Lender Global

group of people posing in front of a stone wall
Syracuse Santiago students learn about environmental policies at the Senedd in Wales.

Launched in Spring 2025, Lender Global is a partnership between the Lender Center and Syracuse Abroad. Designed to further Syracuse University’s vision of “preparing citizens, scholars and leaders for participation in a changing global society,” the initiative is designed to highlight social justice issues and themes in a global context for students abroad.

Each academic year, one Syracuse Abroad Center is designated as that year’s “Lender Global Partner.” The selected center identifies a clear social justice theme and facilitates programming to engage students in scholarship and action around the theme.

Spring 2025: London – International Education and Climate Justice

several people inside a building wearing hard hats and work coats
Students dig into Wales’s coal mining past and efforts to move beyond fossil fuels.

Focused on environment, sustainability and policy, the 2025 Lender Global Fellows explored innovative engagements with environmental issues in England and Wales. Three Lender Global Student Fellows were selected to explore key themes within environmental justice and participate with larger groups of students exploring “Green Britain.” Led by Becca Farnum, the students visited sites in London, Cardiff and Cornwall to research key themes and initiatives.

2025-26: Santiago, Chile – Human Rights and Historical Memory

The 1973 military coup in Chile made more than 3,000 persons victims of death or disappearance under the Pinochet dictatorship. Some 200,000 suffered exile, while approximately 27,500 others were tortured. Those who survived experienced human rights abuses through the systematic implementation of violence and fear as a formula for “stability.”

The Lender Global project in Santiago will provide students an opportunity to bear witness to atrocity, to the United States’ role in it, and to what happens after. Students will learn about the region’s difficult history in the course, “Dictatorships, Human Rights, and Historical Memory in Chile and the Southern Cone.” Other course offerings will highlight the art, culture and institutions Chile has rebuilt since the return of civilian rule in 1990.

group of students in front of a large mountain range
Students learn about Patagonia as part of the Syracuse Santiago program.

The Santiago project will occur in both Fall 2025 and Spring 2026. In Fall 2025, the program is primarily in Spanish, with students exploring archives and press coverage to examine the issues of collateral killings and human rights abuses. In Spring 2026, the program is primarily in English, and students will focus on amplifying victims’ identities and stories. Lender Global Fellows will work with Syracuse Santiago Director, Dr. Mauricio Paredes, and the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (the Museum of Memory and Human Rights) to help memorialize those who suffered and to learn more about these past atrocities.

Learn more about applying to the Syracuse Santiago program