abroad.las.iastate.edu

What is LAS Study Abroad?

LAS Study Abroad is the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences study-abroad office at Iowa State University. It arranges international study, work, and service opportunities for Iowa State students, and it also supports faculty and staff who lead or facilitate learning abroad. Programs come in three main shapes: short break trips, summer sessions, and full semesters.

What it offers

• Break programs (fall, winter, spring): short, immersive trips for students who want an international experience without committing a full term.
• Summer programs: options range from faculty-led sessions abroad—such as studying at a university in Spain—to topic-driven programs like examining how Berlin's tech industry affects German artistic culture.
• Semester programs: intensive language study or subject immersion in places such as Cáceres, Spain, or Urbino, Italy.
• An all-programs view for students who care more about timing or a specific subject than about program type.

Who it's for Any Iowa State student can use the office, not just liberal arts majors. If you are weighing a short first trip against a longer immersion, the break programs lower the risk and cost of a first attempt; semester programs suit students who need language progress or a deep cultural dive tied to their major.

A practical next step The office's own suggested route is to schedule an appointment, or ask about an information session, before browsing further. Bring a rough idea of your available term, budget, and whether you need courses that count toward your degree—those three answers narrow the list quickly.

Where to look

• LAS Study Abroad for college-run programs and advising.
• The broader ISU Study Abroad site for additional options beyond LAS.

How to choose

One trade-off worth naming: short programs are easier to fit into a packed degree plan but give you less language gain and less day-to-day immersion. Semester programs deliver more depth but demand earlier planning around required courses and graduation timing.

How do I schedule an appointment with LAS Study Abroad?

Schedule an appointment through the LAS Study Abroad website: the page includes a “Schedule an appointment” link, and also invites you to “Contact us to set up an information session.” Use the appointment route for individual advising; use the contact route if you are asking on behalf of a group, class or student organization.

Before you book, decide what you need from the meeting. The office supports international study, work and service opportunities, and its programs are open to all Iowa State students, not only liberal arts and sciences majors. That means an adviser can help even if your major sits elsewhere.

A short pre-meeting checklist:

• Program length: fall, winter or spring break; summer; semester; or academic year.
• Goal: language study, coursework, an internship or work experience, or service.
• Destination interest, if you have one — the page names examples such as Cáceres, Spain and Urbino, Italy for semester language and culture programs, and Berlin and Valencia for summer options.
• Timing question: whether you want to go soon or plan a year ahead.
• Funding and credit questions, so you can raise them directly rather than discovering them later.

If you are early in the process, a break or summer program is often the easier first conversation because the commitment is shorter. If language fluency or a full immersion term is the goal, a semester program is the more natural starting point.

Next step: open the LAS Study Abroad site, follow the appointment link, and bring your top two program types and one destination idea to the meeting. If you want to browse beyond LAS offerings first, the page points to the broader ISU Study Abroad site, ISU Study Abroad.

What types of study abroad programs does LAS Study Abroad offer?

LAS Study Abroad, part of Iowa State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, organizes programs in three main formats based on length and timing.

Program types

• Break programs (fall, winter, spring): Short, immersive trips that fit into academic breaks. Best for students who want a first international experience or cannot commit a full term.
• Summer programs: Ranging from faculty-led sessions (for example, a six-week program at Universidad de Valencia in Spain) to topic-focused work such as Berlin's tech industry and its effect on German artistic culture. Useful when you want a focused subject or language boost without missing fall or spring classes.
• Semester programs: Term-length immersion, including intensive language study in places such as Cáceres, Spain, and Urbino, Italy. Suited to students who need significant language progress or deep cultural exposure.
• Academic year and other options: The college also describes year-length study, plus work and service opportunities, and points to the broader ISU Study Abroad site for additional choices.

How to choose

A practical next step is to schedule an appointment with LAS Study Abroad to discuss your major's requirements and timing. If you want to compare options beyond the college, see ISU Study Abroad.

Are LAS Study Abroad programs open to all Iowa State students?

