International Cross-cultural Experiences
One thing that really makes our Psychology Department Faculty special is their breadth of cross-cultural experiences. Most of our full-time faculty members have visited several different cultures, whether through cross-cultural courses they taught here at Messiah or through missions projects completed outside of the college-setting.
Dr. Addleman has co-led a Messiah Cross-Cultural Course of 16 students to Zambia. Dr. Addleman also spent 10 months in Kenya in 1998-1999 with his family while he was teaching psychology at Daystar University in Nairobi. During that time he was also interviewing Kenyan children about their views of good and bad parenting. In addition, while Dr. Addleman was still in college, he was able to spend a summer studying history and economics while living in and touring Europe and Russia.
Dr. Bechtold loves traveling and exposing students to other cultures. He especially enjoys leading Messiah Cross-Cultural trips, and has been able to take students to many different countries including Russia, Greece, Italy, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, and Kenya.
As a Messiah College student, Dr. Hostler had the opportunity to travel to Israel and Jordan on a cross-cultural trip. What was most amazing and is still so impressionable in her mind from that trip was the way that Scripture just came to life as she visited the sites and walked through the towns referenced in the Bible. She also appreciated the opportunity to stay with members of other faiths/ethnic backgrounds, which she says has strengthened her prayer life and kept her grounded in evaluating the US media coverage of the Middle East. She was even able to ride a camel, and spent time in a hospital while her finger was sewn back into place! Dr. Hostler would enthusiastically welcome the opportunity to take part in another one of Messiah College's cross-cultural experiences should the opportunity present itself.
Dr. Jacobsen participated in European study programs, allowing her to be submersed in European culture for that period of time. In addition, Dr. Jacobsen has co-led a Messiah Cross Cultural Course to Costa Rica. Dr. Jacobsen especially enjoyed the beauty of Costa Rica, from the tropical rainforests and the beaches to cloud forests and banana plantations. She deeply appreciated being able to share the experience with a “terrific group of students” from Messiah.
Dr. Jantzi has also led Messiah Cross-Cultural Courses, specifically one related to Alaska Native culture. The course focuses on the five native cultures of Alaska, and students are able to experience these cultures by taking classes taught by native speakers and by living with native families for a week. The most interesting memory from Dr. Jantzi’s trip was his opportunity to eat Muktuk, fermented raw whale blubber!
Dr. Lemmon has done short-term missions trips to Merida, Mexico which is on the Yucatan peninsula. The primary purposes of the trips were to provide teaching, support, and encouragement to the pastors and elders of the local churches.
Dr. Henry Danso
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