For Texas A&M University–Central Texas College of Arts and Sciences Dean, Allen Redmon, Ph.D., and English and linguistics Associate Professor Amber Dunai, Ph.D., the majority of their time is spent in classrooms, conference rooms, and office spaces on the second floor of the Beck Family Heritage Hall.
Not for a moment has their place bound physical location constrained their respective imaginations; in fact, anything but. They are proud to be scholars and prouder still to build on and leverage the real-life experiences and imaginations of their students. That, they both agree is where the magic happens.
“We started talking about a study abroad trip about two years ago,” Dunai said. “We wanted our students to explore the connection between public memory and public space first-hand through England’s architecture and art.”
And so it was, they said, that they and 10 A&M-Central Texas students found themselves in London, York, and Canterbury, not there so much to ‘ooooh’ and ‘aaahhhh’ their way through the English city and country sides, but with actual homework to do.
“Study abroad means just that,” Redmon said. “We focused the trip, the related readings, discussions, and assignments around the places we were visiting and the things we were seeing.”
Dunai, herself a scholar of medieval literature and language, explained the kind of learning she was hoping for with her students, added that she and Redmon had created their itinerary around significant historical places like Canterbury Cathedral.
“There is more than a thousand years of history reflected in the cathedral,” she began, referencing Thomas Becket, Edward and King Henry II. “What we are hoping is that our visits to sites like Canterbury Cathedral will show just how interconnected public space, image, and memory are.”
About that. The intersection of public space, image, and memory. Not only did the 10 A&M-Central Texas students who participated in the trip fulfill their assignments, but they also exceeded their professors’ expectations. As did a planned trip to York.
There, on a tour of St. Lawrence Church, the A&M-Central delegation met one of the last surviving D-Day veterans, Ken Cooke, 99, who had landed as a part of the first wave at Gold Beach as a conscript and a private, a member of the 7th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment at only 18 years old.
There, in St. Lawrence Church, they saw both historic stained glass and a more recent addition paying tribute to those WWII veterans which punctuated the very kind of learning that Dunai and Redmon had hoped to show their students.
“It meant a great deal to us and to our students to see their whole perspective of history and memory and art just blossomed with every stop along the way,” Dunai said.
“And to make the trip all the way from Killeen, a place so full of military veterans and heroes, and see the commonalities of D-Day heroes being celebrated was an unforgettable moment from all of us – especially with that date right around the corner.”