study of the U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders cultural exchange program allows visiting students to participate in various classes, workshops and panels, said the program’s academic director Heather Harper. She said these learning experiences mainly revolve around social entrepreneurship, civil service and economic development. The four-week program is expected to begin in the summer of 2025 and last for three summers.
“For our particular cohort, we bring 20 students each summer to learn about economic development and entrepreneurship through academic sessions, field trips, different site visits and collaborative learning experiences,” Harper said.
Beyond academics, SUSI students are also encouraged to socially engage in campus life.
Ricardo Sosa, SUSI administrative coordinator and an associated faculty member in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, said SUSI students spend three weeks living on Ohio State’s campus, allowing them to immerse themselves in the university and Columbus communities like any other student.
“We want our students to take advantage of having people from all different countries here, so it’s not only good for the SUSI students, but also for our Ohio State students to meet, interact and have an exchange as well,” Sosa said. “But the idea is they get to know the community and see how businesses work here.”
After their three-week experience at Ohio State, Harper said SUSI students travel to Chicago to gain more experience with the American business landscape and culture. Additionally, they will embark on a trip to Washington D.C. to meet with members of their respective embassies.
Harper said while visiting Washington D.C., SUSI students will give a final presentation recapping their program experiences to members of their cohort, officials from the Department of State and Bureau of Education and ambassadors from their home countries.
“The final presentation consists of the students sharing with the audience what they’ve learned during their time here and how they plan to use what they’ve learned to enact change in their own local communities,” Harper said.
Outside of academic endeavors, Harper said SUSI allows participating students to gain the connections, experience and skills necessary to create positive change in their home countries.
“The program is important because not only do these students come and learn about things in an academic setting, but through the experiences that they have here, through the people that they meet, the partnerships that they make, they’re able to go back home and enact change in their local communities within Latin America,” Harper said.
Sosa said this opportunity has helped support several students’ successful careers, including Domenica Garzón, one of the first female theoretical physicists from Ecuador.
“She was in our cohort from 2008, before she went back to Ecuador,” Sosa said. “She came back, and now she’s doing her Ph.D. in Urbana, Illinois, and she’s one of the first Ecuadorian physicists who studies astrophysics.”
Previously, Harper said SUSI was hosted at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. That said, this is the first time the student cohort will be hosted at Ohio State, and she hopes that partnering with a larger university will open new opportunities for SUSI students.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity,” Harper said. “We really want to be able to fully utilize all of the resources available to a university like Ohio State in order to provide the best experience possible for the students that we’re going to be receiving.”
The SUSI program also provides a distinct opportunity for Ohio State students, particularly with its student mentor position, Sosa said. Student mentors serve as a bridge between program visitors and the university by working as interpreters, introducing SUSI students to campus and helping them excel in classes and workshops.
“[SUSI students] also take English classes, so the student mentor talks to the professor, and they can also serve as a kind of mentor or a TA to help them with English,” Sosa said.
Aside from a suitable proficiency in Spanish, student mentors should also possess a passion for community organization, business and connecting with other cultures, Harper said.
“It’s also to their benefit as well, if they have experience in taking any business classes or they have experience in community work, community organizing, those types of initiatives,” Harper said. “Because they will work with the students a little bit as well to help them with their grant applications and things like that.”
Despite the challenge of hosting SUSI at a new, larger university, Sosa said he is nevertheless excited to begin the program at Ohio State.
“It is going to be the first year here, even though we have done it for a while, and for sure, there will be challenges,” Sosa said. “But like I said, the people we have found here have been amazing and very supportive, and I think that will make a difference with the program.”
