Dr. Kelli Carroll, assistant professor of biology, and Dr. Lori Cruze, associate professor of biology, were named 2025 IES Abroad Faculty-Led Program Award winners. The award provides grants to support faculty-led study abroad programs focusing on one or more of the organization’s global pillars: sustainable living, equitable living and human well-being.
Carroll and Cruze were granted $10,000 by IES Abroad to help fund their Interim trip to the Galápagos Islands and Ecuador. The grant money went directly to students. “That was really the only way we would have applied that, because it is an expensive trip,” Cruze said.
A large focus of the course was exploring the flora and fauna in the Galápagos Islands and examining how Charles Darwin’s observations there led to the theory of evolution by natural selection. Before departing campus, students researched then gave presentations on animals native to the islands.
Within hours of landing, the class boated out to snorkel in the waters around Kicker Rock, a solitary formation nearly three miles off the coast of San Cristobal — one of 13 islands that make up the Galápagos Islands. There they had close encounters with the animals they studied.
“It was just an incredible experience,” Cruze says. “The water was so clear. We saw schools of hammerhead sharks swimming below us, sea turtles, rays. I’ve snorkeled a lot, but I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“We had sea lions jumping in the water with us,” Carroll says.
The class also saw plenty of the land-based animals Darwin focused on in his research, including Galápagos tortoises and several species of finches.
Beyond the animal biology component of the coursework, Carroll and Cruze also had students journal about their experiences traveling during the trip. The students wrote an opinion piece about the effects of tourism, a huge topic of discussion for a secluded natural habitat.
According to Cruze, the Galápagos Islands’ residents take environmental protection and ecotourism seriously. Before the class arrived on the archipelago, the plane from Ecuador was fumigated while in the air.
“There is a pretty rigorous screening process when you’re going to the Galápagos Islands at the airport itself, so that you’re not bringing in any invasive species,” Cruze says.
On the island, the class was astonished by how many ways the inhabitants implemented waste-reduction measures to combat negative effects of its tourism economy.
“There was hardly any takeaway or to-go. They really minimized single-use plastic,” Cruze says. “So, when you went to a restaurant, you had a real plate, real silverware. We even went to an Asian-inspired restaurant in Santa Cruz where they brought us real chopsticks. It was incredible.”
This trip was one of more than a dozen study abroad experiences offered during Interim. Wofford ranks as the No. 6 baccalaureate college in the nation for the participation in study abroad for academic credit (Institute of International Education’s 2024 Open Doors report). The college also is No. 3 for short-term study abroad participation among baccalaureate colleges.