We are glad that you are interested in the Farmer School of Business International Summer Program in Costa Rica. If you have any questions that are not covered here, please feel free to ask anyone associated with the program.

The International Summer Programs through the Farmer School of Business are open to all majors at Miami who meet the course and program prerequisites by May 2010. Students participating in this workshop will take BUS 399 (4 credit hours) and BUS 420 (2 credit hours). Students must complete all six credit hours. No exceptions are possible.

Prerequisites for the Costa Rica summer workshop are junior standing (58+ hours) by the May prior to departure and 2.60 G.P.A. by January 2010.

Business students as well as non-business students are welcome. No knowledge of Spanish is required. An LAS thematic sequence is offered within this workshop.

Miami University business professors and guest faculty teach courses that satisfy requirements of the business curriculum. The program lasts four weeks and provides six hours of Miami credit. The daily itinerary consists of class lectures, company visits, and cultural field trips. Orientation programs during second semester provide information and advising to the students enrolled, as well as an opportunity to meet fellow students and the faculty.

Second Semester Expectations

Second semester expectations: During second semester there is a time commitment equivalent to one credit hour that addresses class, cultural, and weekend travel preparations. Please be advised of this expectation in the spring prior to your trip, as it can add to your course workload. Costa Rica will meet most Tuesdays from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.     NOTE: There is no registration involved in the spring; all six credit hours are taken in Summer I.

Courses

Thirty students will be enrolled in this workshop.

BUS 399: Environmental Sustainability and Business in Costa Rica (4 credit hours)

At the turn of the 21st century the Millennium Goals of the United Nations provides a framework within which developing nations promote sustainable development. Sustainable development combines concern for economic progress and the elimination of poverty with awareness of environmental limits. It raises questions of population, poverty affluence, fairness, and the resource, energy and pollution-intensity of production and technology. It also raises issues of the role of business, government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), markets, transnational corporations and globalization in either creating sustainability or moving further away from it. It also requires us to think about the theoretical, policy and cultural boundaries among economy, society and nature.

This course assesses long-term ecological and economic sustainability as goals for society and examines the resources required to attain these goals. It then investigates mechanisms for allocating scarce resources towards the desired goals (a common definition of economics) with a specific emphasis on Costa Rica. How do we put a price on the rain forest? What is fair trade? Fair to whom? The questions of sustainability are easy to raise and hard to answer. In this course we develop tools and paradigms that offer insight—not always answers—to these tough problems.

The course adopts a problem-based learning (PBL) approach: students work in groups on specific problems, applying the theoretical framework of sustainable economics to these problems and drawing on insights and methods from various disciplines as needed. We stress analysis, synthesis, and communication. Through visits to locations from Costa Rican coffee plantations to Chiquita Plantations in Costa Rica, we develop a hands-on, experiential understanding of some of the more salient issues in sustainability.

Taught by Drs.Glenn Platt and Janice Kinghorn.

Dr. Glenn Platt, plattgj@muohio.edu, 2045A Farmer School of Business, 529-6666.

Dr. Janice Kinghorn, kinghornj@muohio.edu, 233 Johnston Hall, 513-727-3311.

BUS 420: The Environment for Business in Costa Rica (2 credit hours) - Offered as Credit/No Credit only.

The BUS 420 course consists of three components. The first component is a series of discussions about the Costa Rican economic and business environment, including its cultural and political background, conducted during the semester prior to departure. The second component is another series of lectures which add the perspectives of Costa Rican academic, business or government leaders. The third component is a set of field experiences related to the lecture series and the courses offered at the site.

Last modified on 9/11/09 | Content maintained by International Programs