A new means of financing study-abroad classes in tight financial times was the topic of a recent “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Dr. Mark Byrnes, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, first aired Dec. 15 on WMOT-FM (89.5 and www.wmot.org ). You can listen to their conversation here.

Dr. Mark Byrnes

The College of Liberal Arts in January will begin offering five scholarships of up to $500 each for experiential learning activities to liberal arts majors.

Applicants must have completed 30 credit hours before the semester in which the award will be made. At least 15 of those credit hours must have been earned at MTSU. A GPA of 2.5 or higher is required.

The stipends can apply to either faculty-led study-abroad programs or credit-bearing unpaid internships. The deadline for meeting the criteria and filing the paperwork is Feb. 6, 2015.

More information is available from the College of Liberal Arts at 615-898-2534 or www.mtsu.edu/liberalarts.

“Clearly, we believe in the importance of classroom instruction, homework, lectures, discussions and everything we do here on campus,” said Byrnes, “but an extremely important complement to that is real-life experience. I think it’s really vital to a complete college education.”

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

A video clip from the interview can be seen below.