For Release
Further Information: Contact Joseph Giomboni 
King’s College Public Relations Office, (570) 208-5957

Dec. 14, 2015 - A group of students and faculty from King’s College will participate in a three-week study abroad program to India during semester break. Participants will study in Delhi, Amritsar, Agra, Lucknow, and Agartala. 

King’s students participating in the program, titled “India; Societies in Conflict,” which runs from Dec. 27 through Jan. 14, are Kristina Atienza, senior, mass communications; Maxwell Boulanger, sophomore, undeclared; Katherine Brunwasser, senior, elementary/special education; Ciara McClinton, senior, psychology; Kyle Poray, junior, criminal justice and psychology; and Kruschef Sanchez, sophomore, mechanical engineering. In addition, Veronika Hanks, a sophomore majoring in global studies at St. Mary’s College, Indiana, and Daniel Hancuff, a sophomore at Wyoming Seminary, will join the group.

Students participating in the program ” will visit places in India that will foster an understanding of the country's complex cultural and political ideologies and the ways that political institutions and civil society have worked to address conflict. The course will address questions of religious identity through visits to the Sikh religion's Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Muslim Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, and the Hindu Matabari Shrine in Udaipur. 

Students will also visit sites associated with the diverse political history of the country--the UNESCO World Heritage sites associated with the Mughal Empire, including the Taj Mahal in Agra and the Red Fort in Old Delhi; those associated with British colonial rule in Lucknow and New Delhi; and museums dedicated to the history of India's independence, including Prime Minister Nehru's residence and the Gandhi museum. Participants will also meet and work together with students and faculty from Holy Cross College in Agartala to participate in an academic conference on globalization and technology.  

King’s professors Dr. Noreen O’Connor, associate professor of English, and Dr. Ayesha Ray, associate professor of political science, are program directors. Dr. Ray is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, in New Delhi, India, as part of her sabbatical. Renata Evan, coordinator of short-term faculty-led programs abroad, assisted in developing the program.

King’s College participants in the short-term study abroad trip to India, seated from left, are: Ciara McClinton, Kristina Atienza, Katherine Brunwasser, and Kyle Poray. Standing: Kruschef Sanchez; Max Boulanger; Margaret Kowalsky, Dr. Noreen O’Connor, associate professor of English; and Dr. Pankaj Chakraborty, Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence.