“In the past we were offering only three credits,” said Theodore Drab, associate professor and interior design program coordinator.

DHM undergraduate students will possibly have the opportunity to acquire six college credits while in Italy. DHM 4423: Heritage III, and DHM 5810: Design, Housing and Merchandising in Northern Italy.

“We have been charged with the goal to expose more students to a global experience,” Paulette Hebert, department head of DHM, said.

Not only is DHM encouraging a global learning experience, but also OSU/A&M Board of Regents and OSU President Marlene Strathe are endorsing it. This year, the board supported the goal that 100 percent of OSU graduates have an international education experience.

“This goal is not only attainable, but clearly within the mission of our University,” Strathe wrote in her “Message from the President” newsletter published, Sept. 17, 2007.

The first DHM Italy trip was taken in the summer of 2004, with Drab at the helm.  Each trip is made possible by Cassamarca Foundation in Italy.  One of the major goals of the foundation is to inform university students, from around the world, about what is going on in Northern Italy.

“It’s a very intense experience, but very fulfilling,” Drab said.

During the month of May, students begin their three-week Italian excursion, where they stay in an ex-convent turned school in the city of Treviso, just outside Venice.

Students’ days are filled with tours of various factories, manufacturers, and stores, allowing them to see many aspects of design and production.  They also tour museums, write reports, keep a sketchbook and study the language.

However, it is not all work; students do get free time to explore the cities and towns on their own.

“I loved getting to see some the actual things I learned about in class,” Natalie Roller, an interior design senior, said.

While wanting to study abroad is one thing, affording it is quite another.  Fortunately, scholarships are available for students who wish to participate in a study abroad program.

“Scholarships paid for quite a bit of my trip,” Roller said.

Roller was given awards from the OSU Study Abroad Office, The college of Human Environmental Sciences, and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA)-Texas/Oklahoma chapter.

The DHM Italy trip allows for more than the opportunity to further students’ knowledge about interior design, apparel design, or merchandising, it gives them the chance to be immersed in another culture.

“I am so thankful that I got to be apart of such an amazing learning experience,” Roller said.  “Everyone should do it.”