Study Abroad in Dublin

Study traditional and modern playwriting, from concept to production, and from classical form to new site-specific work. Topics might include narrative structure and the rise of the monologue, issue driven work, the role of workshopping, etc.

What does it mean to tell a story? Does it matter why or how someone tells a story? Storytelling is an Irish oral tradition that dates back to Celtic mythology, but is also important to modern day Ireland. This course will examine how storytelling brings Ireland to life, and how Dublin and Ireland are represented in stories. How can you use a building, a street, a painting, or a performance to construct a story that can be shared with others, and that creates a narrative that resonates with the specific time and history of that place? The course will look at the tradition of the short story in Irish writing, and also the development of the Irish novel. Students will also think about their own stories, and how they can be told.

Students will study and actively participate in the art of performance, focusing on Irish writers like Samuel Beckett, Brian Friel, Conor McPherson, Martin McDonough and more. Actor training, and so this course, is physical, emotional and intellectual. The work will include vocal training and expression, dynamic conditioning of the instrument of the body, and textual analysis. In addition the course will help actors unlock the specific voices of Irish playwrights. Students will work on scenes and monologues as well as their own improvisations.

This will be an acting class, and will require one previous fundamentals of acting or performance class at your home institution, or permission by the instructor.

This course will focus on the contemporary writing in drama, film, and poetry, and will follow the legacy from Yeats to Marina Carr. Irish cinema will be explored from silent films in the early 20th century, to recent Oscar nominations for Irish made films. The course will also examine the interconnection of literature and film, with a focus on turning fiction into film.

This International Marketing course will help you develop an understanding of the scope and challenges of marketing in the international context. The course examines how the global dimensions technology, research, capital investment and production impact marketing, distribution and communication net-works. The breadth of this course will provide insights into the increasingly interdependent global economic and physical environment and its impact on international marketing. Globalization has led to increasing interdependence. ‘Connecting the dots’ has thus become essential to the survival and success of businesses, even those not operating in the international arena. By examining these linkages, the students will gain an understanding of how companies develop strategic plans that are competitive to survive and succeed in these global markets. The local Dublin instructor will present further regional insights into the key issues surrounding marketing from an international perspective.

The International Economics course provides an understanding of the key economic issues in the global business environment. The course provides an understanding of how global businesses are impacted by real world developments in economics, politics and finance. The business environment is dynamic in nature. The course coverage is therefore updated periodically to include current real world evidence as well as recent academic and empirical findings. The five broad topics covered in the course are: Globalization, Country Differences, Cross-Border Trade & Investment, the Global Monetary System, and Competing in a Global Market Place.

Cities around the world are striving to be “global.” This interdisciplinary course focuses on the physical, socio-economic, political, and cultural development of Dublin through space and time. Before students explore the city, chronologically they will examine ancient Ireland’s globality in terms of its educational and religious influences, particularly on mainland Europe. Then, starting from the 10th Century, students will retrace the Viking city through to the city’s current form that is characterised by urban sprawl, multiculturalism, and its connection to Europe and the global economy. Much of the first half of the course will explore the creation of the colonial city (Georgian Dublin) and, following independence from Britain, the creation of the postcolonial city. Each of these phases in the city’s morphology can be witnessed/read through an examination of the city’s architecture, nomenclature, museums, art, and in relation to the post-colonial city, oral histories, which requires an interdisciplinary toolkit for city exploration and analysis. 

The second section of the course will explore the policies that fostered the rapid speed at which Dublin grew from being a sparsely populated, non-industrial and disconnected urban space in the 1970s to a post-industrial/post-modern relatively highly populated dense plural space in the 1990s. Students will investigate the relationship between these policies and the devastating recession of the 2000s. Students will also explore the result of these rapid physical and socio-economic and cultural changes in terms of gentrification, immigration, and the complicated and contested nature of inner city residents’ notions of place, space, and identity. Students will also explore the creation of new multiethnic spaces and the city’s rebranding as a literary-cultural space (tourist Dublin). Finally, students will investigate the processes that occur in most global cities, which contribute to the creation of invisible spaces and subcultures that are found on the physical and cultural margins.

