PG Around the Globe

December 2022 News

In this issue…

Travel to Berlin SOLD OUT! Limited virtual spots remaining

2023 Destinations: virtual South Africa & Switzerland

Global Course Spotlight! MT314: Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Global Faculty Spotlight! Motorcycle research takes PG instructor on a ride around the world

Travel to Berlin SOLD OUT! Limited virtual spots remaining

Travel spots for the Business in Berlin Education Abroad trip in April, 2023 SOLD OUT in record time!  While there are no travel seats remaining, if you’d like to participate virtually, apply for a virtual spot as soon as possible before the extended deadline of December 1st.

The virtual Berlin trip includes participation in live and pre-recorded events with German business and culture experts. The course fee for the virtual option is $350 and is aid-eligible, depending on degree plan.

There are currently virtual Berlin spots available as part of two graduate enrollment options:

●        MBA students may enroll in GB602: MBA Capstone-Global Option (2302E), a NEW alternative to the traditional MBA capstone course (GB601).

●        Other graduate programs and SBIT Alumni may enroll in GB529: Building Global Competence (2302E), a 1-credit hour Education Abroad elective.  This is a great participation option if you graduate before April.

Upon satisfactory completion of all coursework requirements, all Education Abroad participants are eligible to receive the Global Competence Certificate (GCC) and digital badge, an internationally recognized mark of the ability to employ principles of intercultural awareness in professional and social settings.

Check out the PG Education Abroad Handbook for more details, including other upcoming locations, dates, pricing, and policies, and contact PG Education Abroad with any questions.

2023 Destinations: virtual South Africa & Switzerland

If you’d like to include an Education Abroad experience in your studies, plan ahead now for a future destination! In 2023, in addition to Berlin, SBIT will also virtually visit South Africa in July during 2302E/2304E and travel to Switzerland in 2304C/2306E. 

If you’re looking even further ahead, 2024 schedules and locations will be announced in early 2023, so stay tuned.

If you’re not quite ready to participate in an international experience but want to stay in the loop, register for the PG Education Abroad mailing list to receive notice of upcoming opportunities. You can also contact PG Education Abroad with any questions.

Global Course Spotlight! MT314: Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

MT314: Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship is part of the BS in Sustainability, Economics concentration (SoGE) and new BSBA Sustainability in Hospitality concentration. MT314 is a relevant course for today's rising entrepreneurs because it doesn’t simply focus on the traditional view of developing a business model for the singular purpose of generating a profit.  The course introduces students to the concept of global citizenship while designing their for-profit or non-profit business model to help solve real world problems in innovative ways to become agents of social change.

Students visit the United Nations’ website to examine social issues affecting the global world. The United Nations has identified 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) for the over 193 member countries to strive for to ensure peace and prosperity for all people and the well-being of our planet going forward. Course Lead Tina Engle says, “I encourage my students to view these goals and to determine if there is a way to align their social business idea with one of the goals to help with the effort to address the world’s most serious problems.”

Contact your advisor if you’d like to learn more about MT314.

Global Faculty Spotlight! Motorcycle research takes PG faculty member on a ride around the world

In 2012, Purdue Global adjunct faculty member Diane Sykes became interested in researching the travel and tourism habits of motorcyclists. It was a fairly undeveloped field at the time. She collaborated with Purdue colleague Dr. Kathryn Kelly, and together they traveled to Ireland for their first research presentation. They later had two articles published on motorcycle tourism. During that time, Sykes became acquainted with Dr. Carl Cater, who was researching motorcycle tourism in Wales. In a subsequent article, Sykes’ partnered with Penn State researchers Dr. Quadri-Felitti and Feier Chan to examine the supply side of motorcycle tourism. It was these publications that led Dr. Mehmet Ertaş from Turkey to reach out to Sykes about co-authoring an international study on travel motivators of motorcyclists to determine whether group membership influenced those choices. Sykes reached out to Dr. Cater to add the United Kingdom to the study. At about the time that they had finished data collection, they were contacted by the editors of Journal of Tourism Science (Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft) which is usually published in German. The editors were planning a special issue on motorcycling, which provided Sykes and her research partners with yet another great opportunity to collaborate internationally and discover more about how riders are the same (and different) around the world. Those findings are summarized in the article "Effects of Motorcycle Group Membership on the Ride Experience and Travel Motivators: A comparison between the USA, the UK, and Turkey", which is in the process of being published. If you’d like to learn more about their research, contact Sykes directly at dsykes@purdueglobal.edu.

Diane Sykes, MBA, MSIDT, CTFA has been teaching online since 2009, initially with Kaplan University, now Purdue Global. She is one of the founders and former owners of Steel Steeds Motorcycle Campground. She teaches in the fields of Hospitality/Tourism, Marketing, and Business, and her research interests are e-learning, tourism – especially motorcycle tourism - as well as niche marketing and marketing to subcultures.  If you’d like to learn more about Sykes’ research, contact her directly at dsykes@purdueglobal.edu.