A “McCorkle” is known as several things. It’s known as a building that was demolished to make way for the apartments on Buena Vista University campus.
It’s also the last name of Paul McCorkle and Vivian McCorkle who were both members of the Board of Trustees for BVU, with Paul served as President of the Master Builders of Iowa. But there’s one more McCorkle-related thing that hasn’t been mentioned: the McCorkle trip.
Steven Mills, who currently serves as Chair of the Faculty Senate, explained more about the trip. “It is funded through a donation from Paul and Vivian McCorkle family and the objective is… to give students the opportunity to explore the world, to become better world citizens, to understand themselves and the society better.”
Mills then explained how the faculty members choose each destination. “So, the McCorkle program has two parts… On the first year the faculty propose a trip, and they go somewhere in the world and explore.” Certain faculty members travel to places that correlate with their interests and classes; then, hopefully, come back with ways to improve their courses or with new knowledge to teach.
In the second year , the students come along. Mills explained that, “Two of the faculty members who went on the first trip lead a student trip to the same location with the same overall expectations . . . And then they come back and give a presentation to other students about how they changed or what they learned.”
However, the last McCorkle destination wasn’t selected so easily, “Like the last round we had the one to Hong Kong, we had one to Egypt, and we had one to Italy. And so we didn’t choose Egypt, because Egypt’s too dangerous. There’s a danger level and it had just gone up so we couldn’t do that anyway. So there are all sorts of reasons, but we came down on Hong Kong.” Mills said.
However, the most recent McCorkle destination was not selected so easily. “Like the last round had the one to Hong Kong, we had one to Egypt, and we had one to Italy. And so we didn’t choose Egypt, because Egypt’s too dangerous. There’s a danger level and it had just gone up so we couldn’t do that anyway. So there are all sorts of reasons, but we came down on Hong Kong,” Mills said.
If a student wishes to take part in the McCorkle trip, the student only need to ask a faculty member to recommend them. The faculty member does not need to be the student’s advisor; any faculty member can request any student.
The McCorkle trip is a great opportunity for students who wish to travel. For students who are hesitant to travel, Mills offers some thoughts on why travel is important for students.
But, when you travel — in a secure way — and get to experience these emotions, you have to learn how to adapt and it’s uncomfortable. But by learning how to adapt you learn about yourself, you learn about your environment, you learn about the world and you learn about other people…
I try to encourage students to travel so much because I think it’s what they can’t learn here on campus. But, they can learn it here while at BVU.”
