FSU-Panama is located on the prestigious City of Knowledge campus, a large educational and research complex that includes several international organizations, research and teaching institutions, and international as well as local businesses. It is the cornerstone of an effort to utilize innovation, entrepreneurial culture and sustainability to fully develop Panama and Latin America. The University is among elite international organizations, such as the United Nations, Unicef, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Peace Corp, and the World Wildlife Federation.
The University’s recently renovated building boasts classrooms, science laboratories, computer labs, administrative offices, and a student lounge. The FSU-Panama Library, located in an adjacent building, boasts the largest English-language collection in the country. Students are housed in shared, duplex accommodation in the same area of the City of Knowledge as the United Nations.
In addition to all the City of Knowledge offers our students, they are able to immerse themselves into Panamanian history, culture and ecology. As the ‘Crossroads of the Americas’ situated as the southernmost country in North/Central America, Panama boasts the shortest distance between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. The Panama Canal, which is located literally across the street from the City of Knowledge, plays a vital part of the global marketplace, with over 15,000 ships traversing the canal annually. From Fall 2010 semester onwards, all students will be required to take either LAN1093 Latin America: A Cross-Cultural History or LAH3456 History of Panama Since 1940.
Excursions
Panama’s historic sites, dynamic business environment, and unspoiled terrain yield a wide variety of specialized excursions to extend learning beyond the classroom. With short trips, students are able to tour the engineering marvels of the Panama Canal Locks and Visitors’ Center; explore Colonial Panama, Old Panama, and Cosmopolitan Panama; visit the indigenous communities of the Embera Indians surrounded by freshwater rapids; and discover the San Blas Islands, home to the Kuna Indians, surrounded by the pristine waters of the Caribbean Sea. Students learn about their culture, dances, food, handicrafts, and customs. Additionally, there are opportunities to visit international prize-winning coffee plantations, participate in hikes and ecotourism, zip-line through the tropical rain forest, rappel down a waterfall, go deep sea fishing, sunbathe, snorkel, and even surf. Lush rain forests and local markets await.
Eligibility
This program is open to all interested students.
Housing
At the new facilities, students live in furnished apartments a short walk from the main classroom building. (The walk is about 20 minutes – a distance that is similar to walking on the Tallahassee Campus from the University Center to Rovetta.) Each apartment has three bedrooms, living-dining area, fully equipped kitchen, and at least two bathrooms (although this may change in the future as additional facilities are built.) Sport facilities for basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer, football, and volleyball - plus a swimming pool and gym - are just one street away. The houses are on a university dorm street adjacent to various United Nations offices, international organizations, technological parks, and research centers. Other international universities with local and study abroad programs will be represented as well, allowing for possible networking with our students.
