PLU Wang Center

PLU Wang Center Educating to achieve a just, healthy, sustainable and peaceful world, both locally and globally.

The Wang Center has a vision to educate to achieve a just, healthy, sustainable and peaceful world, both locally and globally. The Wang Center is PLU's primary resource for any students who want to study away, and helping students study away is our main concern. We offer semester, year, January and summer programs all over the world. The Wang Center also offers advising on campus and local events that promote global awareness, on post-study away options, as well as on post-grad options.

Last but not least, look at this special short-term program offering: MUSI 387 — Music and the Cultural Heritage of Ital...
03/14/2026

Last but not least, look at this special short-term program offering: MUSI 387 — Music and the Cultural Heritage of Italy.

Celebrate the beauty of Italian culture by traveling to Italy! “Music and the Cultural Heritage of Italy” will study Italian music from its beginnings in the beautiful courts of Italian aristocracy, to the glorious opera houses of Italy. The class will learn about the political unification or “Risorgimento” of Italy and how opera figured into its political landscape. This on-campus spring semester (2 credit) course will culminate in travel to Milan, Verona, and Venice. Basic Italian language skills will be studied as part of the spring course. Once in Italy, the class will tour the cities, visit museums, and attend opera performances. The course will celebrate and investigate Italian culture culminating in cultural immersion living “la bella vita!”

Note: This is a Spring 2027 course on campus with required 14 days of travel in early June 2027.

Application due: April 15th.

Next up, EDUC 385 (GE) — Comparative Education in Switzerland 🇨🇭 In this one-month course, students will be teaching ass...
03/12/2026

Next up, EDUC 385 (GE) — Comparative Education in Switzerland 🇨🇭

In this one-month course, students will be teaching assistants for approximately 2–3 weeks in primary or middle schools located in Zurich. All students will compare and contrast educational practices in Switzerland and the United States. This experience will be augmented by study tours throughout the region, including Freiburg in the Black Forest region of Germany, an Arts Education workshop at the Modern Art Museum in Zurich, and a deep dive into the History and Making of Swiss Chocolate.

Application due: April 15th

Up next is SOCW 325 (VW, GE) — Social, Educational, and Health Services in TobagoThrough community engagement, readings,...
03/11/2026

Up next is SOCW 325 (VW, GE) — Social, Educational, and Health Services in Tobago

Through community engagement, readings, critical reflections, and group debriefing, we will explore the meaning of service and community cultural wealth in Tobago. We discuss power and intersectionality focusing largely on race, gender, and nationality and how positionality impacts the ways we are able to live, learn, and interact with Tobagonians and others in the course. Students will learn about health, educational, and social service strengths and challenges in Tobago from professionals in each of those fields. We will participate in a variety of excursions designed to introduce students to the physical as well as cultural and social environment of Tobago.

Application due: April 15th

Onto the next 2027 J-Term, ARTD 383 (CX) or IHON 260 (H2) — The Arts in Society: How Museums Make MeaningMuseums are pow...
03/10/2026

Onto the next 2027 J-Term, ARTD 383 (CX) or IHON 260 (H2) — The Arts in Society: How Museums Make Meaning

Museums are powerful storehouses of objects. In this class, we’ll look closely at how museums make meaning by studying a range of institutions, starting with Oxford’s own Ashmolean Museum—Britain’s first public museum. We’ll investigate the legacy of imperialism at the British Museum in London, we’ll consider landscape as history at ancient sites like Stonehenge, and we’ll witness the preservation of national culture at the National Museums of Wales. At each site we study, we’ll see that, through their collections and exhibitions, museums reflect cultural values and create powerful narratives about history, identity, and ideology

Application due: April 15th

Eiffel tower keychains, Notre Dame magnets, Sacré Cœur snow globes: what is it about tourists always wanting to take a p...
03/09/2026

Eiffel tower keychains, Notre Dame magnets, Sacré Cœur snow globes: what is it about tourists always wanting to take a piece of Paris home with them? Take FREN 288 or FREN 388 — Pocket Paris | Paris Poche to find out 🇫🇷

In this course, we will explore the making, unmaking, and remaking of the legendary city that is Paris, from the city’s “basement” (kitchens, catacombs, cemeteries, sewers, the metro, the foundations of the Louvre) to its soaring heights (cathedrals, department stores, maid’s quarters, Montmartre, the Eiffel tower). At the same time, we’ll reflect on the practice and history of tourism. We’ll consider the souvenirs French travelers have brought back to Paris over the centuries (holy relics, cabinets of curiosities, paintings of Roman ruins, imperial plunder) and what tourists leave behind, from lipstick kisses on gravestones to rising rents for locals. Along the way, we’ll try hard to articulate our experiences of French culture in ways irreducible to the 5 stars of a consumer rating. You’ll respond to daily reflection prompts in an analog journal / scrapbook (mementos optional). The final project will be a 1-minute video montage made from 5-second daily video impressions, to be shared, discussed with the class, and reflected on in a 1000-word final essay. An evening cruise on the Seine will be our grand finale.

Applications due: April 15th

Looking for a more local study away for J-Term 2027? Check out HIST 248 - Innovation, Ethics, and Society right here in ...
03/09/2026

Looking for a more local study away for J-Term 2027? Check out HIST 248 - Innovation, Ethics, and Society right here in Washington!

