Students and staff in Wheelock’s inaugural Global Language and Culture in Vichy program: (front row, from left) Mary Churchill, Wheelock associate dean and professor of the practice, Abigail Brockway (Wheelock’26), Jennifer Jackson (Wheelock’26), Damaris Martinez (Wheelock’25); (back row) Ricardo Coates (Wheelock’27), Mathew Bernow (Wheelock’26), Maya Markowitz (CAS’28), Liz Thurmon-Irons (Wheelock’30), Catherine Ritz, Wheelock clinical associate professor, and Rachel Stern (CAS’26). Photo by Cara Mattaliano

Student Life

From Boston to Vichy: BU Wheelock Launches New Study Abroad Program

Global Pathways offers a two-week immersion in French language, education, and culture

A new two-week study-abroad program in Vichy, France, created by Wheelock College of Education & and Human Development is opening global doors for BU students. The inaugural cohort of 10 undergraduate and 8 graduate students, who have just returned to campus, spent the winter intersession engaged in an immersive program that combined intensive French language instruction, cultural immersion, and a chance to analyze the French education system. The abridged study abroad experience, Global Language & Culture in Vichy, was developed by Wheelock’s Strategic Partnerships & Community Engagement Office and Mary Churchill, a professor of the practice and associate dean of strategic initiatives and community engagement, who conceived and spearheaded the project.

While in France on a Fulbright in 2022, Churchill was introduced to Cavilam Alliance Francais—a language school in Vichy. She later completed intensive language training there and thought it would be an ideal opportunity for BU students.

“I wanted to bring students here,” Churchill says. “It’s amazing because it’s a small town and everyone in Vichy is very supportive of helping people who are there to learn French.”

The program is open to undergraduate and graduate students of all majors and academic interests who have completed at least one semester of study in a degree program and have an interest in French language and culture, educational policy, or languages more broadly—especially those students who may not otherwise be able to participate in a traditional BU Study Abroad program.

Catherine Ritz, a Wheelock associate professor of the practice and program director of curriculum and teaching and world language education, coleads the Vichy program with Churchill. She says students spent roughly five hours a day in language classes at Cavilam. Afterward, they met for a BU Global Language and Culture course she and Churchill taught.

As part of the BU course, students studied how the French education system compares to that of the United States, which included visits to a local  elementary and middle school, where they spoke with teachers and students.

“We reflected on the experience of being a language learner,” Ritz says, “and sort of living through this immersive experience, cultural differences they were experiencing, what it feels like to be in the role of a foreigner who doesn’t necessarily speak the language.” 

To complete the course, each student was required to conduct a research project focused on an aspect of education they want to investigate further, applying what they learned in Vichy. Now back in Boston, the students are continuing to work on their projects until the course ends in February.

Another unique aspect of the program is the opportunity for cross-cultural immersion. Cavilam enrolls students from all over the world, giving BU students additional global exposure. The Wheelock students took classes alongside peers from Oman, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Ukraine, among other countries.

“It provides such great value for our students to be in this cross-cultural environment,” says Cara Mattaliano, Wheelock assistant director of strategic partnerships and community engagement. The students who were part of the inaugural program agree. Anastasia Evans (Wheelock’28) says the Vichy program broadened her career options. She hopes to work as an early childhood educator or preschool teacher after graduation and says she is now considering working in France after graduating. The trip also gave her a deeper understanding of the world and the different paths people take. “I feel like after this trip, my worldview has really been changed, and for the better,” Evans says.

Jennifer Jackson (Wheelock’26), who is earning a master’s degree in higher education, juggles parenthood and a full-time position as assistant vice president of digital architecture & technology platforms at BU Virtual. She says the Vichy program offered a rare opportunity to fully dedicate herself to her studies for a short period of time.

“It was honestly a life-altering event, because as an adult learner, I work full-time 12 months a year, and so I wouldn’t normally have the ability to take time off to go study abroad,” Jackson says. “It was really very memorable and life-changing.”

As part of her course project, she researched Cavilam’s online and experiential learning offerings to examine whether they promote more accessible and equitable education. “There’s this mixture when you can potentially have an online program, do some basic learning, and then eventually go to an in-person, immersive experience like Cavilam,” she says, “and be able to really experience the culture in a way that you would never learn from a book.” 

Working in BU Virtual, Jackson says, she is always seeking ways to support and improve online education at BU. While in Vichy, she met other educators she hopes can help foster future international collaborations. “I just think that the world has become smaller, and we need to figure out what BU’s role is in that space of global outreach, and where we could play a leadership role,” she says.

Following the success of the pilot program, the Wheelock team plans to continue offering it during intersession. And, Mattaliano says, a nearly identical Vichy study-abroad program for undergrad and grad students is planned during this year’s Summer 1 term. The application process will be released in the coming weeks, so interested students should be on the lookout.

“We were just so thrilled about the response from the students, how meaningful the program was to them in different ways,” Mattaliano says. “We’ve got to keep this momentum going. We want to have more students be able to experience this.”