Ekin Pellegrini (center back, holding pennant), associate dean of graduate business programs in the Ed G. Smith College of Business, stands with students from her International Management class outside the Intiñan Solar Museum in Quito, Ecuador. Several graduate and undergraduate students in the course took advantage of a new travel component that sent them to Ecuador Oct. 11-18 to get a firsthand look at supply chains, quality control and the ways cultural values shape business practices in a different country. (Photos submitted by Ekin Pellegrini)
Olivia Smith never imagined studying abroad would be an option for her. In her early 30s, with a full-time job, she figured the opportunity to travel internationally as a student had passed her by.
Then she transferred to the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
A year later, Smith was standing in Ecuador, experiencing international business firsthand as part of UMSL’s International Management class. The experience reflected how UMSL and the Ed G. Smith College of Business are committed to hands-on learning, giving students the opportunity to take concepts beyond the classroom and see how business works in a different cultural context.
“I thought something like that was only for the traditional students who come out of high school and go right to college, but UMSL is so good about encouraging people to explore more than just the culture that they know,” said Smith, now 32, who transferred from St. Charles Community College and is on pace to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an accounting minor in December 2027. “And the College of Business really wants you to travel, they really want you to experience the world, and they provide so many opportunities.”
Financial assistance helps make those opportunities accessible, too. Smith, who also works as a business manager for several offices in Woods Hall and has entered the College of Business’ accelerated MBA program, said learning how much scholarship support was available made the prospect of studying abroad difficult to pass up.
Students from UMSL’s International Management class pose with members of the 2026 cohort of the online MBA program during a hike at the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador.
Earlier this year, when a professor encouraged students to attend UMSL’s Study Abroad Fair by offering extra credit, Smith took advantage of the opportunity. She hadn’t even visited campus before, but the event introduced her to a range of international experiences she hadn’t realized were within reach.
“I was shocked by how many scholarship opportunities there were, by how many one-week or two-week opportunities there were,” Smith said. “I never thought I would ever get to do anything like this. I just thought that I had moved past that season of life, but it’s really hard to say, ‘Oh no, I can’t go,’ if they’re going to help fund the trip, too.”
The Oct. 11-18 trip to Ecuador marked a new chapter for the International Management course, bringing an international travel experience to the eight-week asynchronous online class that includes graduate and undergraduate students. The opportunity grew out of an existing global travel component for the students in the online MBA program, with the 2026 cohort also making the trip.
Ekin Pellegrini, associate dean of graduate business programs, has taught the course since joining the UMSL faculty 20 years ago. She said students had long asked for short-term study abroad opportunities, particularly those like Smith who have family and full-time job responsibilities. Pellegrini credited College of Business Dean Shu Schiller with finding the resources that enabled this international experience to be tied to the International Management course.
“I’ve been teaching this course for 20 years, but this is the first time I could actually see in every student’s eye a wider view of what’s possible,” Pellegrini said. “Normally they come to International Management because it’s a required course, but they take it, they enjoy it, and then they leave. But this trip really changed the way the students see the world. It was life-changing.”
The class covered foundational concepts over seven weeks before students spent the eighth week in Ecuador, where they could see those ideas at work. The itinerary included visits to a rose plantation and export operation, a chocolate manufacturing and exporting facility, and other businesses and business leaders, giving students a firsthand look at supply chains, quality control and the ways cultural values shape business practices.
“The world is the best business classroom,” Pellegrini said. “A week of immersion truly turned all of the global business concepts that we learned into a lived experience. You can’t match that, providing that lived experience, being right in the middle of international business.”
Schiller said the experience represents a broader effort to give students opportunities to apply what they learn in class to real-world situations. By building international travel into an existing course, the college is developing another path for students to gain global experience beyond traditional study abroad programs.
Students from UMSL’s International Management class and online MBA program visited the RosaDex Rose Plantation as part of a week-long trip to Ecuador.
The travel component was optional, and students received the same three credit hours whether or not they went to Ecuador. Scholarships helped make the trip more affordable, and the group size was capped at 19 students to accommodate the logistics. The demand was strong, and the trip filled quickly.
“Traditionally, we’ve been teaching the class based on the textbooks, maybe some class projects, but this time we’re taking them to a foreign country, and I really think that serves the purpose of the class,” Schiller said. “If you’re learning international strategy, what it means to run a global organization or corporation, what better way than to set foot in a different country, see the people who are living there and working there, and then you come back with a profound understanding of the global connections that exist.”
Schiller and Pellegrini hope to build on that interest. The next planned trip is to São Paulo, Brazil, in October 2027, and students have already begun asking about the opportunity.
Count Enna Durakovic among those who hope to be in Brazil next fall, along with Smith.
Durakovic, a senior in the accelerated MBA program, will earn her bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in management this December. She said it was an invaluable experience in Ecuador to actually witness the concepts that the students had learned and discussed throughout the course be applied in real business settings.
“I could almost see every chapter of the book in the experience,” Durakovic said. “It was amazing. I haven’t been able to shut up about this trip.”
The trip also gave Durakovic confidence to pursue her dream career. A music-lover who has long known that she wanted to live abroad after graduation, Durakovic said she hoped to become a tour operations manager for a performing artist but did not think that was very realistic.
“One thing that I opened my eyes to in Ecuador is that if you truly love something, you can find a way to do it,” she said. “I just didn’t know how that would be obtainable for me, but through the connections that I made in a different country, and also speaking to Dr. Pellegrini, I have a pathway to do what I want to do, what I love.”
An added bonus was the relationships that formed among the students themselves. After several weeks of strictly online communication, meeting in person in Ecuador helped turn classmates into friends and deepen their connections beyond the virtual classroom.
“They became so connected,” Pellegrini said. “They’re way more connected than I ever thought they could be. I mean, they became a family.”
