About the Award

The Forum’s Award for Excellence in Curriculum Design honors educators* who develop and implement innovative and effective education abroad curricula. This award is the education abroad field’s only recognition presented to an individual or group of individuals for excellence in the design of an education abroad course.

This awards recognizes the outstanding efforts of faculty and instructional staff who are committed to the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad and the Code of Ethics for Education Abroad.  With this emphasis, The Forum hopes to inspire the field to continue to:

• innovate and remove barriers to access for education abroad. 
• support ongoing reflection on how we may best encourage high-quality, academically sound, and culturally relevant student learning abroad.

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Award for Excellence in Curriculum Design!
Nomination Period: April 17 - September 15, 2025

Submit A Nomination

Award Information

ElIGIBILITY

• To be considered for the award, candidates must be affiliated with a Forum member institution or organization. Courses submitted must be administered by a Forum member institution/organization. Didn't see your institution or organization on the list, contact us.
• Only those individuals responsible for designing, leading and facilitating the course submitted will be eligible for recognition through this award. 
• Only submissions of individual education abroad courses will be considered for the award.
• Only courses which have run at least once are eligible.
• Submissions for this award will also be considered for inclusion in The Forum's Education Abroad Teaching & Learning Toolbox, hosted and published by Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad.

NOMINATION COMPONENTS & SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

NOMINATION PACKAGE COMPONENTS
​Complete nomination packages include three components.  These are:

• A complete course profile/nomination form (See submission instructions below. ) 
• A reflective essay.
• Course/ artifacts - minimally these include:
  • Syllabus
  • Program Itinerary
  • Signature Assignment*

Nominees may elect to include supplemental course artifacts (assessment, sample student products, etc.)

*Signature Assignment: "a substantial project within a course that illustrates something quintessential about course content, embeds at least one general education learning outcome, asks students to synthesize and apply learning, gives students agency and choice in the application of their learning, and requires a significant and intentional reflective component to help students identify and articulate relationships between course material, the curriculum, their community[ies], and their sense of self." (Roach & Alvey, 2021)

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
Beginning in 2024, all parts of the nomination package are submitted through The Forum's Education Abroad Teaching and Learning Toolbox site, hosted by Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad. 

To submit a nomination:

• Create an account on the site. Note: if a nominee already has an account on the Frontier's Journal platform, just login as usual.
• Click on the "Make a Submission" button.
• Follow the instructions for submitting a "Program Model."
  • Complete the online course profile/nomination form.
  • Upload the Reflective Essay.
  • Upload course artifacts.
  • Additional formatting details are provided in the section/author guidelines guidelines.
  • Group Nominations: The lead nominee is responsible for completing the submission process.
• Submissions submitted on or before the deadline will be accepted for consideration for the Award.

Notes:

• EA professionals working with faculty/instructors on their nomination packages.
  • ​Those working with faculty to complete a nomination package, can complete the course profile/nomination form on behalf of a nominee.  Individuals can indicate their role in the nomination process in the online form;
  • Only nominee(s) can submit materials through the Frontier's Toolbox platform to complete a nomination package. 
• Option for dual review: When completing the course profile/nomination form, nominees will also have the option to have their course/program model materials considered for publication in the Education Abroad Teaching and Learning Toolbox, an open access repository hosted with our partners at Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad.  

REVIEW CRITERIA & RUBRIC

Submissions for the Award will be evaluated according to how their program design and course curriculum:

• reflect the characteristics of high impact practices (Kuh, 2008). These include: 
  • Performance expectations set at appropriately high levels
  • Significant investment of time and effort over an extended period of time
  • Interactions with faculty and peers about substantive matters
  • Experiences with diversity, wherein students are expected to and must contend with people and circumstances that differ from those with which students are familiar
  • Provide learners with frequent, timely and constructive feedback
  • Periodic, structured opportunities to reflect and integrate learning
  • Opportunities to discover relevance of learning through real-world applications
  • Public demonstration of competence
• align with  the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad and the Code of Ethics for Education Abroad.

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Preview
​the review rubric.

