During the 1998-1999 academic year, more than a dozen UF students studied at Israeli universities in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv and Beersheva. The new Director of Jewish Studies, Kenneth Wald, is actively involved in promoting 2000-2001 study abroad for one year, one semester or the summer. The Merida program is a 15-year old program that attracted 30 students to the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan this past summer. Students had the choice of a course in Tropical Ecology, with Mark Brenner of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, or a course in Anthropology of the Yucatan with Allan Burns, chair of UF's Anthropology Department. All students also studied Spanish at the beginning, intermediate or advanced levels.
Students spend two or three days in local villages or different ecological zones.
The application deadline for these and other Summer 2000 UF Study Abroad Programs is March 1.