In HIST 248, students study social innovation methods and sustainable practices while living in an intentional wilderness community. We’ll explore how purpose-driven organizations operate, key stages in the innovation process (design thinking), and the importance of ethical reflection as it relates to humanitarian initiatives and environmental causes. Students who complete HIST 248 will satisfy the “Examining Self and Society” (ES) requirement in PLU’s General Education program. HIST 248 is also a gateway course in the Innovation Studies minor. Holden Village is a remote wilderness community in the North Cascade Mountains, above Lake Chelan, Washington. It began as a copper mining town, but in 1962 became a retreat center and intentional community focused on education, spiritual growth, and sustainable practices. It’s a place to unplug (i.e. no cell service) and to renew relationships with self, others, the sacred, and the earth. While Holden is rooted in the Lutheran tradition, the community is spiritually diverse, all people are welcome, and the village intentionally works to cultivate a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world.

Applications due: April 15th

Up next, Check out ENGL 397 (IT, GE), HGST Elective Credit, and GSRS Elective Credit — Gender, Memory, and the Holocaust...
03/07/2026

Up next, Check out ENGL 397 (IT, GE), HGST Elective Credit, and GSRS Elective Credit — Gender, Memory, and the Holocaust in Prague, Berlin, Budapest, and Krakow

In this transformative study away experience, students will trace the literary landscape of the Holocaust in Krakow, Budapest, Prague, and Berlin. The course will investigate how memory is both formed and contested by engaging with a diverse body of literature, including testimonies from Charlotte Delbo and Heinz Heger. By bringing these texts to life at key historical landmarks, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, students will confront the complexities of history through the stories of marginalized voices.

Application deadline: April 15th

Is this your next J-Term destination? Take a Intensive Spanish and Culture in Uruguay HISP 201 (VW, GE) or HISP 202 (VW,...
03/07/2026

Is this your next J-Term destination? Take a Intensive Spanish and Culture in Uruguay HISP 201 (VW, GE) or HISP 202 (VW, GE) or HISP 331 (VW, GE) or HISP 403 & Tango in Uruguay FTWL 276 (FT) [optional] 🇺🇾

The Uruguay Program provides an academic experience that links language study with learning about Uruguayan culture and society, preparing students to meet the Hispanic and Latino Studies Program learning outcomes. The program aims at expanding students’ knowledge about the Hispanic-speaking world by exposing students to the variety of Spanish spoken in the Rio de la Plata region and by providing opportunities to attend lectures on Uruguayan current political and social issues. Additionally, the experience of home-stay and structured experiential learning opportunities will allow students to become familiar with Uruguayan contemporary social struggles as well as with its progressive agenda in terms of gender-related legislation. By participating in excursions outside the capital students will learn of Uruguay’s unique historical past and present.
In addition, students have the opportunity to take an optional Tango class!

Application deadline: April 15th

Now onto our J-Term 2027 program Memory, Identity, and Conflict in Northern Ireland ENGL 387This J-Term study away cours...
03/06/2026

Now onto our J-Term 2027 program Memory, Identity, and Conflict in Northern Ireland ENGL 387

This J-Term study away course in Northern Ireland examines the ways that spaces of commemoration—including museums and memorials—influence identity formation and shape how the public remembers the past. We’ll be based in Belfast and Derry/Londonderry, ground zero for past (the Troubles) and current (post-Brexit) socio-political conflicts and home to an array of museums and memorials that participate in the construction of individual and group identity on a national and local scale. We will explore how these carefully designed sites present particular visions of the past in an effort to shape public attitudes and guide political debate in the present. We will also consider how narratives of history and identity change and evolve over time in order to understand where national conversations about peace, reconciliation, and progress may be going in the future. The course ends with a visit to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland to contrast and complicate stories about the past we’ve encountered in the North.

Application deadline: April 15th

Time to highlight our upcoming J-Term 2027 Programs as we count down to the Study Away Fair on March 11:In this English-...
03/04/2026

Time to highlight our upcoming J-Term 2027 Programs as we count down to the Study Away Fair on March 11:
In this English-taught course, students will explore Chinese scripts and their writing supports—that is, the physical materials on which Chinese writing has been preserved. The course approaches Chinese writing, and writing systems more generally, from a linguistic perspective, examining how and why written language represents spoken language. Students will learn key terminology and concepts that allow them to describe precisely how Chinese character–based writing differs from, and is similar to, alphabetic writing systems. Beyond the classroom, students will visit museums and archaeological sites in four cities in China to encounter artifacts bearing Chinese scripts. These experiences will help illuminate how the Chinese writing system—matured more than three millennia ago—shaped the development and advancement of early Chinese civilization.

If you’re interested in this program, stop by the Study Away Fair on March 11th to learn more!!

🚨 APPLY SOON🚨J-Term applications are due on April 15th!

03/03/2026

Who’s that I hear🔊 It’s Kendall, our trusted Wang Center Global Ambassador here to share with you her day in Bamberg, Germany from this past J-Term 2026.

J-Term applications are open until April 15th! Apply now, and for more information click the link in our bio and check out the Study Away Fair on March 11th, 10am-2pm in the AUC.

It’s almost the best time of the semester😉 The Study Away Fair is almost here! Join the Wang Center on Wednesday, March ...
03/02/2026

It’s almost the best time of the semester😉 The Study Away Fair is almost here!

Join the Wang Center on Wednesday, March 11th from 10:00am to 2:00pm in the AUC. Chat with Professors and Wang Center Staff about upcoming J-Term 2027 Study Away programs. Or! Stop by to check out the winners of the Wang Center Photo/Video contest, where you can vote for your favorite😛

Hope to see you all there!

Address

868 Wheeler Street S
Tacoma, WA
98447

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+12535357577

Website

http://linktr.ee/wangcenter

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