Rubric

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In particular, the selection committee looks for evidence that faculty/instructional teams:

• Provide an academically rigorous program of study.
• Integrate intentional engagement with the location(s), its unique assets and/or peoples.
• Incorporate educational objectives that foster integrative forms of student learning and development
• Assess the degree to which the course/program objectives are accomplished.
• Demonstrates the effective design, integration and use of critical reflection.
• Break new ground or set a precedent for exceptional approaches to fostering student learning and engagement. Illustrative examples include:
  • Removing barriers to participation for student groups historically underrepresented in education abroad (e.g., STEM, adult learners, graduate students, first generation, justice involved, BIPOC, etc.)
  • Creative blending of in-person abroad with COIL/virtual exchange
  • Breaking outside of traditional norms of destination/immersion
  • Creative approaches to blending language learning and short-term programs.
  
  
  

*By choosing the term educators, we include people that design and facilitate education abroad regardless of professional role or title. We understand the term educator to include faculty, administrators, and colleagues holding hybrid roles at educational institutions and education abroad organizations, as well as on-site staff and community partners.

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2024 Award Recipient

The Forum congratulates our 2024 Curriculum Award Winners, Pingchien Neo and Jenna Gonzalez from the University of Florida and Chris Lawlor and Cara Simon from Learn International. These educators were celebrated during the virtual Award Presentation of the 21st Annual Conference on February 27, 2025. Click here to read our news story about all of The Forum’s 2024 Award Winners.

University of Florida | UF in London: Technological Applications for Disability Access

Program Leaders and Co-Creators:

University of Florida

• Pingchien Neo, PhD., Director, International Engineering Programs, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering 
• Jenna Gonzalez, Director, Disability Resource Center 

Learn International

• ​Chris Lawlor, Co-Founder and CEO
• Cara Simon, Co-Founder and COO

Pingchien Neo, Jenna Gonzalez, Chris Lawlor, and Cara Simon

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ABOUT 

Course: GN 4932/IDS 4956 Technological Applications for Disability Access

About: This course is an innovative short-term study abroad program that uniquely integrates disability access with engineering technology. The program is anchored in a one credit hour/weeklong immersive program set in London.  This program is the first of its kind at UF.  The course team takes an transdisciplinary approach blending insights not only from disability studies, inclusive design, urban planning, and public policy paired with site visits, presentations and assignments to engage students in consideration of the complex issue of accessibility through a comparative lens inviting students to not only learn about inclusive design practices and ways to leverage technology solutions but also to examine the import role that laws and policies have on access. ​As one reviewer notes: “This program addresses an important and critical need in the field of education abroad by expanding access for students with disabilities, a historically underserved audience. The program is designed to be fully inclusive for all participants, regardless of ability, and provides an opportunity to explore the topic of disability access in education abroad through a cross-cultural lens. Interdisciplinary by design, the program examines how engineering and technology can transform the study abroad experiences of participants with disabilities and create a more inclusive and diverse education landscape.  The course shows strong organization, with clear and well-structured assignments designed to help students reflect on their own understanding of the subject matter and reassess their initial surface-level impressions before, during and after the program.”    ​

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Past Recipients

2020 - 2023

(2023) - Drs. Debbie C. Sturm & Renee Staton, James Madison University

• ​Course: Nature, Creativity, & Well-Being Across the LifeSpan: Scotland Study Abroad
• About: This course involves an exploration of the relationship between the natural world and our mental health, psychological development, creativity, resilience, and overall well-being. Students will become academically and experientially familiar with the mental health/psychological benefits of connecting to the natural world through an examination of the research, reflective discussion and exercise, and experiential activities. Students will quickly discover that nature is more than just beautiful...it's necessary for healthy development, mental health and well-being. A primary focus of this course will be nature connection across the lifespan with particular emphasis and experiences in nature-based pedagogy and child-directed learning in nature schools as well as social connection programs for youth and adults. Nature will also be explored as an important part of cultural identity, meaning-making, and sense of place.

