This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Office of International Education’s EnCompass program, a fully funded, short-term study abroad initiative aimed at eliminating barriers for students who might not otherwise consider going abroad during their four years at UR, whether it be because of finances, fear, academic obligations, or the unfamiliarity of international travel.

Since its launch in 2019, EnCompass has been a guiding light for students who may be reluctant to take on international travel or whose academic requirements make studying abroad difficult. For example, due to their intense training and competition schedules, student-athletes often can’t travel abroad. 

During one fall break, eight student-athletes traveled to Costa Rica on a program tailored to their schedules to explore themes of sustainability, social justice, and sport. They visited an Indigenous reserve, learned Caribbean folk culture and conducted youth sports clinics. 

DeLonnie Hunt, a sophomore men’s basketball player and film studies major, wrote in a note of thanks, “I never expected to have this experience and can now see what I was missing. I woke up to spider monkey calls and went to sleep grateful for learning about a new place and new capacity within myself.”

EnCompass has taken 118 students and 30 faculty and staff leaders on journeys to 13 countries. Past offerings have included trips to Chile (“Political Leadership and Democracy”), Thailand and Cambodia (“NGOs and Social Healing”), and Germany (“American Blackness in Berlin”).

EnCompass encourages students within the first two years of their Richmond experience to participate in these trips and apply their global learnings to their studies and their lives long after they return.

Martha Merritt, dean of international education, who joined the University of Richmond in 2015, planted the seeds for EnCompass.

“There was already short-term programming popping up all over campus,” Merritt said. “The chaplaincy and SSIR (Sophomore Scholars in Residence) have run fantastic programs for students, and EnCompass was an opportunity for the Office of International Education to add another dimension to these programs.”

Her goal was to provide faculty-led, accessible opportunities for study abroad during spring break and a half-credit course during the semester that offers context and local experiences before the trip.

EnCompass students participate in community engagement and fieldwork in the Richmond area before they leave the U.S. In the 2023–24 offering “South Africa: Environmental Racism,” students partnered with the Center for Civic Engagement to conduct a case study of water and air samples taken from Jackson Ward and Windsor Farms — neighborhoods 4 miles away from campus, but with drastically different living conditions.

“If they see it in Richmond first, they see it under their own noses, so they get the sense that this is a human condition,” Merritt said. “Global challenges are not outside of the U.S. They are everywhere.”

On one EnCompass trip last Spring, biology professor Kristine Grayson and chemistry professor Jon Dattelbaum led an expedition to New Zealand called “Conservation and Restoration: From the River City to Aotearoa.” The professors are excited to return in May 2025 and lead students in an immersive experience and to explore more themselves.

“One of the coolest experiences was hiking at night up to one of the only mainland locations where a particular endangered seabird nests,” Grayson said. “The birds began to circle around us, and we witnessed firsthand the restoration work.”

Students read literature on Māori culture during a half-unit course on campus, preparing for the experiences they would encounter in the coming weeks.

“A few times during the lead-up, I wondered, ‘Is this really sticking?’” Grayson said. “Then, while on the trip, students would say, ‘I remember this. We talked about this!’ It was so exciting to see how much they were thinking about these experiences before, during, and after.”

“Our learning about how to do this best has taken years,” Merritt said. “And now I feel we have a recipe that works for the University of Richmond; we can begin to extend and explore future possibilities.”