Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/100231
A Different Direction Another advanAbout ten years ago, Else tage of the locaadministrators realized tion is the ���unparthat the school���s global alleled safety��� study programs were of the region, hal l. Cas a Mil lsa ps��� din ing becoming increassays Fiser. The ingly popular. They crime rate in the began to set aside Yucatan is lower than funds to purchase it is in the rest of Mexico; property overseas so in fact, Fiser notes that that they could offer crime rates compare to those global experiences in Wyoming or Montana. to students more That information tends to affordably and ease the concerns of worried conveniently. ���We parents, he adds. thought it would be smarter to For More Than Business S tu d e nt s vi si t a n a rc ha e invest in a propThe center now achieves Else ol og ic a l la nd m a rk ne a r M e ri d a , M e xi co erty, rather than administrators��� original goal: to . hotel rooms,��� says Harvey Fiser, simplify Else���s study programs associate professor of business law. in the region. During winter They wanted to purchase a buildand summer breaks, for example, where students would be close to ing that could provide both living Fiser travels to the Yucat��n with local amenities and bus routes. accommodations and classrooms, undergraduate business students The property sits on a cul-deas well as offer the potential to who take global business courses sac, near a judicial office building, generate revenue in the future. that range from international busitwo small commercial facilities, and But when administrators looked ness law to marketing and manageseveral single-family homes. After into purchasing property in Europe, ment. Students can see the impact of ten months of renovations, Else where Else faculty have been taking opened Casa Millsaps to students international trade firsthand through students for more than 20 years, the and faculty in December 2006. their visits to the large number of cost turned out to be too great. ���We Since then, the school has added farms and factories in the area. (See were simply priced out of that mara second story to the structure and ���A Day in Merida,��� page 46.) ket,��� Fiser says. part of a third. Casa Millsaps now During the summer, the Else has nine bedrooms, nine and a School also uses the center as part With Europe off the table, the half bathrooms, a small swimming of its International Cultural Awareschool turned its attention to Mexpool, and a third-floor terrace. ness Program (ICAP) for high ico. Else���s global study programs The air-conditioned facility also school seniors from across the U.S. in the Yucat��n were much younger features a dining hall that seats 25, In ICAP, students visit Millsaps than its programs in Europe���in a conference room/classroom that College for five days, where faculty place only since 2002���but the desseats 20, wireless access, and a flat introduce them to the international tination���s popularity among students screen television. aspects of disciplines such as ecohad been steadily growing. Even Building within Merida���s zoning nomics, accounting, anthropology, better, the cost of real estate in the codes turned out to be much simpler archeology, and geology. Yucat��n was well within the school���s than it would have been in a EuroThen, ICAP students travel to budget. Faculty spent several months the Yucat��n for a week to put what pean city, says Fiser. Under Merida exploring Merida, to decide whether they have just learned into action. codes, the school had no trouble to choose a site in the suburbs or They visit factories, farms, and establishing an educational center in in the city���s center. In the end, they archeological sites. One highlight a mixed-use neighborhood. purchased a home in the city���s center, BizEd January/February 2013 45