Yes. LAS Study Abroad states that it provides international study, work, and service opportunities for all Iowa State students, not just students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Its program list also includes an "Open to all or multiple opportunities?" category, which suggests some options are intentionally broad, while others may be tied to a specific college, major or faculty-led course.

For a student outside LAS, that means the office is still a reasonable first stop, but you should verify eligibility for each specific program before planning around it. A College of Engineering student, for example, might find a summer faculty-led program that accepts multiple majors, while a semester language program could have prerequisites or college-specific credit approval.

H3 Practical next step

Use the program type as your first filter:

• Fall, winter or spring break: short immersive options, often easier to fit around a packed major.
• Summer: faculty-led and partner programs, including options such as studying in Valencia, Spain.
• Semester: intensive language or culture-focused programs, such as in Cáceres, Spain or Urbino, Italy.
• All programs: the broadest view, including "open to all or multiple" opportunities.

Then schedule an appointment with LAS Study Abroad to confirm whether your college, major and credit needs fit a given program. If you want a wider set of options beyond LAS, Iowa State's central study abroad office is the natural comparison point: ISU Study Abroad.

What upcoming events and deadlines should I know about for LAS Study Abroad?

The LAS Study Abroad page does not list specific event dates or deadlines in the information available here; it only points to an "Upcoming events and deadlines" section with a "Browse All Events" link. So the honest answer is: you need to open that events listing (or contact the office directly) to get actual dates.

What you can act on now

• Browse the events calendar. The page's "Upcoming events and deadlines" area is the intended place for time-sensitive information such as info sessions, application cut-offs, and scholarship deadlines. Check it before planning anything else.
• Schedule an appointment. The office explicitly invites students to book a meeting, and also offers to set up an information session on request. This is the fastest way to get dates for the specific program type you want.
• Match your timeline to a program length. The office organizes options into three buckets, which is useful for judging how far ahead you need to plan.

A practical example

Suppose you are an Iowa State student in a science major with a packed fall and spring sequence. A break program is the realistic route, but break trips often have early application windows that close months in advance. That makes the events page and an advising appointment urgent now, not next term.

Decision criterion

If you already know your target term, treat the events listing as your deadline source and book an appointment to confirm eligibility and requirements. If you are still undecided, start with an appointment and ask which program types have upcoming deadlines you could still meet.

For a wider set of options beyond the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the page itself directs students to the university's main study abroad site.

How can faculty and staff get support for leading study abroad programs?

Faculty and staff at Iowa State can get support from LAS Study Abroad to facilitate learning opportunities abroad. The office states that it supports faculty and staff in this role, and that it works through partner organizations to offer a range of program options, including short-term, semester-length, and academic year programs. In practice, that means the office is the first point of contact for an instructor or staff member who wants to lead or develop an abroad program rather than simply join one.

How to start

• Schedule an appointment with LAS Study Abroad to discuss your idea. The site presents appointments and information sessions as the main way to engage.
• Check the upcoming events and deadlines listing before you plan, since proposal and application timelines are usually tied to those dates.
• If your program idea falls outside the LAS portfolio, the office points to the broader ISU Study Abroad site for additional options.

What kind of support to expect The page describes support for facilitating learning abroad and for partnering with organizations that provide program options. That framing suggests help with the program structure and placement side — for example, connecting a faculty-led course to an existing short-term, summer, or semester format — rather than only marketing an already-built program. Faculty-led summer programs are explicitly mentioned as part of the summer offerings, so an instructor proposing a summer course abroad is working within a format the office already handles.

A concrete scenario A Spanish instructor wants to run a six-week summer program at a university in Spain. The natural first step is to book an appointment with LAS Study Abroad, bring a rough outline of dates, course content, and expected enrollment, and ask which existing partner arrangements or program formats fit. From there, the office can indicate what partner organizations or ISU processes are involved and what deadlines apply.

For comparison, the broader university study abroad office at ISU Study Abroad is the place to look when your program does not fit the LAS portfolio or you want to see the full set of options.