The Abbey Program Begins!

Students participating in The Abbey Program arrived in Pontlevoy, France during the weekend of February 11-12 and were welcomed by program faculty and staff. Students met fellow participants, settled into their rooms, and began the week-long orientation. Classes start on Monday, February 13.

Congratulations to our Spring Abbey 2006 participants! We extend them best wishes for a rewarding, productive, and enjoyable experience.




The Program
The Abbey has been waiting for you for the last 1,000 years. Set in the heart of France in the beautiful Loire Valley, The Abbey’s ancient campus will welcome you and change your life. A resident campus with its own chapel and historic gardens, The Abbey is a new school of thought in global learning.

Spend a college semester enhancing your education through hands-on, interactive and engaging study with a dynamic collegiate faculty whose passion is your educational growth. The Abbey offers formal classes, service learning projects, and host family opportunities. Europe becomes your classroom as you explore an ancient and ever-changing world of new ideas. With the exception of its French courses, The Abbey’s curriculum is entirely taught in English.

Whether relaxing at a café with the locals, eating your first French croissant, or enjoying a weekend in Paris, The Abbey makes your dreams of studying abroad come alive. Created by the office of International Education at The University of Southern Mississippi, in partnership with universities and colleges from across the United States, The Abbey offers globally-minded undergraduates the chance to pursue their dreams of becoming, as Socrates put it, a “citizen of the universe”.

The Location: The Loire Valley, France
Known all over the world for natural beauty, vineyards, and the many chateaux dotting its landscape and lining its mighty rivers, the Loire Valley long served as a refuge for nearby Paris for French aristocracy and its royal families. More recently, the Loire Valley has become France’s most popular summer travel destination. Our campus is located in the heart of this region, in the town of Pontlevoy. Less than 30 kilometers from the three great chateaux of the valley, Pontlevoy and The Abbey are just a two hour train ride from Paris.

The Academic Program
The Abbey offers its participants a program with many unique advantages and exciting opportunities. Students learn in non-traditional classroom situations across the curriculum.
Courses at The Abbey are taught in English. Students may choose from a variety of freshmen and sophomore courses required by most universities for graduation, and take advanced seminars in humanities or social sciences. All courses will give students the opportunity to work intellectually and geographically beyond what they could ever do in a traditional course at their home institutions, including taking part in a required academic week in Paris.

Students take full academic loads between 12 and 18 hours, which transfer as Southern Miss credit. Field studies, regular essays, lectures, films, discussions, independent research and travel are all critical components of the curriculum.
Students may also take French language courses at all levels.

Special Excursions
The Abbey Program offers students the chance to live and learn in Paris, the most exciting and well-known city in Europe. At midterm point in the semester, students spend an enriching week in Paris taking classes and exploring the wonders of France’s capital. Housing and classes are included in the program cost. Classes are mainly taught in the streets, museums, and cafés of Paris.

Community Service Learning and The Ambassador Series
The Abbey Program provides students with unique opportunities to immerse themselves in European culture through two of our extracurricular programs: Community Service Learning and The Ambassador Series.

The Community Service Learning Program gives students multiple opportunities to embrace the dynamics of service learning as they adjust to being in a new culture and learn to see their own citizenship in increasingly global and sophisticated terms. The Abbey’s Service Learning challenges may include: landscape and gardening projects at The Abbey, sports and language instruction given to elementary school children, and English language tutoring, among other options. The Community Service Learning Program creates a gateway to the community of Pontlevoy. Through this Program, you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in village life.

The Ambassador Series and its weekly events will bring students in contact with cultural events, artistic trends, and social movements active in the European Union. Held on The Abbey campus and in neighboring towns, the series will build bridges between The Abbey community and its European neighbors. Topics and themes will change each semester based on recommendations and programming choices made by Abbey students, staff and faculty.

Calendar
The Abbey Program is a semester-long program (13 weeks) that takes place from early February to the beginning of May.

Housing and Meals
All students are housed at The Abbey, the beautiful campus in Pontlevoy. Students share triple rooms. The program cost includes lunch Monday-Friday. Students enjoy the chance to venture out into the community to purchase other meals, or prepare meals with their new friends in the fully-equipped kitchens.

Cost and Financial Aid
The price of The Abbey Program includes: tuition, fees, housing, a week of living and learning in Paris, lunch Monday - Friday (while at The Abbey), academic travel, required museum visits, and program social functions. The price does not include international airfare, any student visa fees, additional meals, personal expense, and personal travel.

Abbey Program Cost:

Southern Miss students: $6,900

Consortium university students: Consult your home institution regarding fees and method of payment

Non-Southern Miss students: $9,900
Students who receive scholarships, financial aid and loans that apply to their studies at home may also apply these to study at The Abbey. For more information regarding financial aid contact Melissa Ravencraft by calling
(601) 266-5009 or by e-mail melissa.ravencraft@usm.edu.

Faculty
Dr. Douglas Mackaman, Professor of History at The University of Southern Mississippi, is the director of The Abbey Program. Faculty come to The Abbey Program from institutional members of The Abbey consortium. Additionally, a select group of post-doctoral fellows from prestigious American and European Ph.D. programs in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts will join The Abbey faculty.

For more information on The Abbey Program, contact:

Dr. Douglas Mackaman, Director
or Amy Cameron
Resident Manager
The Abbey Program
1, Place du Collège
41400 Pontlevoy, France
Phone: 011.33.2.54.32.90.09 (France) or (601) 266-6809 in the U.S.
E-mail: douglas.mackaman@usm.edu or amy.cameron@usm.edu

Requirements and Application
For priority for the spring semester we recommend applying by Nov. 1, with a final deadline of December 15. Students are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as space is limited. Applications of qualified candidates will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please return the completed application and $200 deposit to:
The University of Southern Mississippi
International Programs
The Abbey Program
118 College Dr. #10047
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001

If you are a consortium university student, please check with your home study-abroad office for information concerning fees and payment.

The Abbey Update
(coming soon)


The Abbey at Pontlevoy (Windows Media 33MB)

Convocation Speech (Word doc)
February 2004
Dr. Friederike Weidemann, provost, Midwestern State University

Convocation Speech (Word doc)
February 2003
Dr. Tim Hudson, former provost, The University of Southern Mississippi