MTSU will put the world at its students’ fingertips at its annual Study Abroad Fair Wednesday, Nov. 19, in the Student Union’s first-floor lobby.

The event, which provides students with information about studying in other countries, is slated for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 19.

Tiffany Bickers, director of MTSU’s Office of Education Abroad, said students can obtain information from about 30 tables staffed by study-abroad personnel.

About 20 of those tables will provide information on faculty-led programs, she said, while other tables will have information about organizations and consortia that also offer educational excursions.

Tiffany Bickers

Bickers said 415 MTSU students took advantage of study-abroad trips during the 2013-14 academic year.

“Out of that 415, definitely over 50 percent participated in faculty-led programs,” she said.

The Office of Education Abroad reported that global studies majors led the number of students taking study-abroad courses during the last academic year.

Mass communication, foreign language, art, recording industry, international relations, speech and theatre, organizational communication, animal science, biology, English and psychology majors also participated in study-abroad courses in 2013-14.

While the Study Abroad Fair is in progress on the first floor of the Student Union, workshops on scholarships to help pay for the educational trips will be underway on the second floor in Room 201.

Workshops are slated for 10:30 to 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 1:30 p.m. These workshops will offer information on Fulbright grants, Gilman scholarships, Boren scholarships and fellowships and Critical Language Scholarships.

Critical Language Scholarships, also known as CLS, provide overseas language training in Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and Urdu.

“They’ll want to start six to 12 months in advance in order to access as many scholarships as possible, because the deadlines are so early,” Bickers said.

MTSU’S International Education and Exchange Committee also allocates about $250,000 in study-abroad scholarships each year.

Bickers said students who want to study in other countries next summer or in fall 2015 should seek assistance before winter break. Study-abroad students will be on hand at the fair to provide testimonials about their own experiences.

“We want it to, of course, be rigorous academically, but we also want it to be fun and full of learning, not just in the classroom but outside of the classroom,” Bickers said.

The Study Abroad Fair is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Office of Education Abroad at 615-898-5179 or Bickers at tiffany.bickers@mtsu.edu.

For information about Boren, Fulbright, Gilman and CLS scholarships, contact Laura Clippard in the University Honors College at 615-898-5464 or laura.clippard@mtsu.edu.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

Here’s a recap of the fair and program: