Faculty-Led Travel

1. Contact Christine Wintersteen, Director of International Programs & Off-Campus Study (cwinter@bowdoin.edu, x3562), to discuss your idea and seek general feedback.
2. Contact Mike Franz, Associate Dean for Curriculum (mfranz@bowdoin.edu, x4318) to discuss the proposed plan and assess its feasibility. In particular, be prepared to discuss the purpose of the trip, its educational goals, possible activities, and whether it would be a course-based or co-curricular trip. Please note both co-leaders should be part of this conversation.
3. Meet again with the director of international programs and off‐campus study to discuss best practices for study trips abroad, considerations for building an itinerary, and planning the budget. Meet with your chair/director to identify any departmental funds which can contribute towards the trip and discuss possible amounts. Complete the proposal form and preliminary budget and submit to acadaffs@bowdoin.edu.

Course-based and co-curricular trips | Timing | Funding | Advertising | Cohort Size | International Travel

Course-based and co-curricular trips

Course-based trips are directly tied to a specific course or courses, are open only to students enrolled in them, and should build upon the course’s pedagogy and learning goals. While a trip must be able accommodate all students enrolled in the course, students cannot be required to participate in the trip. These trips are optional and cannot have any impact in determining a student’s grade in the course.

Co-curricular trips are not tied to a specific course. Proposals should define the educational goals of the trip and the criteria for determining student eligibility and acceptance. Since co-curricular trip cohorts are not determined by a course’s enrollment, you will need to specify and explain the size of the trip and how you will prioritize and select participants.

Timing

Given the curricular and co-curricular demands on both students and faculty, faculty-led trips are normally expected to take place when classes are not in session:

• During January break (co-curricular or after completion of a fall course)
• During spring break (course-based or co-curricular)
• In late May/early June (co-curricular or after completion of a spring course)

When considering the timing for a trip, please be aware that students who participate in spring athletics may not be available during spring break; trips in January or May/June may require additional logistics if students are already off-campus; graduating seniors may not participate in trips after Commencement. Please also note that students who are studying away from Bowdoin in the semester of the trip are ineligible to participate.

Trips should not take place over Fall Break, Thanksgiving break, or while the College is closed during the holiday break (normally ~December 23-January 2). Trips during the summer may not be feasible due to conflicts with student fellowships and jobs.

Funding

Faculty-led travel is a major undertaking and requires departmental support and sponsorship. Trip funding includes extremely generous subsidies for all student participants’ costs on a sliding scale, based on financial aid need level, and covers all expenses for the co-leaders. In general, we anticipate being able to fund only one such trip each academic year.

If your department/program has gift funding that can be used to support the trip, the department is obliged to contribute towards the anticipated costs as generously as the gift allows. Department chairs/directors are welcome to consult with the director of faculty administration to determine what constitutes an appropriate contribution given other department/program initiatives.

All trips are considered one-time events. Regular departmental funding (normally through an endowment) would need to be obtained if a department/program wants to sponsor a trip on a recurring basis.

Advertising

These trips offer unique and exciting opportunities for faculty and students. To ensure that as many students as possible learn about them, develop a concrete plan to advertise the trip and the course (if applicable). In particular, you will need to make clear the criteria for participation. For example, if a trip is based in a course with prerequisites, you should advertise the trip two semesters in advance so that interested students can fulfill those prerequisites and be eligible to enroll in the course tied to the trip.

Co-Leaders and Cohort Size

Trips are normally expected to have a minimum of 10 students. Underenrolled trips will be cancelled. All trips require two employee co-leaders (normally both benefits-eligible faculty; trips with one faculty member and one exempt administrative staff member will also be considered where there are compelling pedagogical reasons). To be considered, both co-leaders must be identified and committed to the trip at the time of proposal.

International Travel

For international travel, all participants on the trip must depart and reenter the U.S. together as a group: students may not take alternate routes back or add extra days out of the country to the trip. Once back in the U.S., students who do not wish to come directly back to Brunswick may go their own way, any such additional / alternate travel is not College-sponsored travel and is not covered by the trip budget. Similar travel principles apply to domestic travel, with some additional flexibility. The faculty co-leaders may not travel separately from the student group at any point.

Key Evaluative Considerations | Safety Concerns/Cancellations

Submit the Application and Budget to the Office of the Dean for Academic Affairs at acadaffs@bowdoin.edu, cc’ing the director of international programs and off‐campus study. The deadline for 2027-28 trips is December 18, 2026. All submitted proposals will be reviewed by members of the dean’s office and relevant partners, drawing on the key criteria noted below.

