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By Davion Washington
From Mecca to the World, faculty from the Graduate School will lead global learning experiences for Howard University’s College of Arts and Sciences in Spring 2027. Three of those courses are led by faculty who also serve the Graduate School, and they will take students to Morocco, Trinidad, and Paris and London. Each course pairs up a semester of study with a week abroad, so students arrive prepared to engage with the places they visit rather than simply see them. For students, it is a chance to connect what they learn at Howard to communities and histories around the world. Students in Howard University’s College of Arts and Sciences can choose from 27 courses across 4 continents, having the opportunity to apply for up to three courses. Known as a COAS 890 course, students spend the spring semester completing coursework related to their area of study and country while traveling abroad over spring break. In the weeks leading up to the trip, students learn about their continent through the lens of their specific class, so they arrive with a foundation to build on. During spring break, cultural immersion and enrichment activities give students a chance to test what they have learned against what they see and experience firsthand. Once they return, students bring that global perspective back into the classroom and use it to expand their course. While traveling to locations such as Paris & London, Trinidad, and Morocco, our faculty will teach engaging courses for undergraduate students. Dr. Terri Adams-Fuller, Dr. Anaheed Al-Hardan, and Dr. Jennifer Williams represent the Graduate School alongside additional College of Arts and Sciences faculty as they embark on this fulfilling educational experience.
Dr. Terri Adams-Fuller is currently an associate professor within the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Sociology and Criminology and oversees the Graduate School’s research portfolio. With expertise in sociology of disaster, emergency management, and criminology, Adams-Fuller will lead SOCI 890: Urban Futures: Climate Change, Social Vulnerability and Urban Stability. Over spring break, Dr. Adams-Fuller will take up to 20 students to Morocco as part of their educational abroad experience. Here is a description of what the course entails, provided by the College of Arts and Sciences.
“This course is designed to introduce students to the study of how climate change affects social and cultural vulnerabilities. It also explores how climate resilience and sustainability actions can improve outcomes in urban areas. The primary focus of the course will be on examining these issues within megacities in a global context, with a particular emphasis on these issues in U.S. cities and Morocco. The course will pay special attention to the social, cultural, political, and economic implications of climate change and sustainability decisions”
Adams-Fuller’s background in disaster and emergency management gives the course practical grounding. Students will examine how climate change deepens existing social and cultural vulnerabilities, and how resilience and sustainability decisions can improve life in urban areas. By studying both U.S. cities and Morocco, students will compare how different communities face the same global challenge and what can be learned from each.
Dr. Anaheed Al-Hardan is also an associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology and Criminology, and will also have an upcoming graduate course in 2027. As a global and historical sociologist, her area of research includes anti-colonial social practices and knowledge-making across the Global South. Al-Hardan will take up to 10 students to Trinidad in the course entitled SOCI 890: Empires, Colonialism, Decolonization. See the course description below.
“This course introduces students to these concepts and examines their enduring legacies in contemporary societies, cultures, and institutions in the Caribbean. As part of the course, students will participate in a week-long study abroad experience in Trinidad and Tobago, in collaboration with the University of the West Indies–St. Augustine. Through experiential learning on the twin islands and seminars in the university, students will explore the legacies of the European slave trade and the lived realities of colonialism and postcolonialism in the contemporary Caribbean.”
Al-Hardan’s research on anti-colonial social practices and knowledge-making across the Global South connects directly to what students will study in Trinidad. Seminars at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, paired with experiential learning across the twin islands, will help students understand how the legacies of the European slave trade and colonialism continue to shape the Caribbean today.
Dr. Jennifer Williams is an associate professor of Literature and Writing in Howard University’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Graduate School’s English Department. Her research and teaching interests include twentieth- and twenty-first-century African American literature and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; she will lead ENGL 890: Black Europe, traveling with up to 16 students to Paris and London over spring break.
“This study abroad course examines Black and Diasporic literature through a comparative reading across London and Paris. Through literature, archival texts, and place-based experiential learning, students will explore how Black writers narrate migration, colonialism, race, memory, and belonging in Europe. The course integrates museum and archive visits, walking tours, community engagement, and digital storytelling, allowing students to connect literary analysis to geography, history, and contemporary Black life.”
Williams’ teaching in twentieth- and twenty-first-century African American literature and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies shapes how students will read Black writers across two cities. Students will move between the page and the place, pairing literature and archival texts with museum and archive visits, walking tours, community engagement, and digital storytelling.
Together, these courses show how Graduate School faculty are helping bring the classroom to the world. Whether students are studying climate and urban life in Morocco, colonial legacies in Trinidad, or Black literature in Paris and London, they will return to Howard with a broader view of their field and of the communities they study.
Each experience is built so that learning does not stop when the trip ends. Students prepare before they travel, engage directly with the places and people they have studied, and then bring what they saw back into their coursework. Students interested in applying for Spring 2027 should contact the College of Arts and Sciences or their academic advisor for details on applications and deadlines.