Immersion Experiences

Do you learn best by doing? Participate in an immersion experience that will mold your core values, beliefs, and aspirations. On these programs, you will develop the confidence necessary to act as an informed leader and understand how culture and identity shape struggles for justice.

From experiencing a new culture to visiting historic sites, you will encounter and engage with nonviolence and applied peacemaking in local, domestic, and international contexts. Particular attention is given to efforts to protect human rights and communities engaged in grassroots struggles for the promotion of peace and justice.

Domestic immersion experiences

  • Civil Rights Pilgrimage (U.S. South) - This week-long pilgrimage traverses the U.S. South to experience places and learn about people that comprised the U.S. Southern Civil Rights Movement.
  • EcoJustice Retreat (Neosho, WI) - This one-day retreat at the Catholic Ecology Center explores environmental justice, sustainability, and integral ecology. All faiths and religious backgrounds are welcome.
  • Engaging Muslims, Countering Islamophobia (Detroit, Dearborn, and Hamtramck, MI) - This multi-day experience vists the Muslim American capital of the United States to learn about Islam and Muslim American life.
  • Indigenous Solidarity Immersion - This multi-day experience visits tribal nations in Wisconsin and/or the upper midwest to gain a richer and more holistic understanding of the history, culture, sovereignty, and contemporary lifeways of our hosts.
  • Near West Side (Milwaukee) - Learn about social issues in Milwaukee's Near West Side though this student organization-led immersion experience. As a Marquette student, you are uniquely situated to engage with and respond to these challenges in our neighborhood. This is a service-based program that consists of volunteering at local non-profits and participating in reflections on service and justice in Milwaukee.

Short-term study abroad experiences

  • Faith and Non-violence; Religious Peacebuilding in India (Guwahati, Delhi, and Kohima, India and Paro, Bhutan) - This two-week study abroad program visits significant religious, cultural, and historical sites to learn about India's rich history of nonviolent social movements and religious diversity.
  • Faith and Non-violence; Religious Peacebuilding in Kenya (Nairobi, Kenya and Kigali, Rwanda) - This program is in development with a possible launch date of summer 2025.

Semester-long programs

Marquette offers opportunities to study peacemaking abroad as part of a semester-long, academic and service immersion.

  • Les Aspin Center - Washington D.C. Program (Washington, D.C.) - For either a semester or a summer, work in an internship tailored to your interests and career goals, while also taking classes in D.C. Many placements provide opportunities to work for the promotion of peace and justice.
  • Sibanye Cape Town (Capetown, South Africa) - The program offers an understanding of the people, history, culture and traditions of South Africa through integrated academic course work at the University of the Western Cape and direct immersion into the culture through community-based service. Service learning sites provide opportunities to engage in community education, empowerment, mediation, training, research and more.

Other Marquette service, immersion, and study abroad resources