Together, Ohanyan and Twyman-Ghoshal successfully executed on that vision, building relationships with organizations in Armenia and Serbia and creating internships at those sites, finding student housing, and identifying opportunities in fall semester coursework that could connect directly to future internships. While planning out these core elements of LION, they focused on developing a program that would directly benefit students’ long-term outcomes and encourage them to enter graduate-level programs or careers correlated to their College work.

“One of the ways for students to get into competitive graduate schools is to have firsthand developing country experience and research experience,” said Prof. Ohanyan. “Very often, students are unaware that these are outcomes they can get from their study abroad experience, so we designed a program that gives students those experiences while putting them next to a practitioner.”

Theory Meets Practice

Though outcomes are the overall focus of LION, the core of the program comes from part of its name, “Learning Inside Out.” This title reflects the goal, informed by Prof. Ohanyan’s research into studies of teaching effectiveness and pedagogy, of building a three-tiered program that connects theory to practice and then loops that information back to the classroom, informing how theory is subsequently taught.

That coordination between theory in fall coursework and practice in spring internships starts at the beginning of the school year and continues for the length of the program. And annually, lessons learned through that yearlong collaboration are applied to the next fall’s classes.

To kick off the program, LION scholars work with their fall class professor, who is also their LION advisor, to identify an internship opportunity from the LION network of over ten organizations in Serbia or Armenia that both connects to what they are currently learning and offers the chance to focus on a policy area that interests them.

“I do not think that any of the international programs that are offered by external institutions are able to make that clear connection between classroom and experiential learning, which makes LION unique,” said Professor Twyman-Ghoshal. “They also don’t have the continuity of the person who is teaching you in class also being the person who guides you through the internship.”

The professors chose Armenia and Serbia because they offer experience that is more practical for students. Traditionally, international programs target large organizations headquartered in Western Europe, but those internships do not offer the unique access and hands on experience afforded to students working at smaller NGOs with fewer full-time staff.

“I think what’s really unique is that you usually don’t get to do this level of research work at an undergraduate level,” said Prof. Twyman-Ghoshal. “LION allows students to start transitioning to the graduate level, because they’re doing real, original research.”

“I really learned how to use my skills that I had learned in the classroom, and how to break down academic writing into something more concise and more accessible to the public,” said Allison Steferak ’17. “That is a huge skill.”

Critically, students close out their internship by attending the Local Roots of Global Peace conference in Armenia. It offers the chance to not only hear academics and practitioners speak on issues they care about, but also for the students to present their own research to professionals. Scholars’ insights are not only welcomed, but taken seriously – an experience few undergraduate students have at that level.

“I was able to do my own research, intern, present at an international conference, and get a publication, out of one experience. So it was probably the best decision I’ve made in my college career.”

Katie Wahrer ‘17

And when the students return from their internship, they do so with a more complete understanding of the impact of their education, along with a stronger sense of purpose. Many LION scholars finish the program with the newfound goal of pursuing a Ph.D. and becoming a College professor or working on the global stage.

“LION has allowed students to see the immediate relevance and urgency of the field they are mastering at Stonehill, be it International Relations, Criminology or Development Economics.”

Professor Anna Ohanyan