Castles, white sands, Greek temples and Italian ruins are just a few of the sights over 300 Troy University students experienced during study abroad trips over the 2023-2024 academic year.

Over the last year, 306 students took advantage of 19 faculty-led trips to 27 different countries, plus Puerto Rico, with 34 students participating in an exchange programs in Taiwan, Japan, Columbia, Poland, Austria and more.

The TROY women’s golf team also traveled to the Bahamas in October, jointly hosting a junior golf clinic for young golfers with the Bahamas Golf Federation before competing in the 2023 White Sands Bahamas NCAA Women’s Golf Invitational. In July, the women’s basketball team traveled to Costa Rica where they taught at a kid’s clinic before competing in exhibition games.

Sarah McKenzie, Study Abroad Coordinator, said she’s proud to see the number of students participating in study abroad and exchange opportunities growing.

“Not only does study abroad enhance students’ global awareness and future graduate school and employment paths but it allows students to network with TROY faculty, staff, other students and community partners,” she said. “Traveling with people from all walks of life, people with whom they may never have come into contact otherwise, gives students different and valuable perspectives.”

In May, Dr. Duane Gunn, Director of Operations and Lecturer in the Leadership Institute, led a group of 46 around Florence and Rome in Italy and Athens and Delphi in Greece. The trip marked not just the first study abroad trip for Gunn, but for the Leadership Institute as a whole.

Prior to the trip, students enrolled in an Intercultural Studies course tailored to studying the cultural aspects of the locations they’d be visiting.

“We created a specific class that would discuss where we were going, some of the cultural things that they were going to be seeing and things of that nature,” he said. “We exposed them to the different holidays and cultural differences. I think was a positive experience for everyone involved.”

Over the course of 9 days, the group took a guided tour of Florence, Rome and Vatican City, visiting the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon and more before traveling to Greece. Once in Greece, they explored the Delphi Archaeological Museum, the Temple of Apollo and the Parthenon and embarked on a Greek island cruise.

Gunn said he felt the trip was “eye-opening” for many of the students who had never been on a plane or been out of the country.

“I think it helps a lot of the students open their eyes to the world and the fact that they haven’t seen everything there is to see,” he said. “They were used to the American culture, and I think that it helped them understand the global world that we live in. That’s one of the things that Chancellor Hawkins talks about—understanding how we fit in this global society. And I think it just helped hit those points a little bit closer to home for them.”

Gunn is leading a second study abroad trip to Greece in May 2025.

In July 2024, Dr. Samantha Booker, Coordinator of the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Program in the Department of Counseling, Rehabilitation and Interpreting Training, led a group of 26 to Tampere, Finland to attend the World Association of Infant Mental Health Conference. 

Not only did the TROY graduate students get to attend the international conference, multiple students were asked to present. Their topics included maternal mental health and postpartum depression, language deprivation for deaf and hard of hearing infants and the importance of infant and early childhood mental health professionals and school counselors identifying mental health issues early.

“So not only did we get to attend and meet with the biggest names in our field, but these students were able to present and experience what a conference is from both the researcher aspect as well as the student aspect,” Booker said. “Many of the attendees are professors from different universities from all across the world, and they ask you about your research, they quiz you on it, they want to know where you’re going next in your steps of research, if it’s not already a completed research project. 

“I think it prepares them differently for a hands-on approach, and then getting to see the world on top of it is just icing on the cake.”

In addition to the conference, the group traveled to multiple different cities and were able to visit national parks, go on river tours and see castles. 

“Not only are we getting to let students experience the multicultural aspect of traveling—different foods and different languages—but specifically getting to go overseas and see how infant and early childhood mental health differs based on cultures,” Booker said. “This field is newer in the United States compared to other countries, so we are building a name for the state of Alabama, but specifically for Troy University.”

After the conference, Booker and her students were invited to visit universities in Australia and Switzerland to see how they’re researching and how they can collaborate in the future.

Students interested in studying abroad are eligible for the Chancellor’s Award for Global Competitiveness, which aims to foster international awareness and better assimilation of Troy University students in the worldwide work place while providing the financial assistance to make that goal a reality.

The CAGC is open to all TROY students, both undergraduate, graduate and online, who have successfully completed one full semester at TROY, are registered full time, are in good academic standing, possess a minimum overall GPA of 2.5 and have completed the TroyAbroad application, which includes the CAGC forms.