​(2022)- Dr. Jason Laine, Director of Italian Language Program, Penn State University, University Park 

• ​Course: Italian Language and Culture for Embedded Experiences Abroad
• About: This course exemplifies an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning, and the co-requisite model with an upper-level Biology course is an innovative way to have STEM students engaging with language and culture and humanities students engaging with the sciences. The course curriculum helps students to leverage their short time abroad over spring break by preparing them to understand the history and basic language skills necessary to complement their Anatomy in Italy coursework and science-based site visits.  

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​(2021) - Kate Lunzman, Education Abroad Coordinator &  Dr. Emira Ibrahimpasic, Asst. Professor of Practice, Asst. Director of Global Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• ​​Course Name: Negotiating Peace: From Conflict to Coexistence
• About: The pair drew on their experiences developing faculty-led programs and resources and best practices from The Forum, NAFSA, and SIT to create a virtual summer course designed to keep students connected with the world while travel was paused due to COVID-19. The session began by grounding students in an understanding of colonialism, native lands, and historical conflicts in the United States before moving on to understanding modern-day conflicts in Syria and Ireland through guest lectures from individuals with real-world experience in conflict negotiation and individuals affected by the conflicts studied.​

 
(2020) - Dr. James Lucas, Michigan State University

• Course Name: Great Ages Modern World, a course developed and taught as part of the program “Masculinity, Leadership, and Fraternities in Southern Europe."
• About: The course integrates intercultural, leadership, and gender role theories and addresses current issues of masculinity and Greek Life on campus (sexual assault, homophobia, hazing, MAGA, BLM, etc.), while addressing education abroad’s challenge of low male participation rates.

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2016 - 2019

(2019) - Dr. Rodolfo Valdes-Vasquez of Colorado State University

• Course Name: Sustainable Buildings 
• About: This is a short-term Construction Management course taught in Costa Rica in collaboration with EARTH University since 2014. Several co-leaders have assisted Dr. Valdes-Vasquez over the past five years, including Mehmet Ozbek, Svetlana Olbina, Jeff Wilkes, and Caroline Clevenger. All of them are also recognized for their contributions. This short-term program uses traditional lecture, peer-to-peer instruction, community-engaged projects, homestays, guest lectures, reflective journaling, and project-based learning to enrich student learning outcomes. The faculty leaders in this program also invite students from EARTH University to be part of the program, which gives global perspectives to everything learned in and out of the classroom. Finally, the faculty leaders have collaborated with CSU’s Sociology department to map both Social and Learning Networks as well as High Impact Learning Practices in this program. 

(2018) - Dr. Markus Crepaz, University of Georgia

• Course Name:  The Politics of Development, part of UGA’s South Africa Study Abroad Program in Stellenbosch.
• About: The program in Stellenbosch, South Africa, integrates substantive core classes with a unique after-school program in the Kayamandi Township on the outskirts of Stellenbosch, thereby bridging the gap between theory and praxis, as students become fully engaged in meaningful and impactful service learning projects. The course, which has run for ten years, has strong ties to Stellenbosch University and to local NGO, Vision Afrika, enabling the students to form connections to the local community in an intentional way, with an emphasis on best practices service learning.
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(2017) - Dr. Jim Kelly, Indiana University

• Course Name: Reporting HIV/AIDS in Africa 
• About: As reporting interns at Uganda’s Daily Monitor, students in Professor Kelly’s embedded program acquire the skills to report complicated stories in a cross-cultural setting through a mix of academic work and interaction with local reporters and editors. In addition to their classroom study and internship, students benefit from a two-day seminar at the African Centre for Media Excellence and a visit to Makerere University’s journalism program to meet Ugandan students. Kathleen Sideli, Associate Vice President for Overseas Study at Indiana University, responded with enthusiasm upon learning that Professor Kelly’s course had been selected:
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  I have always been amazed at the confluence of learning levels embedded in Jim Kelly’s reporting program on HIV-AIDS. Although he is ostensibly teaching students how to write journalistic articles, he opens them up to the sobering health epidemic in many ways. They develop their own compassion and understanding for the human face behind this disease which has many social and economic reverberations for those living with HIV-AIDS and their families. And working out a system by which the IU students work side-by-side with Ugandan reporters, learning from them in a real newsroom, is a significant dimension of this program. Each year I follow the student articles and photos online and am always moved by the depth of their experience. Every university should have a Jim Kelly of their own!
  