This course will address the principal ethical issues facing journalism, advertising, entertainment media, and online content. It will examine the moral obligations of the producers as well as the responsibilities borne by consumers. The course will provide an overview of the applicable ethical principles and philosophies then apply these to present day cases in the media through case studies. Finally, students will learn to critically engage with the content in order to analyze for themselves the ethical issues that are present in the production and consumption of the media on an individual and societal level. 

This course aims to develop American students’ understanding of business environments in an international context, with a specific focus on Ireland and the European Union. Students will study the political, economic and ethical contexts for policy and business operations as well as the cultural context of doing business within international/global contexts. Students will compare and contrast this new understanding with their existing knowledge of business policy and practice within America. In this case, as a result of taking this course, which includes site visits to international companies in Dublin and or guest speakers, students will be better placed to have the broad perspectives required of successful managers working in an increasingly globalized world and workforce. This includes an understanding of the challenges and adaptations required to succeed in host countries and regions with differing cultural, political, legal and economic systems. 

The International Finance module provides an understanding of finance in the international context. In a globally integrated world, it has become imperative to trade, invest, and conduct business operations internationally. The course exposes you to the opportunities and risks associated with international finance. As the world has become more integrated due to deregulation of financial markets, product innovation, and technology, capital markets have kept pace with this integration. The study of international finance has therefore become essential and builds upon the understanding of theoretical concepts of finance and their adaptation to the international context. The course coverage includes historical perspectives and foundations of international finance, the foreign exchange markets, and exchange rate determination, exposure management, and financial management of a multinational firm. The course also helps you examine the current economic landscape through topical discussions of current economic and political development and their impact on international finance.

Social media has continued to grow as a vital business tool. In this course, you will explore the strategic importance of social networks. You will be exposed to and analyze case studies of diverse organizations adopting social media. The course will also explore key challenges of social media, including the risks and challenges of managing its use, and the importance of identifying and managing misinformation.

With the rise of global mobility and communication, encounters between people of diverse and multiple cultural identities are increasingly common. Less obvious are the reasons why these encounters can be challenging and, more importantly, the knowledge and skills necessary for overcoming communication barriers that arise from differences in communication styles and patterns. This course is designed to give you the tools needed to be competent global citizens in the interconnected world.

The study of intercultural communication requires not only grappling with broad concepts such as “culture”, “communication”, and “identity”, but also learning how communication styles are patterned within cultural groups. This course explores the interaction between culture and communication and introduces you to the knowledge and skills needed to building intercultural competence. You will analyze and evaluate how your own cultural identity influences communication with others, encourages interaction with the host culture, and prepares you with knowledge and skills to be effective and ethical intercultural communicators.

This course examines the social and cultural development of Ireland from its first human habitation nearly 10,000 years ago through the present. It will cover the many people and groups who have had an impact on Ireland: the Mesolithic hunters and gatherers, the coming of Christianity in the mid 5th Century, the Vikings in the 8th Century, the Anglo-Normans in the 12th Century, which began over 800 years of British occupation in Ireland. The course will then cover the formation of the Irish Free State in 1920, the Irish Civil War, and Ireland's final political separation from Britain in 1949. It also led to The Troubles, the 30+ long period of civil strife which, even today after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, continues to vex Irish lives north and south.

Ireland is a very old land, but a very young country, and is undergoing enormous economic and cultural changes on the world stage. You will stay in Ireland during an important and historically significant period of development as a country and culture. This course will give you the tools and background to observe history unfold before you.

