Study Abroad Dominican Republic

Are you looking for meaningful ways to impact a community through design?  

This study-abroad course is for students looking for meaningful ways to impact community development through positive design implementation in the field. This course provides students a critical opportunity to apply investigative processes and strategies to co-produce public interest design solutions within the community of La Piedra, Dominican Republic. Through design research practices students will seek a deep, detailed understanding of the life and circumstances of the people in the community of La Piedra. While collaborating with the Guanîn Community Outreach program, students will investigate a problem of magnitude that impacts the community’s ability to live life at their fullest. Students are mentored in discovering the needs of the community so as to better understand and thus serve their needs through design. All students are required to work in collaboration not only with other student participants but also with the host community. Students must demonstrate sensitivity to cultural perspectives while contending with poverty issues and working in a collaborative framework.