UT Tyler Students to Explore Germany During Study Abroad Program

July 17, 2025 | Hannah Buchanan

Participants will learn about political leadership and decisions that led to WWII

Students at The University of Texas at Tyler will participate in a summer 2025 study abroad program course Aug. 5 – 20, in Germany. While there, participants will learn about the political ideology as well as the political leadership and decisions that led to World War II.

Dr. Robert “Bob” Sterken, UT Tyler professor of political science, will lead the course.

Throughout their time in Germany, students will read about and visit key locations like the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Bridge of Spies, Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Dietrich Bonfoeffer’s Haus, Wannsee Conference House, German Resistance Memorial Center, Stasi Museum, the Berlin Wall Memorial, Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp and the German Reichstag.

“Students will also attend lectures by German scholars at several of these sites and will attend a full day seminar, by a German political science professor, at the German Resistance Memorial,” said Sterken, who has led UT Tyler study abroad courses for nearly 15 years. “This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn about World War II history firsthand.”

UT Tyler student participants listed by hometown with major are:

ARP – Brice Wallace, history.

ATHENS – Nixon Gorka, history.

DIANA – Joel Moore, accounting.

HENDERSON – Benjamin Houston, economics.

LINDALE – Kristina Dearing, political science.

LONGVIEW – Simon Griffith, kinesiology; and Shailyn Higginbotham and Zachary Taylor, political science.

MINEOLA – Gavin Parker, finance.

PALESTINE – Rashad Mims, civil engineering.

TYLER – Leilani Hurtado, political science.

This program is facilitated by the UT Tyler Office of International Programs, College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Political Science.

Through its international programs office, UT Tyler offers faculty-led study abroad programs that align with students’ academic goals and personal interests. To learn more, call 903.565.5960 or email studyabroad@uttyler.edu.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 10,000 students. Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.