The dean for academic affairs and faculty associate deans will review and evaluate all academic aspects of submitted proposals.

The Academic Travel Advisory Group, or ATAG (Christine Wintersteen, director of international programs and off‐campus study; the risk and procurement manager; Mike Ranen, associate dean for academic administration; Saari Greylock, director of faculty administration) will review and evaluate logistical and financial aspects and assess risk levels or concerns.

Faculty applicants will be contacted with any important follow-up questions during the review process, and the Curriculum Implementation Committee (CIC), staff in Student Affairs, chairs/directors, or others may be consulted on specific questions as helpful or appropriate.

The dean for academic affairs will make final decisions informed by these evaluations. We plan to notify applicants of decisions by the last week of January.

Key Evaluative Considerations

Proposals will be evaluated based on:

• The strength and educational merit of the proposal, including assessment of the learning goals of the trip and the degree to which the proposed plan fulfills those goals, enriches the academic and intellectual experience of students, and supports the College‐wide goal of affording students enlarged perspectives on the world;
• The appropriateness of the length and timing of the trip given the trip’s pedagogical goals;
• Whether the trip is deemed logistically and administratively feasible; and
• Whether the trip is likely to attract sufficient student interest and participation.

For trips directly related to courses, proposals will also be evaluated in terms of how the trip’s learning goals mesh with its related course, while not disadvantaging students who do not participate.

For trips not related to a course, the criteria by which students will be selected to participate will also be evaluated.

Safety Concerns/Cancellations

Faculty-led trips are always contingent on safety and force majeure factors. Faculty must consult the Department of State’s and the CDC’s travel advisories prior to planning international trips. The College will not approve off-campus study or travel to countries with a Department of State Travel Advisory Level 4.

In rare circumstances, it is possible that the risk and procurement manager or other appropriate authorities at the College will conclude that the planned travel poses too large a risk to students, the trip leaders, or the College. In such cases, whether the risk is due changes in the location’s situation or advisory level, unaddressed concerns about the trip’s planning and preparedness, unavoidable internal College factors, or otherwise, the trip will be cancelled. Any fees already paid by students will be fully refunded. The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is our highest priority.

Once your trip is approved, you will need to do the following:

• If it is a course-based trip, seek the appropriate approvals from CIC. If it is a new course, submit a new course proposal; if it is an existing course, submit a course proposal revision form. In both cases, the course description must include information about the trip. Ensure the updated course description is reflected in the Catalogue and Workday for the semester of the trip.
• Work with the director of international programs and off‐campus study and the risk and procurement manager to complete the Safety and Logistics Plan for the trip.
  • The Plan includes detailed identification, assessment, and planning for potential hazards and risks; provisions for medical and other emergencies; guidelines and expectations for student behavior; visa, passport, travel, and immunization requirements; and a timeline for key planning milestones up through the point of departure.
  • Both the director of international programs and off‐campus study and the risk and procurement manager must sign off on the Safety and Logistics Plan as complete and acceptable in order to allow the trip to move forward.

Starting in the beginning of the semester prior to the trip:

• Advertise the upcoming trip – and the accompanying course, if applicable – to students across multiple channels, well in advance of registration / application deadlines
• Provide clear information on eligibility requirements, costs, deadlines, and review criteria for acceptance (if applicable)
• Refine travel plans and estimates (notify the dean’s office of any significant anticipated changes to the budget)
• Finalize itinerary and make necessary arrangements
• If it is a co-curricular trip, open a process for interested students to apply
• Review applications and make selections (with a ranked waitlist, if applicable)

Once the list of participating students has been determined, the director of international programs and off‐campus study will work with the Student Aid office to establish what fees are owed based on students’ financial need level. Faculty are not involved in this process.

Beginning approximately two months prior to the trip, complete all final preparations and arrangements.

We encourage faculty co-leaders to hold a post-trip debrief with all participants shortly after returning to campus.

Complete all expense reports and reconciliation of expenses, including cash advances, within 2 weeks of returning.

If Communications is interested in writing an article about the trip, we ask that you be willing to speak with them.

If it was a course-based trip, we remind you to revert back to your regular / ongoing course description, without mention of the trip, in the Catalogue and Workday.

Submit a brief report (1 page) on the trip, reflecting on the experience (including planning and logistics), how it contributed to student learning, and any lessons learned or feedback / advice they would offer for future trips. Excerpts from reports may also be shared with Development for stewardship or donor engagement purposes. Submit your report to acadaffs@bowdoin.edu by the end of the semester in which the trip took place, or within a month for summer trips.