This course provides an understanding of sports in Irish culture, their historical context, and the importance of Irish sporting bodies as ideological state apparatus. Discussions will consider sport as a reflection of early twentieth century Ireland through to a reflection of diverse and multicultural modern Ireland. Sports have been geographically bound and a signifier of one’s identity in Ireland in terms of one’s village, townland, and county, and you will consider the possible effects of urbanization on sports and one’s identity. You will delve into a wide variety of subjects that examine the interface between social structures, state, and sporting organizations. Discussions in class will look at the role of education, volunteerism, and globalization on sport spectatorship and participation.

Given the role of sport as one of Ireland’s most influential state apparatus, focus will be placed on representation in Irish sports; the marginalization and homogenization of groups within sporting culture—based on gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. Additionally, this course will analyze the current state of integrity in sports, including the use of drugs, the influence of gambling, gene manipulation, and biomedical enhancements.

This course introduces the field of operations and supply chain management, a key managerial function that encompasses the design, control, and improvement of processes used to produce goods and/or provide services. The course will explore foundational concepts, including forecasting, production planning, master scheduling, material requirements planning, capacity planning, world-class manufacturing principles, and continuous improvement. Using case studies drawn from global companies, you will apply what you are learning to the study of managerial and mathematical techniques—along with information technology resources—used to make goods and services.

This course explores the world of work in Ireland and how you may respond to the challenges that you can expect to encounter while interning in Dublin. More information on internships can be found on the Internships page.

*Starting Spring 2025, 6-credit internships will no longer be an option on this program*

Syllabus for Global Internship: Dublin—3 credits (PDF)
Syllabus for Global Internship: Dublin—6 credits (PDF)

In this course, you will explore the art of using expertise in a field to advise client organizations on high-level strategic issues and provide them with management counsel. Throughout the course, you will have the opportunity to work on solving executive-level problems and simulate consulting project activities and situations by working on business cases, exercises, and a team assignment based on real-life consulting challenges. The class will be taught using a combination of discussion, cases, and guest lectures. The class environment will be highly interactive and participative. The course will culminate with a Team Project Competition, in which you and your classmates will be organized into 6 consulting teams: Strategy Consulting, IT Consulting, Marketing Consulting, Human Capital Consulting, Operational/Process Consulting, and Organizational Consulting. While completing the course project, you will receive coaching and guidance from the professor in two Consulting Labs to provide you with intensive on-the-job training experience. The consulting proposals will be presented in the last class and will be judged by a guest consultant.

This course will provide an in-depth study of Irish technical theatre practice—exploring the European tradition of stage design in the context of Irish theatre practice. This experience will then be developed into the creation of personal research narratives for performance work, bringing an awareness and understanding of Irish theatre design into practice, and working with you from the ‘Performance’ stream of this course. This practical theatre work and design theory will be complemented by engagement with the political and social realities of the city as arena, currently being undertaken by Anu, a site-specific theatre company.

The course aims to introduce you to—and guide you towards—an overall sense of the theatre practitioner as social agent via the personal, performative statement, born and grown through the Manifesto process. By entering and enjoining a creative process, and under strong guidance from the primary tutor and various mentors, you will work towards a final, fully crafted performance. Through a series of prompts and exercises, you are encouraged to discover your own subject matter, voice, and style in theatrical terms. The course includes research, reflective practice, and elements of dramaturgical practice. The focus of the module is a journey of discovery through self-expression and performance-making under the assured and supportive oversight of professional practitioners from various areas of specialty.

Global Identity: Connecting Your International Experience with Your Future is an optional 1-credit online course that helps you process your international experience and apply what you've learned upon your return. Global Identity gives you the opportunity to work individually with a trained cultural mentor, helping you articulate your newly acquired skills for future professional opportunities, and differentiating you from your peers.

This course is offered at no additional cost on programs 6 weeks or longer. There are several sections offered including: Honors, College of Liberal Arts, and Leadership Minor focused versions of the course. Additional details on how to request registration, deadlines, and a grade basis can be found on the Global Identity Course Information page.

Syllabus for Global Identity (FOST 3332)
Syllabus for Global Identity Honors (FOST 3331H)