  

(2016) - Drs. Hana Cervinkova and Juliet Golden, Syracuse University

• Course Name: Negotiating Identities Across Europe’s Borders, offered as part of the Culture and Politics of Reconciliation in Central Europe program, based in Wroclaw, Poland.
• About: Through visits to cities and villages in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Lithuania over the course of a semester, “Negotiating Identities Across Europe’s Borders” analyzes conflict and reconciliation in European history, to better understand the reasons that the European Union was awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for its work in “the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights.”

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2013-2015

(2015) - Maja Sbahi, DIS

• Course Name: Children in a Multicultural Context: Theory and Practice, part of DIS - Study Abroad in Scandanavia
• About: This course takes Nordic childhood as its entry point to examine the following questions: “Are the long-standing childcare traditions in Denmark being challenged? How are Danish childcare institutions, schools and programs influenced by Danish integration policies? How is multicultural discourse examined in a Danish context? And how are children in Denmark influenced by these processes?” The course profile describes how the course incorporates theory on culture and cross-cultural competence, fieldwork, writings, activities and public debates. It “stresses the connection between the class and the practicum sites by asking students to reflect on what the field experience can add to theory.” Students “acquire knowledge about intercultural learning, critical pedagogy, child development discourse and educational sociology.” The course has been taught many times over several years and the faculty has been able to keep the content current by including events happening in our world today (e.g. the Syrian Refugee Crisis). Between the topics covered in Denmark and during the study tour in Turkey, students are able to study this topic from a truly multicultural approach.

(2014) - Drs. Shawn Bender, John Henson, Dave Sarcone, and Shalom Staub, all of Dickinson College; Dr. Yoshitaka Kumagai, Akita International University.

• Course Name: Living Well in Later Life, part of Dickinson’s U.S.-Japan Global Scholars Program
• About: This interdisciplinary course examines the community health of two structurally similar but geographically distant regions: Yurihonjo, Akita Prefecture, Japan; and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. Organized jointly by Akita International University and Dickinson College, the program seeks to measure the health of these communities based on an investigation of resident “Quality of Life.” Students interact with policy makers and program specialists at multiple levels in order to understand the social, cultural, and economic factors affecting the quality of life for elderly Japanese and Americans, working in a multicultural group comprised of students from Akita International University and Dickinson College. They gather data on Quality of Life in each community using quantitative and qualitative research methods, and present their findings to community members in each location.

 
(2013) - Alice Layton, Lesley University (Inaugural Awardee)

• Course Name: Indigenous Natural Resource Ecology; part of the  Guyana Lesley Abroad Service Semester (GLASS) program.
• About: An eight-week fieldwork course designed to provide an immersion in the social environment of an indigenous Guyanese community. Its innovation lies in the participation of Macushi villagers, who join Ms. Layton as instructors to introduce students to key resource-based survival skills conserved by their indigenous knowledge. The students, in turn, contribute to the host village by facilitating community conversations through the use of participatory video in natural resource management planning. The result is a powerful encounter that initiates experiential learning for both students and villagers while facilitating the preservation of traditional land use practices.
• Ms. Layton is a social entrepreneur and Director of the Rupununi Learners Foundation, the U.S. nonprofit partner of the indigenous Guyanese NGO, Rupununi Learners Incorporated. These sister organizations developed the plan for a Yupukari-based study abroad semester that with the partnership of the Science division at Lesley University became the GLASS program. This program is the first semester-long study abroad program in the country of Guyana. The aim of the GLASS program is to support a local initiative to increase capacity-building for natural resource management among the Macushi people of Yupukari village and satellite villages while providing a mutually rigorous education in environmental studies and profound cultural exchange for Lesley students and villagers alike.

ARCHIVED WINNERS in RETIRED CURRICULUM TOOLBOX

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