LEWISTON – Lands of majestic beauty and intricate ethnic histories were the choice for USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College Leadership Study Abroad program in 2008.

After several months of study examining leadership from a global perspective, several students from USM LAC visited Singapore and Malaysia to explore a number of corporate enterprises.

Familiarizing students with key issues in intercultural leadership, the course provided them with knowledge, tools and experience for becoming effective, globally aware leaders.

The travel was designed to expose students to leadership in a variety of cultural and functional environments, allowing them to experience the concepts they had studied. Numerous site visits gave students an “inside” look at how leadership varies across cultures and acquainted them with some of the finer aspects of conducting business in that part of the world.

Some of the sites visited were Singapore Management University, Clarke Quay, the National Museum of Singapore, Hwa Chong Institution, the Central Sikh Temple, Little India, the Ministry of Education’s Excel Festival, Tea Chapter, the Sri Mariaman Hindu Temple, Malacca Fort, Villa Sentosa, Putrajaya, Batu Caves and Telekom Malaysia.

“These in-depth site visits in a variety of organizations with a diversity of multi-cultural environments help students become more adept in multi-cultural situations and thus more competitive in the global marketplace,” said USM LAC Leadership Professor Tara Grey Coste.

Throughout the program, students examined a wide range of leadership situations and the cultural factors that influence the quality of a leader’s performance in the environments.

The study abroad program will visit Costa Rica in 2009. The University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College offers undergraduate and graduate programs in leadership studies in addition to several certificate programs.

More information about leadership studies may be found online at www.usm.maine.edu/leadership or call 753-6523.