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Think about this: why not spend the end of your winter holiday vacation in glorious Greece with the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS)* Winter Greece Program? We’ll be wandering Athens and the island of Crete for ten full days, departing December 26 and returning January 6. (Spring classes won’t start until January 11.) You’ll be able to earn three credit hours, selecting from a variety of courses taught by some of the faculty of the 25 colleges and universities of the KIIS consortium, including us: Dr. Richard King and Dr. Chris Shea of good ol’ BSU.
The Winter Greece program is focused on the humanities, archaeology, and the arts, with courses in Anthropology, Art and Archaeology, Classical Cultures, English, History, Mythology, and Religious Studies (please see the courses at www.kiis.org ). For the time of the program, you’ll technically be a student at Western Kentucky University, so the courses have the titles and numbers of the WKU catalog. How the courses count on our campus depends on your professors here—for example, all courses can count as Classical Cultures here. Some courses are available for Honors colloquium credit, subject to the approval of the Honors College. All courses are taught in English (no foreign language requirement). Each participant takes one course. Three hours credit is included in the KIIS Greece program fee. Ball State and the other colleges and universities are forgoing tuition, but there are fees to consider. The Ball State Rinker Center for International Studies is the place to go for financial information.
Our team includes very experienced study abroad-ers. The Co-Directors are Dr. Chris Shea and Dr. Richard Jackson King (both BSU Classics profs—we've co-directed the Summer Greece trip for the last twelve years and the KIIS Italy Winter trip for the last five years, and we’ve both taught students abroad in Greece and Italy on other trips several times). Dr. King is teaching Ancient Myth in Context; Dr. Shea, Day to Day in Ancient Greece. The Faculty Members are Classics/History Professor Kathleen Quinn of Northern Kentucky University (Prof. Quinn is an accomplished archaeologist who’s dug at several sites in Greece and at Troy; she has taught with us in both Greece and Italy) and Dr. Steve Watkins, Classics/Humanities/Religious Studies instructor at the University of Louisville (Dr. Watkins is a former Navy SEAL, an ordained minister, a Lieutenant-Commander in the Navy. He has taught with us in Greece several times). Dr. Watkins will teach Christians, Jews, and Pagans in the Greco-Roman World; Prof. Quinn will teach Art and Archaeology in Ancient Greece.
Our time in Greece combines small, seminar-like classes with active, excursion-based learning. We have an outstanding itinerary--the ‘big ones’ in Athens: the Acropolis and the Parthenon; the Athenian Agora; the Kerameikos Cemetery; and museums, museums, museums. In Crete we’ll roam the site of Knossos, the ‘capital’ of Bronze Age Minoan Crete--its palace may be the Labyrinth where Theseus fought the Minotaur in myth; Gortyna, another important Bronze Age site; the bustling port of Heraklion; and museums, museums, museums.
We stay in comfortable hotels (3-4 students per room, with private bathroom and shower). During your unforgettable stay in Greece, you'll likely develop lifelong friendships with students from WKU and the other schools of the KIIS consortium.
The Greece Winter program fee is $3,100 (without airfare), and includes:
- 3 credits (1 course)
- Airport transfers by private bus
- Hotel accommodations for duration of program
- Breakfast (in the hotels) and the farewell dinner
- Required group excursions and museum entrance fees
- All group transportation in Greece (we fly between Athens and Crete; surface transportation is by private bus)
- Comprehensive medical insurance and security evacuation protection.
The above amount INCLUDES the $250 deposit (refunded if not accepted into the program) but EXCLUDES the optional round-trip group flight (approx. $1700). If you prefer, you may purchase your own airfare and meet the group in Greece. (Ball State will also add a fee.)
There are several ways for you to save money, too:
- KIIS offers one $300 Greece scholarship
- BSU offers generous study abroad scholarships. Please contact the Rinker Center for International Programs for details.
- Outside scholarships (the Gilman, f.e., http://www.iie.org/gilman (although in the past it has been awarded to KIIS Summer applicants only).
Please start by completing the BSU study abroad application/paperwork (contact the Rinker Center for International Programs).
Two ways to give yourself an automatic scholarship: if you apply by August 1, you’ll receive $100 off the program cost. If you travel with a friend on KIIS’s ‘Go with a Friend’ promotion, you will each receive $50 off the program cost (one $50 discount per person, please). For more info, please see the kiis.org website.
We’d be happy to speak about the Greece program—or the summer 2021 KIIS Greece program—with any of you at any time!
Richard Jackson King, Assistant Professor of Classics (rjking3)
Chris Shea, Professor of Classics (cshea)
Modern Languages & Classics, NQ 178
*KIIS is a consortium of 25 colleges and universities, including the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Transylvania University, etc. The consortium is more than 45 years old. BSU is the only Indiana member.